North Peak Darkangel
North Peak Brewing Company

 

 

 

Had on-tap at Three Blind Mice in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.

This beer gave me what I expected after reading reviews. I originally wanted a Norm's Raggedy Ass to try, but they were out -- I went with this. What's most disappointing about this is that it's labelled as a cherry stout, but the cherry doesn't seem to be there much at all, if at all. There's a roasty/chocolatey flavor that you'd hope for from a porter, but it's not very rich, and the beer is thin. I suppose there's some sort of fruity "ester", but it's subdued quite a lot to the point where it may not even be labeled as a cherry stout. A quite mediocre beer that I wouldn't bother having again. North Peak, you're better than this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from the Red Stripe-like bottle into a glass, the color was a murky reddish brown. The head on this one was huge like the foam on a rootbeer float. Worse, the head just will not go away. The aroma on this one was mostly dry cherries. In other words, it smelled like cherries with the sweet part removed. Of course, this is not the highlight of a cherry. The initial taste was dry cherries, dirt, alcohol, and dark chocolate. If that description was on the bottle, this would be a tough sell. In a weird sort of way, I kept imagining their was dirt or something gritty in the beer. After the initial taste, I knew why 6 picks of this were on sale for $4.99 a six pack. For a porter, I thought it was very thin. At the same time, the acidity gave an impression of thickness. The aftertaste was mostly bitter chocolate. I do not need this one again.

Stubby bottle is cute and different. Pours a cherry coke brown (ruby-brown) with a huge tan head that settles to a rocky, dense, mountainous sculpture. Parades of bubbles Leaves chunks of foam on the glass on the way down. Aroma much less than expected - very toasty malt and earthy-herbal and a bit phenolic hop. Taste follows aroma but with a mild hit of dark cherries going on mixed with the bitter chocolatey toasty malt. Not bad but nothing special. Might be a decent dessert beer. Have a second bottle may need to try with something chocolate.