Bells Cherry Stout

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

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!

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours a dark brown to just short of black, with a tan head. Notes of cherries dipped in brandy come through, as do some slightly coffee-like notes from the base stout. The palate brings stout first, roasty, slightly acidic, and slightly acrid; followed by the cherries. A tremendous complexity results, seemingly alternating from the black malts of the stout to the sweetish/tartish notes of the cherries and back again. The finish is fairly dry. Overall, one of the best Bell’s products I’ve had, and a solid stout/fruit beer.

Pours black with brown head. Aroma of burnt malts and cherries. Sweet roasty flavor with a tart cherry finish. Slightly ashy to it. Full body with mild carbonation. This is the first Bells beer that I didn’t want to have again.

Thank you to Adrian for another bottle of Bells. Cute label. This pours like a stout, but does not have a lot of aroma. This is the first fruit stout that I have come across, and it has an interesting flavor. Roasty light stout taste plus some citrus tartness, charcoal plus cherry. A good brew, but not the best out of Kalamazoo.

I bought a 6 pack for 12 bucks = ouch ! I’m drinking it outa the bottle... I’m tasting more... chocolate / malt ? I bought it for the 7% Gettin a buzz.. it works... Won’t buy again unless I get it cheaper... Definitely different !