Hammerin’ Hell
3 Floyds Brewing Co.

On tap at The Map Room in Chicago, IL.

This one pours a reasonably dark black color, with a small white head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like roasted malt, smoke, dark chocolate, and a little bit of black cherry.

So, cold, there’s not a ton of cherry here, just a little bit of dark, and it’s mostly dark lager – roast, chocolate, smoke, etc, etc, you know what to expect. But as this warms up a bit more, the cherry comes on stronger, and not really in a good way. It becomes almost tart, and too fruity, and takes away from the good aspects of the reasonably well done dark lager base.

This is light bodied, crisp, but not all that drinkable after the first 5-10 minutes of the pour.

I want to like this one more – it’s an interesting idea, but it didn’t quite work full.

Hammering home the notion that brewing is much more than a man's job, the women of 3 Floyds band together and create their own, woman inspired black lager with cherries for a softer fruit beer with a strong and roasty side.

Hammerin' Hell pours very dark brown while building a slightly tanned blanket of froth. As a bold scent of tart cherries float above the foam, so does a roasty coffee, cococa and nutty aroma for that culmination of cherry bonbon. Mild mannered in its sweetness, the beer's malty upstart is chocolaty, light with caramel, honey and nougat-like.

As the dark lager broadens across the tongue, its roasty sweetness carries an earthier coffee character with charred woods, heavy toast, roasted walnut and a general soilish roast. The overcast of cherries is more tart than jammy as its lasting roast and cherries create a complex tandem in flavor with conflicting flavors at times. Roll in the woodsy bitterness as the session closes and the beer deepens in its earthen flavor and bitter bite.

Medium bodied and drying from cherry tartness, hop bitterness and slighlty acrid roast, a sense of astringency is the primary balancing agent as the beer dives into a medium long aftertaste of tart roast with char and light ash. Its either a complex set of flavors or a contradictory one; I'm not sure which.