Bells Cherry Stout

From the bottle, via Galtscat for the inaugural DMBT of ’07. Has a nice funky smell and pours well. Taste is what you expect... a Bells stout with a lingering Cherry effect. Solid beer. No doubt this can convert some timid girls into the lucrative world of dark, heavy ales.

Bottle: January DMBT. I was kind of lit up when I tried this, so im going mostly on a fuzzy memory here. I remember liking this, but the sourness that the cherry creates left an odd taste in my mouth. This is pretty good, but it’s going to take me some time to warm up to the idea of fruit in my stout.

Bottle. Pours a dark reddish black with a thin heading. Nose is cafe cherr-ray. The sweetness of the cherries cuts the coffee bitterness maybe a little too much. This is very rich from the sweetness and was delicious in the first few mouthfuls, however, it became somewhat cloying in the finish but i would have this again. Thanks to ogglethorp for this one

Oozed nearly black out of the bottle and into my pint glass. Very thick, coating body. Aroma was lightly sweet wuth just a hint of cherries. Flavor had coffee and tart cherries, with some chocolate notes. Not a combination that I prefer, but a well-made beer nonetheless.

I was hoping the cherry would add some flavor to the malt profile, but i don’t think it complimented it well.

12 oz bottle. Pours black in color with dark brown head. Aroma of cherrys, coffee and roasty malt. Taste Sweet and tart cherrys, coffee and dark chocolate with chocolate bitter after taste.

Pours a dark brown with reddish tint (mahogany). Small foamy red-brown head, dissipates clean, no lacing. Aroma is cherry with notes of coffee and nuts, malty. Wow, strong fruity cherry flavor right off then subsides to a tart bitter malt. Oily feel. Not an easy drinker.

Poured a thick onyx with a dark brown head that dissipated completely. Every time I pour a Bell’s stout, I think to myself that it has been way too long since my last one. Though usually more of a paler beer fan, Bell’s stands as the one huge exception. Aroma of acidic wild cherries, some dark chocolate, a bit of roastiness. Flavor is, I think, quite well balanced. Tart wild cherries come to the surface with a sweet and sour essence, but just when you think it might be a bit too much, some roasted coffee and dark chocolate from the stout come from behind to balance it out better. I was happy to find that the exceptional Bell’s stout flavors were not completely overpowered by the cherry. Shocked that it’s 8.5%, as I can’t taste any alcohol at all. Body feels ok but perhaps a tad thin. Overall, I’d call this an underrated product. Even so, if perhaps we could get even more of the stout roastiness into this beer and have the cherry be a bit more of a supporting cast member, this could easily be an exceptional fruit beer.