Tasting Notes: Bell's Cherry Stout

Brewery: Bell's Brewery
Style: Cherry Stout
ABV: 7.0%
Date Poured: September 2008

After blasting Bell's Hopslam, I though it was only fair to drink a couple other of the Bell's beers I grabbed while down in Florida...some stouts! This is what Bell's does best so I was pretty excited to sample a couple that I have not tried before. First up is the Bell's Cherry Stout. This beer is a winter release so this is from last year's batch. It's a 7.0% ABV stout brewed with cherry juice.

Pours jet black with a thin brown head. No lacing. Roasty but very sweet aromas roasted malt, have to search a bit but the cherry aromas are there as well.

Cherry flavors much more evident in the taste. The tart cherry flavors blend nicely with the sweet roasted malt. Cherry is the prominent flavor but the malt takes a very close second. Sweet and roasty latte flavors intertwined with the tart cherry flavor and finishes quite sweet. The aftertaste is bitter chocolate and cherry juice.

Outstanding cherry stout! It's beers like these that Bell's should stick to.

Bell's Brewery

Tasting Notes: Florida Brewery Spotlight - Holy Mackerel Mack in Black

Brewer: Gordash Brewing
Style: Imperial Black Ale
ABV: 8.00%
Date Poured: August 2008


A small spotlight on some beers brewed in Florida. Before I did some research for my trip last month, I couldn't have named a Florida brewery. But they do have a few.


The first offering is from a brand new contract brewed operation called Gordash Brewing. The brewer is a former homebrewer who won the Sam Adams World Homebrew Contest. Mack in Black is one of the two beers they have on the market and bills itself as an Imperial Black Ale.

Pours jet black. No light escaping from this one. A persistent but thin light brown head. The pomegranate juice is evident in the aroma buoyed by a sweet roasty malt.

Tastes of roasty malt with the fruity sweetness from the pomegranate. As it warms the pomegranate fades a bit and lets that big roastiness through. Big full body with a lingering sweetness.

My only complaint is that the pomegranate is a little heavy handed. The bottle says it can be aged for up to two years. I wonder if some age will mellow out the fruit. Three more bottles left. I plan to find out.


Gordash Brewing

Free Beer? One Man's True Story

It's not everyday you get a chance for free beer so when it comes, you had better take advantage of it.

Thanks to a tip for a Beer Advocate buddy, I learned about a new Atlanta bar called Stout Irish Pub that is offering a free beer and lunch to announce their opening. Not one to leave free beer on the table, I took them up on the offer.

Stout (Stout's?) is not exactly a cozy bar. It's a hybrid of an Irish-themed pub and a sports bar. While the atmosphere was lacking, the service was not. The waitress was prompt and friendly and the beer menu was surprisingly good. The draft list is fair with the highlight being Rogue Chocolate Stout. The bottle list stands at 40 with highlights including Bridge Port Stout, Left Hand Imperial Stout, Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout, Sweetwater 420, Stoudts Double IPA and Duvel. Not a beer geek's dream but a very nice list. It would certainly be the best beer menu in the Buckhead neighborhood where this bar is.

I had an Old Rasputin Imperial Stout with their burger. The burger was surprisingly good and they had malt vinegar and salt to put on the fries, always a plus in my book. I also sampled their "house beer" but that turned out to be the very disappointing Anheuser Busch product, Bareknuckle Stout.

Overall, great food and great beer make for a great experience. It's hardly a special trip destination but if I find myself in Buckhead, this would be the place to stop off for a pint.

Stout Irish Pub

Tasting Notes: Kalamazoo Stout

Brewery: Bell's Brewing Company

Date Poured: September 2007

ABV: 6.5%

I love Bell's Brewing. I unabashedly state that they are the best brewers of stout in the country. So I am thrilled to finally get ahold of some Kalamazoo Stout, one of the few Bell's offerings I have not tried.

This beer is pitch black in the glass with a dense tan head you could support small coins. Smells sweet and chocolatey with light hints of mocha. Very nice.

There is much more coffee in the flavor than in the nose. More bitter than I was expecting but with a sweetness that offsets it. The bitter and the sweet lead to flavors reminiscient of dark chocolate.

A nice thick body that is just heavenly in the mouth. Drinks smooth as silk with some light smokiness in the aftertaste acconpanied by hints of coffee and a creamy sweetness.

It's money. I might drink nothing but stout if Bell's distributed to Atlanta...

Bell's Brewery

Tasting Notes: Flying Monkey Four Finger Stout

Brewer: Flying Monkey

ABV: ???

Poured: 10/2007

(I'm clearing out some old notes from back in the fall. Here's the first one...)

Still more from the stash rounded up this summer from the Great Midwest...

This stout pours black, of course, with a dense brown head. Lots of mocha aromas and supported by burnt malt and roasty smells. Strident but lesser sweetish dark malt aromas mixed in there as well.

It's a nice balance of sweet and bitter flavors, damn near perfect balance as far as I'm concerned. Lots of dark chocolate flavors here with sweetish finish, lightly sticky and rich. Very full bodied with a lightly bitter finish.

It's nice, one of the best stouts I've had in awhile. I am impressed. Run, don't walk.

Flying Monkey Beer

25 Beers of Christmas, Day 14: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout 04-05

I am woefully behind in my 25 Beers posts. Let's try to catch up...

Another old winter favorite takes the stage next. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is an annual ritual and one of the better aging beers I've experimented with. Upon release it needs a good year in the cellar before it really shines. At 10%, it's sometimes a little hot right away. This bottle is three years old, the 04-05 version.

Pours like motor oil with a quickly dissipating light brown head. Smells chocolatey with hints of alcohol esters. There are aromas of dark fruit from oxidation and a hint of vanilla.


The taste is sweet and chocoaltey with almost no hint of alcohol. Lightly bitter with smooth mocha flavors. A big sweet sticky mouth. There's some light oaky and black currant flavors from oxidation. Sticky finish with some estery alcohol in the finish.

It's a good one. Throw a couple in the basement.

Brooklyn Brewing

Tasting Notes: Bear Republic Big Bear Stout

Brewery: Bear Republic Brewery

Poured: July 2007

ABV: 8.1%

I brought back this bomber from a business trip to Wilmington, DE earlier this year.

It pours a dark opaque brown, not a motor oil black like I expected, with a rocky tan head. Smells sweet and malty with significant citrusy hops in the nose, no roastiness detected.

There is a good balance of the sweet and roasty dark malts in the flavor. There is some persistent citrusy hops peeking through in the finish, unusual for a big stout like this. Mouth is medium bodied but lots of flavor. The roastiness builds as you make your way through the glass. The aftertaste has lots of hops, Cascade certainly or something like it. The robust ABV is well-masked and is very drinkable.

Bear Republic makes damn good beer, in case you haven't heard.

Bear Republic Brewing Company