Shorts Imperial Black Cherry Porter

Sampled from 750ml bottle (couldn’t get the bottle number) during Darkness Day 2009 in Brooklyn Center, MN. Pours an opaque dark brown colored brew with a fast dissolving beige head that leaves behind a film top. Aroma of toasted dark malt, some Nyquil cherry, chocolate and a hint of coffee. Taste is medium to full bodied, very little carbonation with flavors of toasted dark malt, tart and sweet cherries, some chocolate and some floral hops. Finish has a distinct cherry aftertaste that overpowers some of the toasted dark malt and chocolate profile.

750ml bottle 569/792 10/19/09 (shorts Brewery)-Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma of cherries, roasted malt, and some chocolate. Taste of cherries, slight tartness, chocolate, and some coffee. This light to medium bodied brew I think is very well balanced and the cherries are a pleasant backdrop to the flavors of the porter. I was expecting it to be way overpowering but they did a great job.

courtesy of the Shorts tasting night group. early ’07 bottle. bottle#622 pours deep black with mahogany head. Aroma some tart cherries with hints of chocolate. Flavor, chocolate and malts with black cherries, medium carbonation with a thin watery body. Cherries might come out a little too much. The porter aspect gets a little lost in the amount of black cherries used in this beer.

bottle from the brewery. Pours black cherry with off-white soapy head, and it is lacey. Above average mouthfeel. Aroma has roast and sugar. This is a very drinkable porter, with cherry, and cherry in secondary, and natural taste to it.

Bottle #602/792. Shared by badnewsbeers. Deep opaque brown body, thin to medium tan head. Tart cherry aroma with smoky chocolate and coffee. Very soft, delicate body, dominated by dusty sweet cherries, backed by roasted malts and chocolate. A tad "cobwebby" and soft. In comparison to Bell’s Bourbon Cherry Stout, this is a softer, more subtle beer that lacks its heft and sharpness. Very good.

Thanks to Cheeseman and Solan for buying the bottle at the brewery. Pours a dark cherry black color with a tan head. Aroma of dark malts, alcohol and a slight fruity astringency. Flavors are dark malts and chocolate with a little tarness.

She appears before me sporting proud colors of black pitch while light tries to break through with very little success. Thick, she coats the sides of my glass, clinging much like the tears of a fine, well aged single malt would. This is obviously a portend of heavy, mouth-coating quaffing to come. But before I sup, I must snuff, and as I bury my nose deep in her bounty, black cherries still reeking of the earth she was born in overwhelms almost all other senses. Dry wood, earth, and dried black cherry pits receive a flurry of dry, powdered chocolate bark. Interesting. As I mull over the debate within my olfactory senses, I raise my glass and dive deep once more, this time into her liquid bounty. Thin, much thinner than I was expecting considering how black she poured and how well she clings stubbornly to the sides of my glass. Faint touches of chocolate, cherry juice, and dried, brittle, bitter cherry pits. There is an overall subtle sense of staleness, of a cherry chocolate bar long past its lifespan, sitting forlorn and lonesome on some dusty convenience store shelf. Her finish is dry and rank with turned black cherries and dry, dusty pits. Not very pleasing at all; a huge surprise considering her nose. Thankfully, the pour I gave myself was not very large; we couldn’t part ways any sooner.

To go back to my introductory rambles, this is where many a beer drinker would be divided. As a less than stellar, dare I say bad, brew, has imperializing and experimenting with beers gone far? Were imperial stouts never meant to be mixed with black cherries and other assorted natural ingredients? Why not, I say. Sure, the Imperial Black Cherry Stout from Shorts Brewing was not very balanced and tasty, but it could have been. There was no way for me to know without tasting and trying which is half the fun. Brewing horizons are only as near or as far as we make them, and the journey isn’t always going to be met with success. Should Short’s ever attempt a better balanced version of this brew, of course I’d try it again. It very well could be brewing nirvana descended unto my glass and my lips.

On tap at the brewery. Pours a charcoal color with a trim tan head of foam. Smells of sweet black cherries, toasted malt, and powdered cocoa -- amazing. Tastes a step down in complexity, unfortunately, almost like the water content is too high. There’s malt, but it’s not dense. Fine for a porter, but just shy of its potential. Great stuff, regardless.