Bells Cherry Stout

I was really looking forward to this one. A cherry twist on my favorite...the sweet stout. What wasn’t to love? Sadly enough...this beer. Smelled good enough...the aroma isn’t as full bodied as I like, but had a hint of chocolate and cherries in there. Beer poured with a medium thickness and a thin head. Color was a rich black with a red tint; very nice looking. Taste was thin and slightly watery, bitter with only a hint of cherry. Nice touch of malt int he brew, and some choclate working as well, but just not enough to balance out the tartness from the cherry. Worst part was, the cherries themselves were hardly evident in the flavor, just the tart and bitterness. May try this one again down the road.

12 oz bottle. Thick black pour with a dark tan head and nice lacing on the glass. Strong malty chocolate aroma with lots of cherry. Hints of spice, maybe cinnamon. Typical strong stout flavor with lots of bitter roast. Cherry flavor is prominent but not overwhelming, and even a bit subtle. Good balance with a sour finish and a slight alcohol after taste. Good fruit beer!

Bottle batch 8152. Almost opaque dark brown with small tan head. Lots of roasted malt in the aroma with sweetness and hops. Sour/tar cherry taste with roast, chocolate, sweet malt, some alc. Medium bodied and creamy. Very nice.

Bottle, batch #8219. Pitch black pour with a nice cream head. Cherries, chocolate and licorice in the nose. Expected. Flavors of coffee, cool cherries, and some chocolate. Warm, engaging, drinkable. Decent, but there are better from Bells, especially better stouts.

bottle. Only a few months into my craft beer experience, this is the first beer I’ve had with enough tart to stimulate the sides of my tongue. Each drink started with a 1-2 second exponential growth of tartness with the sides then acting like duel runways carrying the flavor to the back of the tongue where I experienced a nice bitter stout finish. I wish that the beer was a little sweeter as I’m not sure if I tasted cherries or just associated the tartness to them. Overall, I enjoyed this beer if no other reason than I enjoyed the tartness and plan on trying some sour ales sometime soon.

Quite a tasty and interesting beer. This beer begins with a sweet but sour note that really isn’t suggested on the aroma. Pretty good though I would have liked a little more cherry aftertaste but instead I get mostly malt with only minimal tart. Very nice overall.

From bottle : Pours a quite dark brown, possible black, with evil looking red highlights. Thin light brown head, that dissapates to a little ring around the rim. Nose is a little weak at first, but gets more profound as the beer warms a little. A malty smell is dominante, with small hints of sourness and some cherries finally find there way out and into my nostrils. Taste is really very good. Sweet, smooth, and has a wonderful little tart middle, then finishes with a pleasent roasted aftertaste. Small amounts of cherries are present, but are more noticable as you work your way through the beer, and it warms a little closer to room tempature. Very good though, very impressed, and countinue to love Bells Beers.

Deep dark brown coloured body with a thin tan head atop the beer and as you tilt the glass to the sides, you see a faint ruby tint. Aroma of alcohol, sherry, port, roasted malt, bitter chocolate and some nice Michigan cherries. Medium to Full-bodied; Tang of cherries up front fading quickly into a strong malty finish complete with the bitter qualities of roasted malt and chocolate & coffee. Aftertaste shows the bitterness with a bit of the cherry fruityness throughout. Overall, a decent beer - not as strong in the cherry flavour as I had hoped for, but all-in-all a good beer. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan on 29-October-2005 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.