Pie Cherry Porter
Ambacht Brewing

22oz bottle bought from the brew 'space' near the airport during a meet and greet/tour with the brewer

A - Dark brown to reddish copper. One finger tan head. Decent thin lacing.

S - Mild cherry aroma mixed in with a sweet chocolate, almost fondue like. You do pick up the spiciness of the Belgian yeast.

T - Very interesting this one is. Is in a cherry porter or is it a Belgian Dark? Who knows, all I know it is very tasty. Mild pie cherries mixed in with some chocolate. You do get the peppery funkiness of the farmhouse style, very good.

M - Perfect carbonation, can't stress that enough. Awesome

D - Definitely an interesting take on a farmhouse-style porter...with cherries! I'll definitely pick up some more whenever I'm back.

Appears almost black with a small light tan head.

It smells of cherries, vanilla, fruity peppery yeast, bready yeast. It smells amazing and it has a complex smell to it.

It tastes of mild dark chocolate, dry malts, fruity yeast, pepper, and slightly tart cherries. I like how the cherry taste is noticeable yet it is not overwhelming. This beer has a fantastic balance to it.

The carbonation of this beer is fairly low. There is a smooth texture to the beer.

The drinkability for the style is very good. The beer is so smooth that I could drink quite a few these beers.

This was a great beer. The tartness of the beer was nicely balanced with a smooth malty sweetness. Overall a great beer from a fairly unknown brewery.

Bomber (bottled 6 Oct 2010) poured into my large Gulden Draak tulip, Ambacht's Cherry Pie Porter is dark brownish garnet with a very tight, creamy light tan head that leaves scattered, foamy laces, a few bigger sheets as I drink down into the narrow part of the tulip.

Smell is dusty dry chocolate and cherries, like a box of cordials, but not artificial like the cherry filling in said candies, it's really the combination of the farmhouse esters, both fruity and spicy, with the pie cherries.

Taste is similar, saison noir with some pie cherries, just a little tart cherry flavor to add depth without making it an overblown fruit beer. There some nutty and acrid malt character as well from the porter style / BDA base, but really, it's esters accentuated by the cherries. Nice little phenolic punch in there as well, I could probably use a touch less plastic. Like their other Belgian porter, I like that they went on the light side with the maltiness, so that it's a bit player rather then dominating. While I could use just a bit more chocolate / dark malt character, as it would temper the phenols, but I appreciate that they erred on the side of caution considering the importance of the other characteristics, and it's Belgian pedigree from a mouthfeel and digestibility perspective.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied but still a nice digestibility, on the slick, slightly drier side. The bottle conditioning really plays well with the malt base, make it very smooth, velvety.

Drinkability is pretty good, a tasty, satisfying brew, complex without being heavy handed. I really like their style, lots of flavor without being big, I could definitely have another bomber of this right now. I've been pretty impressed with Ambacht's line-up, particularly their porters.