Selins Grove The Phoenix Kriek

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

In short: A kick-ass cherry beer. That simple.
How: Hand-bottles from Stine, thanks a lot Eben! Drank a few days after receiving them. Shared on the “Stone-Bourbon-Barrel-RIS-Hype-And-Disappointment” tasting session with the Montreal crew
The look: Beautiful glowing dark red body with a medium beige head.
In long: Nose of some kind of stale cherry drink with a slight “decaying” sensation. Not an unpleasant aroma at all but the nose definitely was its weakest feature. Everything else kicked-ass in this beer and that little nose imperfection is probably not present fresh from the tap. As with most good fruit beers the taste is rather focussed, and this one proposes earthy cherries and also some wild cherries flavours. Medium tartness and medium sourness. Very tasty. Not a “refreshing” fruit beer this one is actually quite nourishing and tasty. Compared to the Belgian Red (drank 5 minutes before) the Phoenix Kriek was more pure cherry skin oriented while the Belgian Red was more on the sweet maraschino side of things. They are a lot more different than I expected. But after drinking the Belgian Red followed by this Phoenix Kriek I can honestly say that I’ve never enjoyed tasting cherries that much, and that’s including my teenage years and the things we did when our parents were away.

Growler. Thanks SuzyGreenberg! Pours murky, ruddy dark amber. Loose bubbles around the lip. Some grainy particulates, and a little bit of clingy carb stuck at the bottom. Big ripe sour cherry nose; not shockingly sharp by any means, but noteworthily cherryesque and very much from a sour cherry base--not sweet snacking cherries. Sticky medium body, nearly still if not totally still. Huge ripping tart cherry flavor on the mid-palate. Definitely not overly sweet; on the sweetness scale it falls somewhere between fruit juice and a dry APA. Long sticky fruit sugar finish. Everything about this beer is permeated with cherry flavor, it’s a beautifully executed extraction of that fruit essence. Good stuff.

Hand bottle from Miver. Pours a dark red color with nice bubbly head and sticky lacing. It is a nice looking brew. Aroma of tart cherry pie. Like those dried tart cherries from the health food market. That is almost exactly what it smells like except with some alcohol. And I like it. Man this is good! I love the tart/sweet mixture here. The tart natural cherry flavor is dominant, but then there is an almost pie like sweetness that appears too, until it goes back to the original tart flavor. A little noticeable alcohol. Lingering tartness. This is some awesome stuff! I want more now!

Handbottle. Dark reddish brown colour with a nice frothy head. Wonderful aroma of "fat" cherries, vanilla, sweetness and very little soourness. Wonderful flavour of cherries, sweetness and little sourness too. Very nice endeed. Reminds me a lot of a kriek, just wonderful balance and very full body.

Growler at BCTC 2009: Hazy ruby with an off white head. Sweet and tart aroma with a maraschino cherry character. Slick oily feel- sweet but rounded flavor- similar to an old Quell Que Chose. Almondy marzipan, some cleansing cherry skin tartness. Very drinkable with balanced flavors.

Hand-bottle from Kramer. I don’t know if something happened in the growler to bottle transfer or what, but my experience with this beer seems to be a lot different than others.
That is not to say it isn’t fantastic, of course. Though the aroma is very subtle and hard to pick up, and there is almost no head on the deep garnet pour, the flavor is absolutely delicious. Chocolate covered sour cherries, all the way. Really, I don’t even know what else to say. Juicy and utterly rich. Now I just need to try it the way it’s supposed to taste ;)

[2402-20090801] Growler. Odd vegetal olive oil aroma has some cherry. Hazy, dark red body with a quick foamy white head. Cherry pie filling flavour has a sweet long aftertaste. Medium body. Lovely cherry, wow.
(w/ others @ BCTC; Cooperstown, NY)

Courtesy of Styles

Hand bottle: Big musty cherry aroma with a slight medicinal quality to it. The cherry aroma is very similar to cherry pie filling. It pours a cloudy orangish-red with a small pinkish-white head. The flavor has lots of sweet cherry up front that fades to a light tartness in the finish with a touch of acidity. Very surprised by the 8%. A poor man’s NG Belgian Red.