Atwater Cherry Stout

Brewed by Atwater Block Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Detroit, Michigan USA

Bottled. Clear dark brown pour, tan head. Nose is malt and cherry cordial candies. Flavor is roasty malt, and bitter cherry (too heavy on the pits?). Astringent finish. Pass this one by and find some Bell’s.

A little heavy on the cherry part of the equation and lighter on the stout part, but I kinda liked it anyway. Black with areddish hue and a loose foamy white head. Aroma and flavor both crisp, tart cherry and only a hint of chocolate and coffee. Surprisingly thin bodied, as well, Kind of unorthodox, but I liked it.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear dark brown body with a one finger fizzy light brown head. A good bit of visible carbonation. Pretty light nose, just a little roasted malt and a touch of sour cherry. There really isn’t much cherry flavor either, if I didn’t know that there was a little sour cherry in here, I might have guessed that it as infected even. It does have a certain chocolate covered cherry finish that is a little endearing though. Medium bodied, a little clingy, with moderate fizzy carbonation. OK, but kinda pedestrian, even for a Fruit Beer.

12oz bottle. Dark brown pour with a big beige head. Vegetal aroma with dark cherry tartness and some malt. Malty flavor with hints of coffee and a cherry finish. Not awful, but I didn’t care much for the vegetal nose and would have preferred a more robust stout base and real cherries instead of concentrate.

Bottle. Poured with the obvious black hue, but a mere whisper of a head. Can’t say I’m a fan of the aroma on this one -- almost dirty socky. But this delivers a pleasant enough drink, with a sweet twist on an ashy dark fruit base. (#3698, 10/18/2009)

Pours a semi-transparent dark mahogany with a small frothy light tan head. Aroma of lightly roasted malts and semi-sweet and tart black cherries. Starts with some fizzy effervescence and mild dark caramel sweetness with some light cherry flavor and tartness. Finishes pretty smooth and sweet tart. Could use some more body and balance, but a decent attempt at a difficult style.

Ok, I’m going to rate this very low, but in this case, it seems warranted. Some recent reviews have talked about how fizzy this beer is, and indeed, one of my previous experiences with it was very fizzy. However, in the fullness of time, I seem to have forgotten this flaw, and now find myself sitting in the middle of my bedroom, with half a bottle’s worth of beer foam on my floor and possessions. The fact that this is a sub-par brew only adds insult to injury. F*ck you, Atwater Block Brewery. I’m going to go clean my carpet.

Dark mahogany with fair, creamy tan head / Light to medium body, watery, with weak finish / Mild nose of roast barley and cherries / Very weak flavors of roast barley, chocolate, and cherries / I’ve had several now. This is not a good brewery.