Big Sky Smoove Cherry Ale

Brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Missoula, Montana USA

Date: July 11, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Roadtrip
Appearance: hazy red, creamy beige head, sudsy lace
Aroma: sweet cherry aroma, a littly musty and moldy but not in a bad way, light tartness
Flavor: dry cherry flavor, light sweetness balanced by light tartness
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

(750ml bottle, thanks acrdz) Hazy amber body topped by medium off-white head. Aroma is moderately sweet, cherry, some caramel. Taste is sweet, cherry, alcohol. Medium-full body, some effervescence.

(750ml bottle) Pours a cloudy pink/-amber body with a small white head. Aroma of cherry, wood, and caramel. Flavor of cherry, some cough syrup, alcohol, and some earthiness with a dry finish.

Pours a lightly hazy red/orange with a short-lived white head. Fruity artificial cherry flavoring and harsh, boozy grain alcohol in the nose. Boozy, sweet, alcoholic mess of a flavor: twangy, syrupy, fuesal, on top of some stale cherry flavoring, ugh… just not that good at all.

Bottle Smoove Cherry Ale: Caramel color, light head and lacing. Nose of medicinal cough medicine or cough drops, really light fake cherry already; no malt. The flavor is ok, cherry pie (strudel, more like a hostess cake) and light bitter husk. Fairly awful for such a boisterous display of price, bottle and price.

Bottle. Head is initially small, fizzy, light pink, fully diminishing. Body is medium reddish amber. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (toasted grain, caramel), with light notes of cherry and alcohol. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium to full body, syrupy texture, lively/fizzy carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Really depressing.

Bottle conditioned. Aroma of slightly sour cherry over roasted malt. White head that doesn’t last long. A cherry amber or copper color. Smooth, fairly full bodied, with creamy carbonation. There’s a note like a bit of Brett. Or wood. Or cherry pits. It’s got an underlying sweetness after the initial unsweetness. Sweet brown fruits come up. Not at all sticky sweet, just not entirely unsweet. Finally finishes cherry/woody. Leaves a woody bitter ending. It’s pretty dry en fin.

The 2007 vintage on draught at the Stub & Herb’s in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pours a clear copper amber brew with a fast dissolving off-white head that dissipates clean with no ring or any lacing. Aroma of light berry, golden grain malt with some caramel malt, some fruit punch, with a touch of apple and pear. Taste is medium to full bodied, lightly carbonated with flavors of mostly alcohol, some golden grain and multi-grain malt, a touch of cherry and fruit punch flavors and a hint of medicinal herbs. Finish is semi-dry with a mild alcohol burn aftertaste that slowly disappears. Smoove or Smooth? Na-Ta. Drop the alcohol a wee bit and we’ll talk smooth.