Bells Cherry Stout

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Sweet Stout
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Bottle from Bells. Thanks to nbutler11 for trading the bottle. Smells like your well-made stout, but strangely teeters between a dry or sweet. The reason reveals itself in the flavor, when tart cherries meld with bakers’ cocoa for a surprising fruit edge on an expert stout. Man... what an anomalous beer.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep pitch black with subtle dark brown and ruby highlights (in the few thin areas where light can shine through) and a thin deep tan head. Aroma is roasty with some very dark chocolate, dark fruit and plums, molasses, caramel, and cherries. The flavor is rich, deep, and mesmerizing: dark chocolate, coffee, almost savory and burnt toast, raisins, and tart cherry. The cherry character increases as the beer moves through the mouth. The finish has some fruity, roasty bitterness, some sour cherry acidity, and a complex and strong fruit character - sour cherries, currants, and tart dark grape juice. The mouthfeel is sharp though not from overcarbonation. The fruit character combined with carbon dioxide lend a mild tannic note to the texture and feel on the tongue. The body of the beer is medium in fullness - lighter than one would expect from the strength (7%) and intensity of flavor. Overall, a wonderful winter beer. At first the deep roastiness was slightly off-putting. This past Spring I made a sour cherry porter that I thought was better. But as the palate adjusts to this strong stout and the complexity of fruit strengthens as the temperature slowly rises, this beer really comes into its own. It is great. (I still think my sour cherry porter is just as good though!)

Pours like black motor oil with decent brown head. Nose is roasty and chocolate with only a hint of cherries. No suprises in flavor here! Lots of dark cherry flavor, some currant. Very tart. Mouthfeel is watery, almost like juice. I wish it had a fuller body. Chocolate covered cherry finish.

Bottle, pours black with a thin tan head. Aroma of cherries and some chocolate. Incredibly tart from the cherries. The actual stout itself is actually a little thin, but I do like the tart cherries. Enjoyable.

Pours a deep black body with a thin brown head. Sour with cherry up front leading into roasted coffee and chocolate, then a sweet cherry finish. Very nice.

On draught @ the Eccentric Café. Pretty much pitch black, 1cm tan head. More stout-like than fruit beer dominant, this is a beer that I hoped to enjoy a bit more. You get the acidity, especially towards the end, but not so much juiciness. Otherwise, the base stout is from Bells, so solid, medium-bodied and with an agreeable texture and luscious chocolatey roastiness. More carbonation than most in this one, but it remains smooth and not clashing.

Bottle. I thought this was very good actually. Reminded me of a mix of Kalamazoo and NG Belgian Red. Light on the maltyness, but the tart cherry definately comes through.

I’m sorry to say that this is the first beer from Bells that I am very dissapointed with. To be frank, It tastes like an amazing stout, with very tart cherry juice mixed in. I was really expecting an amazing stout, with a nice cherry afterthought. It pours a very dark brown. and has quite a misleading aroma, without any hint of cherry. It really does go downhill with the flavor.