New Glarus Unplugged Cherry Stout

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

(12oz bottle) Medium beige head atop a crystal clear mahogany body. Aroma is medium sweet, cherry, chocolate. Taste is moderately sweet, cherry (Belgian red cherry!), some chocolate, tart. Medium body, some stickiness.

(Bottle, courtesy of Lumpy) Pours a dark brown body with a spare beige head. Aroma of dark chocolate covered cherries. Flavor of chocolate covered cherries and a bit of woodiness with an oily mouthfeel. Not particularly stout-like.

From the bottle bought at the brewery. Appearance is dark with a slight red tint. Head was about 1/2 inch but fell quickly. I don’t taste anything similar to a stout, only cherries. I think it might be their belgian red with darker grains.

i wanted to love this, i really did. i think the beer itself doesn’t change so much as the mood of the drinker. so, i had a four pack, at varying times and temperatures over about a month. definitely a shit-ton of cherries in aroma and flavor. in the taste, it is, like the belgian red, too tart and cloying with time. at the same time, i still really enjoyed the beer every time i had it. quite sour, a good amount of bitterness as well. it is possible this beer is very good at what it wants to be, but if it is what it wants to be, then it isn’t the beer for me.

Sample from a 12oz bottle softly poured into my glass, producing close to no head. The body is a dark red and brown color. Chocolate and cherries abound in the nose, with some sweet amaretto scents as well. Very sweet, with some strange oily, moderately-thick flavors of cherries and oak. Reminds me of an old ale. Some cinnamon in the nose noticed when it warms slightly. Palate is cola-like, my primary complaint over this beer. Otherwise it’s solid.

I had no idea what to expect from this intriguing beer when I ordered a bottle of it in a bar in West Bend, WI. Luckily, any trepidation on my part was soon obliterated by the delicious cherry scent in the first whiff. I asked for a pint glass to pour a sample for a friend. It poured a nice dark stout color ( I couldn’t tell much by the dim lighting in the bar). It looked nice and hearty, though. Now, the taste. Honestly, this would have been a good stout even without the cherry addition. But a large amount of Wisconsin cherries used in the brewing process make a very tasty brew. This wasn’t that saccharine artificial cherry flavor that you find in most candies and chewing gum. These cherries are that Door County quality of sour/sweet that I love. The stout allowed woody hints to emerge as it warmed. The only think I can complain about regarding New Glarus Unplugged Edition Cherry Stout is that I only enjoyed a 12 ounce bottle. I would prefer to drink this from the keg.

Pour is clear dark brown with no head...smell is toasty with hints of cherry...lots of cocoa...taste is strongly tart with tons of cherry...no real roast flavors at all....just wood and cherry....good...

bottle, thanks to brewblackhole. body is blackish chestnut and garnet at the edges. there is a short, thick, foamy medium-tan head that goes quickly. aroma is sour cherries, young oak. flavor is also tart cherries, young oak, a little merlot, and mild bakers chocolate malt. tart and tingly mouthfeel. a little unsweetened coconut flakes in the finish, not much malt backbone. a little like a flemish sour. makes sense that this is categorized as a fruit beer though. done very well but I’m still waiting for a stellar cherry stout to be made. goes well with vanilla snaps.