Holiday "Cheery" Stout
Town Hall Brewery

Pours to a murky brown color with a tinge of red. It formed a creamy, tan head that left behind decent lacework. The aroma is lightly roasty and malty, with a bit of chocolate and a subtle cherry aroma. The flavor is malty and roasty with coffee notes. It has a sour cherry flavor in the bittering finish. The cherries are not to pronounced in this one, but a very nice beer anyway.

Was looking to get a growler and found that it was only on cask...hmmm...oh well...so I sat down to have lunch with one. Comes in the usual pint glass with the casacde of yellow from the pull flying up the glass, always classy. Settles very deep mahogany brown with a glowing patchwork of ruby/brown at the edges. Medium ivory head of velvety smoothness, nice and tightly whipped looking. Foamed collar always present. Aroma is nice and sweet with a great roastyness behind. Has a twinge of woodyness with soft underlays of sweet cherry and semi-sweet chocolate. Taste is nice and mild with favorable sweetness in the roastyness and a softened cherryness with a nudge of tartness to it. There's a bit of woody tones to it that add some depth in the sweetness along with very light chcoclate, but all the flavors blend well together. Its not all that thick and doesn't seem necessary either as its firm full body and smooth creamy feel lend for a nice notion of drinking and flavor. Very nice sweet mild character with just the right amount of tartness and matches up with a easy clean finish. Nice calm texture too. A real winner for the snowtimes. One of the better cherry brews I've had without alot of that cherry sweet/sourness that seems to overwhelm, this has none of that really. Calming cherry character throughout. On-cask this was Good stuff!

This beer came with a ring of foam on the side of the glass, meaning this probably had a huge head. It came with a moderate sized head, and smelled of chocolate, coffee and sweetness. The flavor was of a stout, only with a sweetness added to it. I honestly couldn't tell that it was cherry flavoring, it wasn't that dostinct. I liked the oatmeal stout better.

On tap at the brewpub....

Vary dark burnt umber appearance, tannish skim head -- latte-like. Laces in thin drips. Coffee-like tones to the aroma, plenty of roastiness. Mouthfeel is excellent, coating and thick with well-done low carbonation. The flavor echos the java qualities of the smell, with a good amount of semi-sweet baker's chocolate and a reserved sense of macerated cherries. Good marriage here, authentic tasting fruit and Stout qualitiews without the whallop of something a like Bell's Cherry. Well done...

The color of this stout is a deep brown. A thin brown head forms and then dissipates gradually. The aroma has nice roasted tones and coffee bean with faint cherry flavors in the background. The beauty in the taste of this beer is the subtlety of the cherry flavor. (And it is a Real cherry flavor as real fruit, rather than "Cherry Extract", was used.) The stout flavors are wonderful. Bittersweet chocolate, roasted coffee bean, mocha, burnt malts and a little char. And the subtle cherry flavor adds just enough to give this beer an added dimension. The mouthfeel is quite creamy. Body is better than medium. Highly drinkable. I will revisit this beer in growler form soon.

To quote from the brewer:"An Irish dry stout with doses of two different cherries. Red Tart cherries and dark sweet cherries were added to the fermenters to create the roasty delicate cherry taste. Only real fruit was used to make this beer, so the cherry flavor is actual."
Deep dark, practically black color, with rubyish tinges 'round the sides, crowned with a prodigious, creamy, fluffy head of chestnutty foam.
Aroma: roasty, slightly bitter, espressoish, earthy, dry, with a hint of the cherries, but only if you know what you're looking for. Quite nice.
Taste: Bittersweetness greets us right away, with the bright cherry flavor which rides comfortably in the mouth, and rolls along the palate, happily bumping up against the tastebuds. Body is medium, not too full, texture is just enough. And the cherry sweetness is always in your company, just right, not too sweet, not too tart. Probably the best fruit-flavored stout I've had...except when I think back on their Cabernet Stout from this fall...man, there's no stopping Town Hall!
This was another nice accomplishment from Mr. Hoops, just enough stout, just enough cherry. Cheers!