Iron Hill Cherry Tart

Brewed by Iron Hill West Chester
Style: Fruit Beer
West Chester, Pennsylvania USA

Draught. Hazy orange with a sudsy white medium-sized head and wholesome lacing. Cookiesh aroma, triple-esque with cereal grains, sweet pear, and caramel. Tastes more artificial than the aroma suggests, apples, and cherry sweetness up front and finishes quite dry and metallic.

Draft, @ BCTC 2007. Poured a hazy, light pink-amber color, with a thick frothy off-white head. Nice sour cherry aroma. Flavor was best described as "cherry pie filling" (I’m stealing this description from my girlfriend, but it’s dead-on). Nice, long lasting tart cherry finish. I enjoyed this, but it paled in comparison to some of the other treats that Iron hill brought to BCTC.

Draft, BCTC 2007. Pours a hazy, medium watermelon color; huge, fluffy off-white head with awesome retention and lacing that coats the glass. Watermelon and slightly tart cherries in the aroma; light and refreshing. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: tasty, mouthwatering cherry character (really does taste reminiscent of a cherry pastry); light doughy and chewy red fruits at mid-palate; round, excellent fruit character, and intensely drinkable. Medium, dry doughy and light watermelon finish. While some folks I spoke to didn’t care for this one, I got a tart watermelon note that really pulled this together for me; after the Drie Font 1998 Anniversary ran out, I drank five samples of this, just to make sure I wasn’t nuts. One man’s squash is another man’s watermelon.

Draft at BCTC 2007. Nose has some strange medicinal and vegetal notes surrounding the cherries, and from talking to folks at the fest this seemed like a real love it or hate it beer. Some really liked the aroma, I found some problems with is, specifically the squash (moderate) and acetone (faint) notes, but the acetone/nail polish note in sour ale isn’t so bad, it’s sometimes complimentary. The nose, however, is a bit overwhelmed by the squash-cherry notes, and flavorwise the sweetness is too high, candied sweet cherries with that ever-present squash popping back up. Finish is cleaner, moderately slick on the tongue, not drying or sour, but up front is where this beer is weird, with a grassy, squash flavored sourness on the front of the tongue that’s unique but doesn’t exactly work for me. One man’s watermelon is another man’s squash. :)