Bells Cherry Stout

Pours a very dark black with a very thin tan head. Aroma has a pronounced tart cherry presence, chocolate malty character, a modest bitter roast character also seems to come through and a light coffee note. Flavor starts off with a hefty tart cherry taste, a very smooth middle of chocolate malt, sweet cherry kicks in, a smooth coffee bitter and the brew finishes with a tongue puckering dryness. The beer is very very dense with it moving like oil in your mouth with the low carbonation really accentuating this mouth feel. Overall a fantastic beer. No flavor dominates and they seem to meld very well together. Dryness at the end really seems to make the stout as you generally don’t get this characteristic in them. A bit price but definitely worth the money.

Dark, oily pour. Some head quickly dissipates. Smell is strongly of cherry and malt. Taste is tart cherry, sour apples. Chocolate, malt. Tart overshadows any hop character. Overall, a great brew.

Black pour with a thin dark brown head with very little rentention. Overwhelming nose of brewer’s licorice, which also dominates the flavor. Both the aroma and the flavor also have good amounts of overripened dark cherries, with a strong tartness cutting through the finish. Give me Kalamazoo Stout over this any day!

Bottle thanks to kmyers8807. Pour is black with almost no head. Aroma is very tart with lots of cherry and a light roasted malt backbone. Flavor is very similar to nose. There is a lot of tart cherry up front with faint malt notes and a touch of chocolate. The first time I had this was years ago and I did not like it then, but this was much better than I remember. Much more balanced, the cherry does dominate but the malt balanced it out enough.

Pours opaque black with a bit of tan head. Aromas of cherry, and sweet, dark roasted malts emerge. The flavor is somewhat simple, but nice, sweet, tart cherry plus creamy roasted malt flavors, ending with a bit of coffee like bitterness. The mouthfeel is smooth and thick. Overall, a nice stout.

Deep black beer with a thin tan head. The aroma is lovely. Rich sweet chocolate and tart cherry aroma. There is a bit of bitter roasted malt and a touch of light cherry acidity. The flavour is quite nice. Softly earthy with a bit of cherry and a touch of light cocoaish bitterness. The cherryish acidity is quite prominent in here and rises up early in the finish before the dark roasted malts pick up and give a lingering roastiness. It’s pretty nice, but I think a sweeter cherry might have worked better. I find a bit of clashing between the tartness of the cherry and the roastiness of the dark malts.

The tart cherrys and mocha coffee and chocolate flavors make this beer, tasty. Not blow away, but a good starter beer for stout lovers.

12 ounce bottle - $2.99 at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia. Batch 8957. "Your Bell’s Cherry Stout was packaged on February 5, 2009". Fascinating! Appearance: Pours a deep, black body with a rather tall, frothy, tan-colored head. Smell: Quite a mixture of deeply roasted barley, bittersweet chocolate, chicory, and tart-scented cherries. A bit like a Black Forest cake. Taste: Roasted barley interspersed with some burnt malts. Heavy bittersweet chocolate sauce taste mingled with ground chicory. Moderately sweet. Blitz of tart, sourish dark cherry juice with a touch of acidity. Lightly earthy hops alongside the roasty bitterness of the malts. Slightly tart, roasty finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Smooth, slick mouthfeel. Drinkability: Decent. I do so love a great stout and Bell’s does make a great many of them, but, well, this one just doesn’t quite do it for me. Pass the Kalamazoo or Expedition, please!