Bells Cherry Stout

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

33 cl bottle, Fargo, ND, USA via Kalamazoo.Ink black colour with a very slight reddish tint. Foam dissapates and rings the glass. Roasted malt mingled with sour cherry aroma. Sour first sip, overpowers the malt. then mellows. Aftertaste of braised cherries, sweet and long with a lingering sourness.

Bottle. Pours a thick oily black with no head. Nice lacing. Aroma is roasted malts and cherries with notes of coffee and chocolate. On the plate it is silky and smooth. The flavor almost hides the cherries, bringing out the bitterness of coffee, but it finishes sweet and dry, leaving a cherry aftertaste. Overall, pretty good. It is very different and not as good as the bourbon barrel aged version, but still worth drinking.

Bottle (Batch 8730) thanks to FlssmrBrewAlum. Thanks Adam...Pours black with a thin brown head..Aroma is slight cherries and not much else..Flavor is a slight dark chocolate bitterness with cherry tartness. Didn’t really work for me, kind reminded me of chocolate covered cherries. Not really feelin’ this one.

Pretty awful beer. Aroma is of cherry. Flavor is of nasty cherry. Not really drinkable to enjoy.

Had this from a 12oz bottle with my sister-in-law after my other brother’s wedding, but I didn’t take good tasting notes!

Ah Bells, how I love thee, especially how you make sweet, sweet, roasty love to the Stout.

A thick, voluminous pour roils and boils as dark, tan effervescence streams for the surface, settling into a chocolate mousse of sinful proportions. Her head stays for the whole of our journey together, etching our memories onto the sides of my glass with equally soft, chocolate-hued tufts of lace. Willy Wonka would be put to shame should he have the opportunity to partake of my Cherry Stout’s sinfully delicious nose. Bakers chocolate, dry bitter foreign chocolates, delicate black cherries with their skins and pits included, and an earthy quality which sits atop tobacco, leather, and wood. A refreshing tart and/or sour bite grabs my attention right away, telling me that my Cherry Stout will be anything but sweet, and that is ok with me. A sprinkling of powdered hot cocoa and confectioners’ sugar blows by as I succumb to her temptations and savor the first of many spine-tingling quaffs. Smooth, creamy, and tart. I am biting into a slightly unripe black cherry; the skin is a bit dry and acidic while suckling on the cherry pit to make sure I got all the meat off is earthy and nutty. A zap of sour tart hits the back of my throat and settles in quite comfortably while a steady current of melted chocolates and vanilla cream helps her glide effortless across my palate. Tobacco and leather offers more chewy dryness while a continual assault of tart black cherries keep me coming back for more. Delicious and exactly what I was looking for even though I didn’t even know it. She doesn’t linger too long into the finish. Just a hint of tart sour cherry acidity while chocolate, tobacco, leather, and earth color my breath. Wonderful, and easily a stout I could enjoy in pairs.

Once more Larry Bell and Bells Brewing prove their mastery of the stout style. I wouldn’t have enjoyed their Cherry Stout nearly as much as I did if it had been heavy, thick, and far too sweet with cream and cherries. But!!! The fine folks at Bells obviously knew this and shot straight for my heart, hitting the bulls-eye dead center. Brew on Bells, as I drink on and savor another Cherry Stout because I can.

8870 Black pour with a small tan head. Sweet aroma of roasted malt and coffee. The flavor is what you would expect if someone spilled some Kool Aid in a dark roasty stout. The cherry tartness is something that sounds like it would put an added amount of complexity to this beer, but appears tacked on and doesn’t blend well at all. Sweet and malty at first, but opens up into a watered down cherry thing that becomes tart and leaves a small trace of a real stout in it’s wake. I didn’t care much for this, probably won’t drink again.

Draft. Pours pitch black with a creamy, dark brown head. Pretty powerful nose full of dark cherries, dry roasted malt, a little coffee, and some booze. Medium-low carbonation with a rich mouthfeel. This one is definitely confusing. At first you get a nice, sweet stout on the tip of your tongue, then BANG! a big pile of sour cherries. Lots of big tart dark cherries, coffee, chocolate, earth, and mineral on the palate. Talk about bizarre. It’s like a sour and a sweet stout mixed together. Medium-short, slightly dry finish. Very entertaining to have once, but I am not sure I would want this on a consistent basis.