Bells Cherry Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Fruit Beer
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

I am not much of a fruit beer fan. This one is certainly not bad. THe cherry tartness is there in the flavor. The color was a beautiful amber red. Sour alcohol finish.

On tap @ Bells tasting Orange-red pour with an off white head. Aroma of fresh cherry and dry toasted malt. Flavors of tart cherry, toasted malt, a bit of yeast as well. Light body, tart/malty with a tart/earthy finish. Pretty good really.

Shared by Goldtwins. Pours a very murky disgusting brownish red with a fizzy head that dies in a couple seconds. Aroma at first is so muddled and murky it is hard to even detect much cherry- just dirt, earth, sweet caramel and light chocolate matls- as it warms the cherry juice comes out ok. Flavor is also messy, with some chocolate malts, toasty nutty malts, and caramel sweetness, with some cherry juice to screw things up. Mouthfeel is a bit thick and messy- just a wierd turbid mess of a beer.

Poured a murky brown color with a minimal off-white head. The aroma is of tart cherry and earthy but sweet malt. Mildly tart cherry with a mild caramel malt. Light body.

I sampled this a while ago but just never but it down on, or until now. The pour was of darker amber to chestnut brown with stronger red hues. Red is the dominate color when held to the light. A decent head that has a mostly white color with off head tinges to it. The head and lace both disappear over time. The smell has a pretty even combo between a brown ale malt smell and a tart somewhat cherry some what bitter apple aroma. The taste is similar. The first thing noticed is the tart cherry flavor. A little bit of a zip on it with a tangy almost grapefruit quality. The malt is balanced with the zing of more traditional base. Not really sweet but really heightens the cherry flavor. The carbonation is rather high. Which I believe also heightens the tartness of the cherry flavor. The body is light but the tanginess and tart flavors really limits on how many you might want to try.

Sample at the Bell’s tasting at Brews Cafe on 3/6/08: The beer pours a luminous red color with a medium thin off-white head that dissipates steadily. Spotty lacing. Aroma of tart cherries and wheat. Medium, clean body with dark cherry and bready malt flavors. The finish is fruity with lingering cherry aftertaste. Might suffer from the recent New Glarus Fruit beers I have had, but not bad overall.

On tap. Pours a pretty burnt orange color with a small white head. Aroma is not as strong in cherry as I’d imagined it would be. They are still definitely there but a lot of malt aromas are there too. This doesn’t smell too promising, kind of reminds me of a lot of bad fruit beers I’ve had. Cherries are tart and light, malts are biscuity. Flavor is slightly tart, watery, very thin bodied and quite bland. I was glad I got to try this but it’s certainly not one of Bell’s better beers.

Almost winey scent, without a lot of outstanding aroma. As soon as you taste it though, wow. Same tart cherries as the stout. Refreshing fruit flavor, but doesn’t stay with you very long. Great for the summer with a slight alcohol sting at the end.