We haven’t reviewed a brew from Battered Boar here yet, and there are a few reasons for that. One being that of the beers I’ve had from them in the past, they haven’t led me to want to go back to the brand. I’m not saying they were terrible, but they just weren’t memorable in any way. Another is that the distribution seems pretty shotty, which may be to some unfavorable personal opinions of the brewer. I have never met the brewer, so I’m not going to make any judgements here, I’m just telling you what I’ve heard come up a few different times from a few different people.
Anyways, from where I’m sitting, it seems like Battered Boar needs to make up some ground and earn back some trust, so I’m hoping that this one will do the trick. I dig coconut stouts, so to have a regularly available local one (COOP’s Coconut TROIS is limited, of course) would be bad ass. Let’s drink!
Company: Battered Boar Brewing Company
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
ABV: 7.5%
Style/Description: Stout brewed with coconut and vanilla
Price: $10 (4-pack bottles)
Appearance: Pours a reddish-brown with a very thin head that disappeared almost immediately and was….well… was very loud and fizzy. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was pouring a glass of Coke. While the coconut oils are likely to blame for this, it isn’t a great way for a beer to introduce itself to you.
Nose: There is a ton of coconut in the aroma, but unfortunately it smells very artificial. To me, it smells like something that isn’t edible, but is coconut flavored (like lip balm or lotion). I handed my glass to Kate and she thought it smelled like coconut and sunscreen. Along with the coconut is some vanilla and a little bit of a metallic scent.
Taste: Like the nose, the coconut is overpowering here. The mouthfeel is incredibly thin and the carb is very fizzy like a soda. The metallic like quality comes in big and there is a off-putting bitter quality.
Finish: Thin and somewhat astringent like with coconut and a perfume bitterness.
Overall: Alright, so there’s a damn good chance something is up with this bottle. Infected? Most likely. I took to the internet to see if anyone else had tried this brew yet and saw other concerns about a film on the surface of the beer (which I didn’t experience) and a notable “tinny” taste. It seemed to be on a bottle by bottle basis, however even the “good” bottles don’t seem to be going over well.
This is a real shame as Battered Boar really needed this beer to be a success. I truly hope that this brewery can recover and regain some trust with future releases, but until I know for sure, I won’t be spending of my money on anything with that name on the label.
I also want to throw in that I hate writing reviews like this. Barrels and Mash was started to share our love of American Whiskey and Oklahoma Beer, and to introduce the audiences of one to the other. For a while I wanted to only write up things I like, as I don’t get off on finding creative ways to be shitty about things, it’s just not fun for me. However, it wouldn’t be fair or interesting to only have positive reviews, so here we are. I spent money on this beer specifically for this review, and I’m not willing to spend more to try to find a bottle that isn’t infected, but by all accounts is still a very underwhelming beer. It’s a bummer, man, but it’s a part of the deal.
Rating: 0/5
