Bells Cherry Stout

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

I love love love this beer. It took me forever to come around to it. At first I hated it, but for some reason it called to me, and I kept buying sixer after sixer of it. After much drinking, it finally dawned on me how delicious this is. The cherries are so tart and tangy and potent and delicious, but the stout is so sweet and rich. They balance out perfectly, creating an intense, clever, drinkable, and strangely thirst quenching beer.

12 oz. bottle, batch 7734. This has been in my cellar for awhile, probably around six months, maybe more. Aroma of creamy milk chocolate and cherries, like a pice of cherry cordial candy. Also plum, port, and vanilla scents. Very pleasant and appetizing smell. Pours a hazy, opaque, dark brown with a maroon hue. Some suspended particulate in the liquid. Tiny amount of short lasting, soft, light brown head. Tastes like a mix of mocha and cherry juice. The sharp cherry taste is quite strong. This beer takes some getting used to, but it ends up pretty good. I’d argue that it’s a bit too sweet. Light, roasted coffee bitter aftertaste. Surprisingly light body (light to medium body overall, but I expected something heavier). Soft, smooth, and creamy in the palate, but also lively. I don’t think the liveliness works well with the softness. Bell’s cherry stout is a solid brew, and I’m glad I tried it, but it’s far from perfect, and it certainly didn’t blow me away.

On tap @ Barley’s. This is a dark mahogany pour, hint of red in the edges, and off-white head. Aroma is -- you guessed it -- cherries. I get a baked sour cherry smell from it. This tastes to me as if you mixed a real dry stout with a cherry lambic, minus the sweetness. Rounded out with hints of chocolate. It is definitely worth trying, but I thoroughly enjoyed this from the bottle moreso than draft.

Aroma is sweet, roasted and malty, with dried fruits and definitely a tart cherry scent. Rounded, viscous mouthfeel. Tart cherry up front, sour and sweet, shifting to a dark roasted coffee flavor. Not bad, and better than a lot of fruit beers, but could definitely use some more bitterness to balance things out, and less of the tartness. As it is, the cherry and the stout don’t blend quite harmoniously.

bottle. pours a pitch black with a 1/4" tan head... looks wonderful. however the overall taste is very tart and a bit sour.... not really to my liking. However, it is not bad, just not really my thing. some aromas of sweet cherries.... the palate is consumed with these cherries as the name would indicate, but it consumes too much of the beer’s character. In the great picture, this is not a bad beer... but I would not buy again... too many other excellent offerings from Bells.

A little bit of cold coffee grounds on the nose, apricot, faint cherry, no hop aroma. A mouthfeel that is unpleasantly astringent, not really sour but a bit tart and drying. The flavors don’t blend well in this beer, two different things with no common ground in the middle. Not so great, but I still like Bell’s brewery.

Wow, I thought I rated this. Pours a deep black with a thin with head. Aroma of chocolate, toffee, and cherries. Taste is VERY tart. Cherries overwhelm the palate. Finish is very tart, then sour, and fades to faint chocolate.

Bottled at Akkurat, Stockholm. Pours out in a opaque black colour with a small pale brown head. Rich, full and fat aroma of toasted malts, cocoa, butter, black coffee, cream, crackers and tart cherries. Nearly full-bodied with notes of chocolate cake, nuts, coffee and cherry-skins. Long, full, smooth and lasting finish of tart cherries and black cherries. Really tasty, I just love the stouts from Bells.