Lip Lock Cherry Stout
Atwater Brewery

From a 12oz can. BBD 07/18/24.
This is a pitch black pouring beer. Nice streams of carbonation bubbles rising on the edge of the glass. There's a 1 finger tan colored head. Fluffy looking with small bubbles. The head retention is decent, but there's minimal lacing on the glass.
The nose is faint. There's a nice hint of cherry to it. Hints of caramel and chocolate also show up.
Taste - Flavor is a bit of the chocolate and caramel up front, with a splash of coffee. These flavors aren't strong and fade quickly. The tart cherry replaces them fast, and doesn't let go. The cherry builds in intensity.
Bubbly, maybe a bit thin. The tart feeling lingers.
This is an interesting take on a stout.

 

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a black color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of roasted malts, light coffee and cherries. Taste is identical to the aroma, except the coffee is less pronounced. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall it ain't bad, but given the name, I would liked to have seen cherries play are larger role.

 

Welcome to my second entry of Happy Water You Drinking for New Beer Sunday (Week 705)?!? I CAN promise you that a) I am NOT drinking water (right now) & b) these will all be Bottles (gasp!) as part of the eradication of The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody. There is nothing wrong here. Do not attempt to adjust your screen. For the remainder of the day, I will control all of my content that you see & read. There are no alien pods in my basement, so there is no need to alert the authorities. Please stand by for further entries.

From the Bottle: "Malt Beverage brewed with Cherry Concentrate"; "Pairs with: Significant Others and Partners in Crime".

I dig the groovy chick on the label, man! If she's my significant other or a partner in crime, we must be on the set of HBO's "The Deuce"! Baby, I'm into doing some crime with you, dig? Far out, man, just lay some bread on me before we get it on! Oh yeah? Yer gettin' all the bread I got to give! Oooh, I can hardly wait (rolls eyes). 8=(

Moving on from that bit of local talent, I Pop!ped her cherry, I mean, the cap & got right to work. I mean, I initiated a C-line pour that caused the formation of just over a finger of fizzy, foamy, rocky, deep-brown head that quickly fell away to wisps without any outside encouragement from me. How'm I doing, officer? Just tell us the whole story in yer own words, GEN Woody. 8=( Well, I then picked her up & held her in my arms for a better look. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44) & her eyes were deep black pools in which no light was reflected or could be seen. She told me that her name was "Cherry" & when I used my nose to deeply inhale her scent, I think that she musta doused herself in Eau de Kirsch! Man, she smelled like cherries for days. Mmm. My mother's maiden name is Kirsch. Did I tell you that, officer? Look, it's all in yer file, GEN Woody. Let's stick to the events that brought me here, shall we? Of course. Yessir! Well, she got a Lip Lock on me & I decided to explore her with my tongue. Uh huh. Mouthfeel was medium, but for such a build & style, I was expecting a bit more towards thickness. I see. Next, you'll be telling me about the taste. Indeed! She truly lived up to her billing as "Cherry" since she had a pleasant tartness, like cherries from northwestern Michigan. Mmm. Hmm, but how does this relate to my being called over here? Well, it was on the finish. We had showered, she was dry & felt like some smoky before she took off so I went into the hallway to score a lid, I mean, cop some smokes & she shut the door on me & locked me out! Yer telling me that she was dry & smoky onna finish, is that correct? Yes, but she locked me out & by the time I got the manager to let me back in, she was gone, taking my uniform & my wallet with her! I see. Well, would you like to press charges? Heck no, I would have her again! I just want my clothes & cards back. She can have all of the bread! :=O GEN Woody, it has been most enlightening tonight! I can see that the U.S. Space Force has quality leadership. I'll be back shortly with your personal possessions. Thanks, officer. Say, will you give her my card? I'd like for her to stay in touch! :=O

$6.99 per sixer in Austin, TX (on-sale).

The cherry concentrate lends it an artificial bend, and the malt backbone lacks the roastiness and chocolatey sweetness of a stout proper.

Real cherries and (more) roasted barley would really help bring this into focus, but it also has plenty of room for improvement in terms of depth of flavour, flavour duration, intricacy, and just generally having more distinct flavours.

Not bad, but not commendable.

High C (3.00) / AVERAGE

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 11/9/2016. Pours nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of juicy/lightly tart/tangy cherries, fruit skin, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark/brown bread, light smoke/herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt and cherry notes; with solid strength. Taste of big juicy/lightly tart/tangy cherries, fruit skin, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark/brown bread, light smoke/herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/roast bitterness and fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of cherries, fruit skin, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark/brown bread, light smoke/herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and cherry flavors; with a nice roasted bitter/sweet and fruit tartness balance; with zero cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitter/tartness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, fairly acidic, and lightly sticky/chalky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is a very nice fruited American stout. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and cherry flavors; very smooth and easy to drink, with the mildly tart/bitter/drying finish. Very flavorful, and never overly tart or bitter. Nice well rounded stout malt complexity; great cherry flavor balance, without being overwhelming. A very enjoyable offering, and well made style example.

 

 

Pours a black nice two finger coco colored head.

Aroma is roasted malts mainly chocolate dominating some light coffee backing and a tart cherry aroma underneath.

Taste is well not as nice and smooth as the nose. Some light roasted notes that brighten and lighten right away with a lightly tart cherry notes kind of like cherry coke. Finish is lingering light coco notes and tart cherries with hints of coffee. Might have a touch to much cherry syrup in it seems to lighten the whole beer up.

Mouthfeel is medium maybe but seems to lighten more in the finish.

Overall smells pretty nice like chocolate covered cherries but the flavor little to much cherry and not enough roasted and chocolate notes.

 

 

Shiny black body with a 1/2 finger of head.

Aroma of roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, and some earth. No cherry aroma.

Flavor is of roasted coffee, roasted barley, slight dark chocolate, and the sourness of cherry but zero sweetness. It's like you've got a mouth full of cold coffee, and you pop a red tootsie pop in your mouth for a few seconds, remove it, and swish it around.

Feel has an apparent dryness but I'm not sure where it's coming from - possibly the coffee. Acidic, roasty, dry finish.

Overall, underwhelming is the word for this beer. It's not really flavorful, it's just your run of the mill oatmeal stout with a little bit of cherry sour hanging out somewhere backstage.

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Dark, dark mahogany brown pour... nearly black. Thin off-white head leaves a small rim of lace.

S: Dark cherry and stone fruit... roasted grains and a bit of coffee and cocoa.

T/F: Follows the nose... charred malts with a big does of cherry sweetness... but also some tart character. Cocoa and espresso... classic stout flavors. Medium in body... somewhat light for a stout. A little sticky on the tongue.. finish is more bing cherry and sweetness.

O: A solid stout.. looks good.. smells good... flavor is a tad too sweet and it's a bit light in body, but very drinkable. Something of a dessert though given the sweetness. If you enjoy Cherry Stouts this one will probably please.

The appearance was a dark brown color with a fizzy light tan head that left no lace. The aroma had some sweet meat, light wood, super sweet cherry. Delicate roast in the background. The flavor was semi-sweet through the previously mentioned aromas. Some toast entered in for a gentle blend. Mild sweet meaty sort of aftertaste. A trying sort of finish and I mean one that seemed to disintegrate what the entire flavor tried to present. It’s "tired" as it puts a little bit of sour in the finish and not very welcoming. The feel was between light and medium on the body, leaning more towards light. Sessionable? Well, with that sour unwelcoming finish, that distracted me a bit and it was hard to take down the rest of this beer. Overall, sometimes Atwater is on, and sometimes they’re off. This would be one of their off beers to me.