Cherry Porter
Lang Creek Brewery

Poured into a pint glass at 42 degrees.

Appearance: A dark brown color with a reddish hue. There is a one finger head that is ivory with a reddish hue. The clarity of the beer is opaque.

Nose: A nice malt aroma with hints of cherries. The malt has a some toasted roasted characters. There are some fruity esters and some floral hints.

Taste: The malt is bland the toasted notes and numb. There is some fruity esters with some floral notes.

Overall: The mouth feel is flat. The body of the beer is is medium to medium light. The finish is tarty and bitter. This beer doesn't embodied the porter side but the cherry flavor is subtle. I feel if they made the porter more prominent and left the cherry flavor there, this would be a very nice porter/fruit beer.

The Cherry Porter pours a almost black 2 finger foam head with a good solid foam head formation and lacing that is encompassing.

The aroma was lovely and full of cherries and roasted malts. The taste was just as good and was silky smooth. Much more than I expected from this unknown brewery in Montana. It has a good roasted malt taste and overall one of the better fruit beers around. Well worth buying a single to see if it is of your liking.

12 oz picked up at the Coop last week for about $1.75... poured into my standard snifter....

Not as much head as I remember from my previous couple of bottles.. but the head that is there is pretty.. sorta khaki with a definite pink hue... sorta like a red sock got into the wash with a bunch of Dockers. Brew is dark dark brown.. only rim highlites when held to a light.. but even those are more RED than expected.

Aroma has expected porter notes with some fruitiness that I wouldn't completely expect were cherries without the label... does sorta remind me of a very dry candy cherry cordial in the nose though.

Flavor is more "porter" than "fruit beer".. but the cherry does spike with a sourness toward the front of the palate... but that melds quickly into the traditional roasty grains and dry chocolate.. this is not sweet at all. Body is fairly light as expected with quite a bit.. bordering on too much carbonation.

Honestly... this is pretty good.. I generally don't gravitate toward fruit beers, but this is the 3rd go around with this one... and i would definitely recommend it if someone was asking my opinion... that said... all three times now.. one bottle is enough for one sitting.. but I still like it.

06/20/08- Consumed during my two week Montana vacation.

Presentation- 12oz bottle with a bottled on date on the label. Poured into my Duvel tulip.

Appearance- Cola like deep brown in color. About a half inch quickly fading head and light lace trails left.

Smell- Deep malty aroma with light dark cherries and mild coca powder.

Taste- Cherries really come out in this beer and mix very well with the dark chocolate malt. This would have been great to have with either a dark fruitcake or dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel- A touch higher carbonation that I would have liked, but the cherry-chocolate aftertaste made up for it.

Drinkability- I so wish I had bought more than just one bottle of this. I couldn't find it again the rest of the trip. One of the better flavors in a beer I have had.

12oz bottle of a "malt beverage with natural flavor", purchased at Huckleberry's in Spokane for $1.59. No abv listed on the label, which states this is a seasonal and has a picture hinting at spring, with cherries in the foreground and in the background what looks like a wide river with two small sailboats cruising past. A bald eagle appears to be soaring above them, while in the upper left, Lang's trademark Tri-Motor cruises overhead in black & white, in contrast to the otherwise colorful label. There's a best-by notch between June and July on the label as well.

This poured a dark, cola-like color with a good two inches of creamy, pinkish tan colored foam that took it's time settling. When held to the light, the beer takes on a rubyish hue. Sheets of lace fade to streaks.

Very much like chocolate covered cherries in the nose. Better scent than I expected, as most fruit beers seem to smell only of whatever fruit has been added. Nice to see the malts coming through.

Initially the taste is balanced between chocolaty malts and cherry flavor, but then a sour cherry note hits the palate. It's not to an unpleasant degree, and even helps a little to provide contrast with the chocolate flavor, but I'd prefer it be dialed down a bit. Still plenty of chocolaty sweetness behind the cherries, with a slight dryness at the swallow.

Medium bodied, with a slightly slick mouthfeel. Pretty much what I expected.

This makes an ok dessert beer, or one-off bottle for the night, but I don't think this would be pleasant in repeated pints. Too sweet for that. However, it's one of the better fruity beer's I've had, and could be downright tasty if the sour flavor was dialed down just a bit.