Shorts Black Cherry Porter

Brewed by Shorts Brewing Co.
Style: Fruit Beer
Bellaire, Michigan USA

Bottle @ Kolding Shorts Tasting, 18.09.08.
Pours a great black with a small, creamy, film beige head. Aroma is soft, lightly roasted, light tarty fruity. Fine, light carbonation, perhaps a bit thin. Good creaminess. Light tart at first, hard roasted malts, chocolate, light raisins. Nice enough.

Growler… October ‘09 O-Town Throwdown!… Pours black with a creamy, khaki head. Good retention. The aroma is composed mainly of chocolate and toasted nuts, but is slightly impaired by a touch of cardboard-like oxidation. Full-bodied and milky with nearly expired carbonation. The flavor is all cardboard and ash with very mild acidity. Unfortunately, I am unable to pick out any cherry in the aroma or flavor. Burnt, bitter finish. Growler shared by GoT and northernbrews!

2009 MiBGWF (standard version and not the Imperial version): I have had this before but was waiting to rate from a bottle but alas never got one and am waiting no longer. It was close to opaque with a small but lasting frothy head. The aroma has in your face notes of black cherry for sure but you can still smell the porter character, roasty, burnt, and a touch of herbal hop. The taste is initially tart and twangy as the cherries make a show for domination. Nice thing is that the porter flavors can still be found with a nice walnut and toasted tone. What was missing was any sign of hop bitterness on the palate. The mouth feel is just okay, a tad watery and oily. While not bad, hardly a beer I need to acquire in a bottle. Yes, more fruit beer than porter.

Growler. Brown pour, tan head. Aroma of chocolate covered cherries. Flavor has the chocolate covered cherries with some molasses and roasted malt. Pretty good.

Draft @ Shorts. Pours a dark, chocolate color; brown, cocoa-colored head with good retention and fine-bubbled lacing. My wife nailed the aroma on this: it smells like olives more than anything; some black cherries and chocolate, certainly, but mostly oily olives. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: slightly relaxed carbonation; chewy, oily olives, chocolate, and dark fruits (cherries, predominantly); seems a touch flabby and oily in the mouth; a decent, generous flavor profile, with vestiges of a well-roasted porter underneath, but I’d have a hard time drinking a whole lot of this. Lengthy finish: lots of roast, toasted malts, and dry chocolate; solidly bitter and dry at the far end.

Growler, courtesy GoT and northernbrews. The pours is dark, nearly opaque, and deep magogany in color. A small, frothy head of tan foam settles to a thin, swirly layer. Scattered, wet spotting marks the glass, much of it slowly returning to the body. The aroma is based in roasty, dry, dark cocoa, with notes of burnt caramel and toasted barley grain. Earthy hops lend aromatic bitterness, while a soft kiss of dark fruit lends depth. Flavors are again very roasty and chocolaty, with coffee, bittersweet cocoa, and indiscernible dark fruit all showing strong. Medium-plus in body and moderately carbonated, the palate transitions from balanced up front to a semi-dry finish. Nicely balanced and drinkable, it’s a solid porter, though the cherry is very subtle. Solid.

bottle dated Feb 2007 the beer had lost most if not all of the cherry flavor, it was basically a porter. nothing outstanding, but perhaps beyond its time.

Sample at O-town throwdown ’09 Pours black with beige head and thin golden lacing. Aroma was actually weak in cherry. Taste, roasted malts, finish with black cherries on the palate. Malt profile is well present with light notes of hops to balance it out. Was expecting a lot more cherries, but a decent porter overall.