I’ve written about Sufferfest Beer Company before, the California-based company that brews “functional” or “purpose-brewed” beers (read my review of FKT Pale and Shakeout Blonde here), and recently included its Repeat Kolsch in my article on lifestyle beers. Repeat was one of the beers that arrived along with Head Start Stout, the brewery’s coffee and coconut stout offering; Repeat is a good Kolsch, and I’ve finally gotten around to writing up my review of the Head Start too.

Head Start Stout, like all of the Sufferfest beers, is gluten reduced. It’s not just a stout, either: it’s brewed with coconut water and coffee beans from Equator Coffees. This is not just for the flavor, though that’s a factor; coconut water is one of the company’s “favorite alternative to sports drinks,” and it doesn’t add any additional sugar. Coconut water is an interesting choice as opposed to coconut flesh or flakes like you’d expect. (I even brewed a Coconut Cream Stout myself years ago, with shredded coconut.)

The beer is 4.5% ABV, with 135 calories and 12 grams of carbs.

Appearance: Pours a dark cola brown color, near black, with deep garnet hues when held to the light. The light tan head starts decent and fizzy then settles to a skein, with decent lacing.

Smell: Creamy coconut with a subtle chocolate-coffee aroma, but not roasty at all. Milk chocolate, reminds me a bit of a chocolate coconut candy, like you’d find in a box of chocolates.

Taste: I get the roast in the flavor, with a hint of acrid, and it’s more grainy (black barley) than coffee-like. The coconut flavor is subtle and it gets a bit lost in that roastiness, but it does have a creamy coconut meat character to it. There’s a touch of sweetness (chocolate? milk sugar? simple syrup?) in there to counter the roasted grain note. No noticeable hop character.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and a bit dry in the finish which makes it seem a touch thin. There’s a light aftertaste of drip coffee. Moderate carbonation.

Overall: A nice and decent stout, though perhaps more of a “coconut stout” than a coffee stout and it occurs to me (particularly in the aroma) that you can go a little ways into near pastry stout territory with just coconut water. On the other hand, there’s nothing here that indicates to me it’s a “functional” beer, which I suppose is what you’d want if you’re looking to enjoy a straight-up flavored stout.