Founders Cerise

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Poured a bubbly translucent pink.The nose was vinous cherries.A very crisp , fruity beer.Has some tartness, with sour cherries and some citrus.Finished off slightly tart.

Pour from bottle. Nice orange-ish pink color. Sweet aromas of cheery sweet tarts. Flavor was very sweet up front, but a light sweetness. Cherries and oranges. Finish was tart and slightly sour. Pretty well done, actually, and drinkable for a fruit beer.

Man this is sweet. Strong cherries but overall pretty well done. Has a slight sour pop to it but starts sweet. Tried on tap. Liked it but a little goes along way.

TAP: light red pour, with a tart cherry nose. Taste is huge tart cherry, cinnamon, and lemon.

Bottle at The Headkeeper. Pours a clear pink, very small and fine pink head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is sweet and tart cherry and some lemon hiding in the background. Flavor is a very nice and subtle cherry, again some lemon notes mixed in, vinuous, doesn’t hit you in the face with the cherry, very nicely done. Nice dry finish.

Aroma of a watermelon Jolly Rancher. Appearance of watermelon Koolaid. The flavor has cherry notes mixed with rose petals but is weak and ephemeral. The palate is clean and crisp. Overall I’m underwelmed. I want to say it is a refreshing session fruit beer, but I don’t think I could handle more than one due to a strange filling quality and a lack of carbonation.

Aroma is slight, a bit earthy and dirty, and red fruit- but just wisps. Appearance is ruby red with a ring of white foam around the glass. Taste is slightly dull, with lots of cherry pits and some surprising bitterness that is not hop derived. Mouthfeel is a touch slick with a bit of carbonation and some small amount of sourness that is almost a non-factor.

THOUGHTS: I wasn’t expecting something this sweet, but the tartness balanced it out so it was never cloying. One of the best fruit beers I’ve ever had. I think I’ll be buying more of this for the summer. Very refreshing. Lots of cherry, but still a real beer. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium amber that was tinged with pink. It also had a large pink tinged head head that mostly diminished, but left excellent lacing. The aroma was weak, but it smelled very much like cherry pie with a little beer. The initial flavor was sweet, lightly acidic and slightly sour; while the finish was very sweet, lightly sour and rather tart with an average on flavor, but long ton tartness duration. There was cherry pie filling mostly, some malt and that was about it. Both sweet and tart cherries. The light to medium body was slightly syrupy, then a little dry with tingly carbonation and a dry tart finish.