Shiner Morello Dark Cherry
Spoetzl Brewery

 

12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, best before 2/13/2020. Pours crystal clear dark ruby red/brown color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas and flavors of big juicy/tart/tangy red/black cherries, fruit skin/pits, almonds, cocoa, coffee, brown bread/crust, light caramel, herbal, wood, grass, and pepper. Getting a very slight metallic note. Light herbal, woody, grassy, peppery, roasted bitterness; and fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart/tangy red/black cherries, fruit skin/pits, almonds, cocoa, coffee, brown bread/crust, light caramel, herbal, wood, grass, and pepper on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, dark/roasted malts, and earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitter/tartness balance, and no cloying/acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Fairly crisp finishing. Perfectly clean on lager flavors, with no fruity/yeasty notes. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitter/tartness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky/tangy/tannic mouthfeel that is nice. Minimal warming alcohol for 7%. Overall this is a delicious fruited dark lager. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of cherries, dark/roasted malts, and earthy hop flavors; very smooth and fairly crisp/refreshing to drink with the mellowly bitter/tart/tangy/drying finish. Great balance of juicy cherries, dark/roasted/Munich malts, and earthy hops. Mild residual sweetness with lingering bitter/tart/tangy dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and impressive style example. I definitely enjoyed this a lot more than I expected.

Appearance: Claret colored, with a large, finely-beaded, cream-colored head with very good persistence. Unbroken sheets of fine-beaded lacing adorns the glass wall. Minute pearls of carbonation drift lazily to the surface in almost unbroken chains.

Aroma: Ripe cherry skins, vanilla, and bittersweet chocolate contrast with sweet alcohol, offering an almost wine-like aroma.

Taste: The taste opens with bittersweet chocolate and ripe cherry skins. Soon after there is a wave of mildly warming, vinous alcohol. A bit of cold coffee appears later in the taste. Finishes with a slight, but lingering wood and herbal note and bittersweet cocoa.

Mouth feel: Very soft and full, with just a bit of zesty carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: Shiner is to be commended for not creating an alco-pop, with excessive fruit flavors, and a high ABV. Shiner Morello Dark Cherry is as reminiscent of a wine as it is of an ale. A fine effort.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twelve-ounce brown glass bottle, with a twist-off crown, served in a Save the World Brewing teku.

Overall, this is a pretty decent beer. I can't say that I will search out a place just to drink it again, but it is a nice change from the usual stuff. The taste does have cherry and chocolate in it and the ABV is not overpowering at all. This is one of those beers that I don't mind having one of, but I would not drink additional ones at one sitting. Well worth trying though.

 

 

 

From my Shiner mix pack, 12 oz long neck poured into a pint glass, the beer is dark brown with mahogany highlights. There is a skim of light tan foam.

Nose of chocolate covered cherries and some dark fruit.

First taste is both cherries and a slight bit of coco. There is some raisin and crackers in the background. Cherry taste stays consistent through out and nudges the rest of the flavors to the side. I give the brewer credit for not making an overly sweet or cloying beer. I have always liked the base beer (black lager), so I think a good foundation was in place.

The mouth is medium and would like to see it a tad thicker as I think of this a desert beer. It is a once in while beer for me.

 

This beer is a bit underrated. Mine was poured from a bottle into a tulip glass.

Clear dark brown color with nice white head and great lacing. Fairly sweet cherry smell and taste. Pleasant chocolate flavor, good with cheese and crackers. Not a great beer but not bad either.

 

I tried this beer in a combo pack, it tasted AWFUL. It had a chemical/ medicine taste, like a strong cough syrup.

Pours an effervescent chestnut with a pinky of tan head. Some lacing & head retention

S: Cheery juice & brown bread

T: Follows the nose, faint figgyness, dryness & a little woody hop up front. More cherry, dryness & brown bread as this warms. Finishes dry with figs & cherry

MF: Medium body & subtle carbonation

This worked better than I thought it, on the verge of being too sweet, but restrained enough

12oz bottle into a pint glass. Best by 4/14/20, so guessing about 3 months old.

Looks very nice. Deep dark clear Ruby red colored body. Small off white head dissipates to a ring, very little lacing.

Aroma of cherry and chocolate......

......and then it starts to go very wrong. The initial mouthful is a nice cherry/dark chocolate, but very quickly the chocolate disappears, and I'm left with a medicinal bitter cherry cough syrup filling the mouth.

Mouth between medium and full, finish bitter chemical chocolate cough syrup. Slightly coats as well.

Overall, what looks and smells pretty good, becomes an unpleasant syrupy bitter taste in the mouth. And it's hard to find the lager in this one. Heading for a drain pour here.

 

I’m re-doing my eval. I didn’t like this at first and gave it a bad review based on my uneducated bias.
Looks dark brown, nearly black but still translucent.
Smells of vanilla and chocolate with a slight hint of cherry.
Taste is semisweet, chocolate, maraschino cherry, burnt coffee. It is more flavorful as it warms. I would think 50 might be a good serving temp.
The finish is not really all that heavy. I’d say a medium finish.
Not something to slug down, sip it very slowly.
For what it is, it’s well made and is enjoyable if you treat as such.
Cheers

 

Poured from a bottle. Dark and brownish red with a tan head that disappears quickly. Aroma of malt and dark cherry and the taste follows suit. Very smooth and easy drinker for a 7 avb. Cherry is spot on I think.