Pale Ale - Cherry
Founders Brewing Company

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From:
Founders Brewing Company
 
Michigan, United States
Style:
Fruit and Field Beer
ABV:
7.1%
Score:
85
Avg:
3.62 | pDev: 8.56%
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
10
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jan 30, 2011
Added:
Jul 23, 2004
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by chadlebald:
Photo of chadlebald
Reviewed by chadlebald from California

2.93/5  rDev -19.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
Okay, so one caveat to this review: it's the Cherise I'm reviewing which may or may not be the pseudonym for this beer.

I do love me some cherries (and beer point of reference is mostly lindemans in that regard). But I'm not sold on this. It DEFINITELY hits the fresh cherry bit. Tastes like cherries in a glass. And I guess that's where it also fails me a bit--more like drinking a cherry soda than beer.

The malts aren't coming through for me. Seems that with this much cherry the sweetness has to give me some lovely malts too (I'm thinking roasted--porter perhaps would have worked well).

I am okay with the lack of hop nose, but if they pushed the bittering hops, that could have helped too.

For me, bottom line is that it's drinkable. I'll finish the pint but won't come back for more. To its credit, it's got me thinking about using this as a starting point for a home brew...
Sep 09, 2010
More User Ratings:
Photo of Bigc3031
Reviewed by Bigc3031 from Michigan

3.56/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3
I don't like cherries.
I love them, and this beer just let me down. Instead of great beer(which I have come to expect from Founders) I got a good beer that had a bit of a medicine taste to it. I don't know if there was a hops addition that fouled the overall taste, but there was a bitterness that took away from the fruity flavor.

I really, really wanted to like this beer but couldn't.
Jan 30, 2011
Photo of JayS2629
Reviewed by JayS2629 from Alabama

4.18/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 3 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A- Pinkish rose color with thin white head that sticks around with descent head.

S- Tart cherries, and caramel malts

T- Tart in front with a nice sweet cherry flavor following, underneath is a nice caramel tone of malt. Almost like a wine cooler but less fizzy and with more malt and bitterness. Sour cherry keeps the sweetness down.

M- Thin and sticky with medium carbonation

D- Very drinkable. Tart followed with sweet. Sour cherry keeps it from being cloying, and its nicely balanced. Big hit with the wife.
Jan 06, 2011
Photo of mzrebiec
Reviewed by mzrebiec from Pennsylvania

3.67/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 2.5
Founders did not hold back on the cherries in this beer. It has a wonderful pinkish/red hew when poured with very little head. The nose is of pure cherries....nothing else I could pick up. Then the taste...WOW. It smacks you in the face with cherries. You almost want to chew on the beer due to such a bold flavor profile. It is not very drinkable due to its sweetness and cherry flavor in my opinion. Lacing was not bad by the way. Definitely a beer for the female crowd more so than not.
Aug 15, 2010
Photo of WakeandBake
Reviewed by WakeandBake from Michigan

3.8/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Notes from Oct 7, 2008
On Tap at Founders. Kind of a nice pinkish color,with a thin light pink head. Nose of cherry, pale malt and a hint of hops.Flavor is of tart cherries,and a hint of pale malt. Lighter-bodied with high carbonation,and a dry finish.Very good , and I would believe to be quite sessionable.
Sep 21, 2009
Photo of hopdog
Reviewed by hopdog from Pennsylvania

3.52/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
On tap at Capones.

Poured a medium pinkish/amerish color with a smaller sized pinkish tinged head. Aromas of cherries with some yeastiness. Tastes of cherries with lighter yeastiness. Starts out semi-sweet and ends in a lighter tart finish. Pinkish tinged lacing left on the glass.
Apr 01, 2009
Photo of CortexBomb
Reviewed by CortexBomb from Michigan

3.44/5  rDev -5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Darkish red pour with a moderate head. Nose is wonderfully tart with the vaguest malt underbody.

The flavour on this is essentially Founders Pale with a heaping pile of cherries piled on top of it. Clearly they used a lot of real fruit (like all of their fruit beers) as the flavour is exceptionally tart but not cloyingly sweet, which is the usual hallmark of artificially fruit flavoured beers.

Moderately easy drinking depending on your personal tolerance for fruit beers. I wouldn't have more than one for a change of pace, personally.

Overall: A smooth, tasty example of a fruit beer. If you like cherries, then this is definitely worth trying.
Dec 31, 2008
Photo of tburkhart
Reviewed by tburkhart from Ohio

3.85/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured into a pint glass from a growler I picked up from Founder's on a recent brewpub trip through Michigan. This growler was about 3 weeks old, but still quite tasty.

Pours a golden/orange with minimal carbonation (3 week old growler, go figure) Head dissipates quickly leaving nice lacing throughout the entire glass.

Smells of cherries ... tastes of cherries.

Pretty think on the mouth, but very drinkable.

This is definitely a beer I could drink a few of in a night. That's good since I have to polish off this growler.
Oct 23, 2008
Photo of Mitchster
Reviewed by Mitchster from Michigan

3.78/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Pours to a clear caramel-red, like Red-pop, forming a modest off-pink head with ok retention and lacing. Moderate carbonation. Aroma is soft, especially after having already drank my Imperial IPA and Breakfast stout, but I did pick up on soft pale malts and lots of sour bing cherries. Mouthfeel is soft, yet lively with a tart medium-body. Taste is exactly as decribed, a really good Pale Ale with tons of sour bing cherries. The ingrediants blend harmoniously and seamlessly and accentuate the character of each. Mild green fruity hops with a light sourness provided by the cherries with cherry skin and hop astringency and a touch of alcohol. Crisp finish with no off-flavors.

This is a really good brew. Despite the fact that it's not overly rich, sweet, or tart, I could only handle drinking one. Another great beer from the virtuoso brewers at Founders.
Aug 15, 2004
Photo of granger10
Reviewed by granger10 from Wisconsin

3.5/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This is a very strongly cherry flavored beer. The appearance is cherryish with a small head that faded and bubbles that rised to the top. Looked almost like a cherry coke or something like that. Very pop like. The smell was strong on the cherry flavor. The taste also had a strong cherry flavor but it was sweet cherries not tart ones. Very sweet in taste, esp upfront. There was a good beer base to this one though that helped it from tasting alcopop-like as many cherry beers do. But this isn't really my style. Refreshing, which was what I wanted on this hot summer day, but not much more. This might be really good for a fruit beer fan or a girl who doesn't like beer but it pales in comparison to the other beers Founder's has to offer.
Jul 23, 2004
Pale Ale - Cherry from Founders Brewing Company
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 10 ratings