Selins Grove The Phoenix Kriek

Brewed by Selins Grove Brewing Co.
Style: Fruit Beer
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania USA

14oz goblet at the Selin’s Grove brewpub. The nose is an incredible sweet sugar pie.. of the most extraoridinary kind. Color is dark ruby, no debris in my glass. Taste is a long lasting tart (at the perfect level and sweetness) robust cherry, sugar, sour flavor... no suggestions of alcohol. Leaves its flavor on your lips. Medium bodied. Epic.

Growler shared by tjthresh. Pours a deep raspberry reddish-brown with a thin, off-white ring of bubbles clinging to the edge of the glass, encircling an interesting swirl of fine bubbles. The nose smells exactly like a fruit tart (cherry/raspberry) ; like cherry pie filling with a tart backing to overcome the pervasive sweetness. Medium-bodied and slick with a dry, tart finish. The flavor is of rich, sweet, tart cherries with a dry, sour finish. This is a damned fine fruit beer. Thanks again for sharing it with us, Tom.

Hand bottle from The_Epeeist, huge thanks Chris! Pours a nice ruby color with a small tan/pink head. Aroma is cherries, vanilla, cherries. Flavor is cherries, vanilla, oaky notes, chocolate, caramel. Palate is medium bodied, medium carbonation, finished tart. Beautiful!

Growler with a huge Thank You to Tom (tjthresh) for sharing this awesome and rare treat! Pours a slightly hazy deep ruby red with a thin whiteish/pink frothy head, moderate spots of lace. Aroma is like a sour cherry mash, cherry pie, and cherry, cherry, cherry. The cherry is fresh, rich, deep, intense, and works VERY well. Flavor is more of the same, fresh, juicy cherry pit, sour cherry mash and cherry pie. For the focus being solely on cherry, this delivers, and meets the standard set by NG Belgian Red in spades. Apparently I’m quite the fan of fruit beers. Very nice stuff, thanks again Tom!

Growler from kramer17801. The pour is deep red with some brownish head. What a nose. Fresh cherries with some woody earthy character. Smells like a cherry pie with fresh picked cherries. I can get the crust even. The flavor shifts from sweet to tart and back as it travels across the palate. Medium body with light carbonation. Medium dry finish. This beer is everything I expected and even a little more.

From tjthresh’s growler. Aroma is tart cherries, lots and lots of tart cherries as well as some roast, chocolate, and a touch of alcohol. Reddish color with a khaki head. Taste is lots and lots of tart cherries, both sweet and sour, with a nice base beer that gives it a bit of roast and chocolate. A very well done fruit beer.

Ruby coloured with barely any head. Nice aroma filled with sour cherries. The flavour is really awesome, filled with sour notes that get overcome quickly by the cherries and some sweetness. I’m really pretty impressed with this, glad Eben gave me a hand bottle to try.

My Bottom Line:
Earth-covered cherries and raisins sensuously ride caramel maltiness until balsamic tartness sweeps the palate and allows more fruitiness for a solo performance. This is a sumptuous Fruit Beer which must be simply wondrous on tap at the brewpub.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A creamy sheet of foam decorates the murky red.
-There is a slight problem with the nose in this bottle (it’s too earthy and vegetal), but I suspect this will not be the case on tap at the brewery.
-This is better balanced than the New Glarus fruit beers and probably of the same quality when it’s in its finest form.
-The finish is not sour, but just tart enough to make you lick your gums and dive in for a even bigger sip.
-The mouthfeel is luxuriously round, yet very drinkable. A perfect middle ground.

Hand-bottled.