Niu
Phase Three Brewing Company in Lake Zurich, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸
Porter - Pastry / Flavoured Rotating|
Score
7.03
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Re-inspired by a recent trip to Hawaii, came about. The recipe has come full-circle. Over a decade of experience combining coconut and beer and brewing dark beers, we brewed Niu to be sort of a peek behind the curtain at Phase Three. Big, adjuncted, dark beers are extremely labor intensive, involve a lot of planning and unfortunately, don’t offer a lot of drinkability. Niu is 6.3%. It’s not meant to be a big pastry stout/porter, however it’s not small. The base porter is light, but uses full-flavored UK malted grains, including Maris Otter, crystal malts and chocolate malts. It’s rich, but refreshing. It satisfies a dark, adjuncted beer craving but in a way where a pint of it is appropriate.
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7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Can (08-1X, smudged second day digit and year, but bought from "bargain bin" so likely 2024) from Oliver's Beverage, Albany. Dark, cola brown with ring of head, trace lacing. Aroma is light-to-moderate coconut, toffee. Taste is strong toasted coconut, toffee, milder chocolate. Smooth texture, soft carbonation and finish as taste. Taste is very nice and much stronger than aroma, which is pretty weak. Decent overall.
Tried
from Can
from
Oliver's Beverage Center
on 28 Aug 2025
at 02:26
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Tap at Sugar Maple. Quite solid for the style. Rich, has that pastry feel without all the sloppy unwanted flab. Cocoa, coconut all day. Candy bar sweet, but retains a nice Porter tone too.
Tried
from Draft
on 07 Apr 2024
at 22:10
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Sampled from the tap at Red Cow North Loop. Pours a clear brown with an amber hue and a tan head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has earthy dark grain, roasted malts and coconut supporting. Flavor has light roast and dark grains with a growing coconut presence.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Jan 2023
at 18:20
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Pint can from Festival Northland, 9/12/22. Dark brown, large tan head, average retention. Aroma of chocolate, coconut, vanilla. Taste is toasted coconut, caramel, vanilla, chocolate. Slick. Nice.
Tried
from Can
on 15 Oct 2022
at 19:35
7.2/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Good enough, reasonable and drinkable coconut porter. Thankfully not too sweet but also average body and the flavors are okay. Drinkable but nothing to write home about.
Tried
on 10 Apr 2022
at 03:45
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Enjoyed at home on Presidents Day 2022. Definitely a sweeter porter than others I've had, but overall pretty good. Coconut is rich, along with abundant vanilla notes. Moderate chocolate profile, goes down smooth, good stuff.
Tried
from Can
on 21 Feb 2022
at 22:03