“Why the gripe? Well we had a bit of an in-house biffo so hence the name. And yes, it tastes like cherry, chocolate and coconut in perfect balance! Brewed with our mates from the Clare Valley Brewing Co. Not that Damo did anything at all. Lazy bugger.”
Glassware: Tulip.
Appearance: Opaque black with two fingers of fizzy brown head resting atop. Steady reduction, eventually settling to a halo. Lacing is wet and sparse as we hook in.
Aroma: Definitely hitting that fruity dessert beer note with lashings of juicy cherry, coconut flakes, strawberry jam, vanilla, chocolate and nutty malts. Maybe just a hint of toast and earthy truffle and or cocoa getting a look in also. Not so much cherry ripe, more jam doughnut meets lamington.
Flavour: Cherry ripe?? Nowhere to be seen. Yes there’s jammy notes of cherry, strawberry etc with hints of chocolate and coconut but nothing about it screams cherry ripe. More cherry fruits through the mid leading in to a mild roasty, dry and chocolate finish. Length isn’t too bad at least.
Mouthfeel: Lean and slippery – not what we’d expect from a 7.5% dessert stout. Mild Co2 and body.
Overall: Weak, watery and hardly resembling a cherry ripe. The reason why beers like Golden Stout Time (Big shed), Snickers and Ferrari Rocher (Bacchus) are so good is that they taste exactly like the sweet they’re emulating. They would have been better off brewing this and just calling it a cherry stout.