Bells Cherry Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Sweet Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

I love stouts. And I have homebrewed a few cherry and cherry vanilla stouts, so I know how tough it is to balance that malty sweetness with the tartness of good Michigan cherries. This one was good, but not exceptional. Beautiful pour - deep almost black color and foamy tan/brown head. Aroma was a bit milder than I would have hoped for. Flavor was a bit skewed too much to the cherry tartness, in my humble opinion. I liked this. I love what Bells does. I didn’t LOVE this one. But I would definitely order it again.

Slightly pickled black forest cake aroma. Clear, very dark, wispy tan head which fades quickly, pretty good label, standard US longneck bottle. Tart, medium astringency, medium sweetness. Medium bodied, this finishes out with a disjointed kriek/coffee/bitter chocolate/dubbel battle of the overtones. OK, distinctive, but not my favorite. Market Square Liquors, Killearn.

Bottle courtesy of abcfan, pours black with brown head. Aroma is malt and taste is bitter cherries with no after taste. Not really a stout and the cherry only introduces the bitterness not much flavor or sweetness.

A disappointment from Bells. It is not a lot of cherry and not a lot stout. It kind of tastes like alcohol and 1/100 cherry juice and water mix. Tastes ok though.

Bottle. pours a dark body stout with no real hues, thin head. Aroma is malty with a touch of sour cherry, the flavor and the finish suggest this even less. Overall this didnt come together very well.

Batch 8219, bottled 11/12/07. Poured a moderately thick and viscous jet black color. Certainly not the motor oil texture of Expedition. Pour created a 1/2" tan head which dissapated quite hastily. Some isolated small spots of foam remain as the snifter is consumed. No lacing. Aroma was a subdued presentation of dark chocolate covered bing cherries, coffee, roasted malts, dark dried fruits and a touch of vanilla. Palate was quite full, creamy and a touch oily with a minerally dry finish. Taste was quite the surprise with the initial flavor being that of a typical roasted malt / dark chocolate presentation which was immediately followed by an assertive tart, semi-sour cherry finish. Certainly cuts right through any expectations of a sweet ending. Certainly an interesting beer and worth the try, but I doubt I’d go back for more.

12 ounce bottle plit in pint glass. Black with brown head. Chocolate chip cookie, cherry, and baseball glove aroma. Roasted chocolate and cherry and something else flavor. No bitterness in cherry finish. Medium body and low carb give excellent soft mouthfeel. i’m not much of a cherry fan, and I coulda lived without trying this. Not into tart stouts like this, or Jolly Pumpkin Stout, or Taddy Porter.

This thing is just not my cup of tea. Pours out black with a small brown head. Aroma was your typical stout with a hint of cherrys. Flavor was just plain aweful. At first it was too cold and was horrible. I let it sit for an hour to warm to near room temp. Still aweful. I stuggled to get this one down as I prefer not to pour beer down the drain.