Andina Brewing – Cocolat Toasted Coconut Chocolate Stout

Andina Brewing – Cocolat Toasted Coconut Chocolate Stout Review

Since Head Brewer Ben Greenberg joined #YeastVan’s Andina Brewing in mid-2018, there has been a noticeable uptick in the appeal and quality of the big yellow brewery’s beers. It is now within reasonable expectations to enjoy a flight or two of beers in the tasting room and not find a weak one in the bunch. Achieving this type of solidity is crucial to building a solid following of beer fans, and Andina is currently in that position.

Case in point: this sampling of their distinctive Cocolat (not ‘chocolat’!) Toasted Coconut Chocolate Stout. After sipping a sampler at the bar, it was deemed necessary to make off with a full growler of the liquid for further investigation. Upon secondary evaluation, it was clear that it needed to become subject to a rare growler-based Beer Me BC review.

While at the bar, our server provided a little insight into the beer’s preparation, which involved real coconut. Apparently, it’s not easy to work with these coconuts because they soak up a lot of liquid. But after much persistence they found a way to create the brew without running out of fluid.

Even the BeerSeeker who formerly didn’t like dark and heavy beers (sadly, that changed years ago) agreed that this one couldn’t be scored less than 4.5 across the board. By the way, that’s not just a premeditated score, folks. Each of those five categories was legitimately and separately evaluated then assigned what turned out to be identical scores.

Hats off to Andina for creating such an enjoyable and distinctive cold season brew.