Chocolate Cherry Stout
Rhodell Brewery

The selection at Rhodell's was wide but pretty standard. Since this was my first of the evening I was looking for something with medium-IBUs, but since we didn't have much time to spend in Rhodell's I also wanted to try something neat and adventuresome. So this was just perfect. And, hey, hats off to the brewmaster, too. Lots of beer bars add fruit flavoring to low-strength beers in order to give the ladies something to drink, but few actually try to brew something worthwhile with fruit.

Solid stout pour. Deeply dark ruby with a small, tight head.

Smells of CHERRIES. All caps. Very sweet, candied cherries--not the fresh kind. Maraschino syrup. As it got warmer I could big up a little teeny bit of roasted malt, but overall the cherries were large and mostly pleasantly in charge.

The solid aroma isn't well represented in the flavor. The cherries are overwhelming and blot out nearly everything else. After a few sips you're able to tell that you're drinking a stout--there's some basic dry hops and singed barley. But the cherries do not die. And as it warms up they begin tasting fake, not just candied but medicinal, and by the end it was kind of like cough syrup.

Regulars kept showing up (does Peoria have townies?) and gasping with delight when they saw this on the menu. Me, I thought it was far too uneven. Still, a big step up from most other brewpub's "ladies" selections.