Bullfrog Black Cherry Bomb

Formerly brewed at Bullfrog Brewery
Style: Sour Ale
Williamsport, Pennsylvania USA

750mL Bottle. Vibrant puckering nose, throwing a soft apple and raspberry juice, tart and unique. A bit of deeper stout, but mostly a really clean clear citric, lactic, and acetic acid amalgam. Pours a dark chocolate black-brown, with a cocoa-dust dark head. Leggy. Flavor is rich and real deep. This is highly sour and easily one of the most sour beers I’ve had. Fortunately, this sourness is incredibly clean. Mostly a lactic-citric run, with plain generic acidity, with, when warmed, throws a softer acetic edge. What’s really awesome is the blending of the cocoa and chocolate characters that lie deeper. The dry, cocoa-powder sensations casts incredible balance to the acidity and the cherry sweetness. So many good flavor, so clear, so mature and so refined. This is unique and outstanding. My one complaint is that the acidity gets a little overbearing and the acetic quality shines in the finish, but that’s being picky.

Poured an Ikea Black//Brown. Yeah, ikea color scale beyotch. nice 1/2" tan head, nice tight bubbles. Leaves a nice halo. Smells of tart cherry, us chocolate malt and black malt. Starts with a very tart and apply named cherry bomb on the front. Wild barrel aging gives it a nice acidic funk to the cherry, which is quickly followed by standard RIS flavors, roasted barley, rich coffee notes, bitter black malt, and finishes with a little sweeter cherry flavors and a nice dark chocolate which play very nicely together. highly attenuated, lots of sour plays off of normally sweet items. dry, well carbonated. It drinks very slow, but great sipping. There’s so much going on I really want to try again.

750ml bottle picked up at Brewpub. I also had the pleasure of trying this at the debut at BCTC ’08. Poured black with a medium sized tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of sour cherries, chocolate malt, dark fruits and green apples. Taste comes in funky at first with some tart apples, sour cherries, and mellows towards the end with smooth chocolate notes, and finishes crisp with oak. Very interesting use of wild yeast. Outstanding.

Coutesy of WeeHeavySD. Black with medium beige head. Sour aroma with notes of roasted malt and caramel. Sour flavour with notes of sour berries, wood, roasted malt and vinegar. Excellent!

750ml via trade with BrianK. Thanks so much Brian. Shared at my halloween tasting 2009. This was most people’s favorite of the night. This is an amazing brew. Pours black with a light brown head. Nose is tart and sweet, not a stout nose whatsoever. Taste is super tart and sour, a big sour cluster fuck on the mouth. Also a nice bit of oak in there. Don’t judge this beer by its cover. GREAT.

Thanks Jon for opening this! Pretty cool aroma. Some imperial stout, some tart cherry, some smoke, some oak. Sounds like a poem. The tartness is very nice. Somewhat like CdT, maybe slightly bette. Very very good.

750ml bottle. This one opened to a very loud pop and I was expecting it to gush, but thankfully, it didn’t. Poured a dark black color with a large sized borwn head. Aromas of black cherries, wood, chocolate, a little earthy, and a little funky. Tastes of tart cherries, roast, chocolate, wood (although lighter than the aromas), and some funkiness. Nice sour and tart finish. This was aged in bourbon barrels; I got the woodiness but I didn’t get any bourbon in either the aromas or tastes. This one was very nice!

Bottle via The_Epeeist, huge thanks Chris! Pours inky black with some ruby color, almost no head. Aroma is huge sour cherry, chocolate, funk, raisins. Flavor is sour cherries, chocolate, raisins, oak, light alcohol. Palate is somewhat full bodied, medium to light carbonation, finished tart and bitter from the chocolate notes. This was fantastic! Worth every penny!