Hard Cherry Cream Ale
Coney Island Brewing Company

Deep, amber color. Thin, fizzy head. Strong, cherries aroma. Taste of cherry soda. Very sweet. Not bad as a low-alcohol drink, but it was very hard to think about it as a beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is one Cream Ale after the other here at Chez Woody as I continue the Eradication of the Bottle Backlog. I like that modern brewers are putting different spins on this American classic & I will unabashedly admit to enjoying Genny Cream Ale since I was a mere teenager.

From the bottle: "Coney Island Hard Cherry Cream Ale sends you on a wild ride with big cherry flavor, balanced by vanilla and cream."; "Step right up!"; "No counter! No line! No toppings to decide! Your favorite frozen treat is all grown up. Toss the cone aside. you'll enjoy this one on ice."; "Coney Island, where anything is possible if you're ready to #TakeTheRide."; "Visit our Innovation Brewery on Coney Island!"

I Pop!ped the cap on this amusement ride and it seemed that no matter how hard I poured, it was bound & determined to act like pop. I got a brief finger-plus of fizzy, bone-white head that quickly petered out into less than wisps. Color was Depp Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a definitive sweet cherry and vanilla scent, reminiscent of Black Cherry Ice Cream when I was a lad. This smelled more like A-Treat pop than it did beer! Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but very light and kind of fizzy, very evocative of pop. The taste really reminded me of A-Treat Cherry Vanilla Cream Ale, which was pop and not ale. Man, it used to come in these clear, bomber-like bottles with gold foil at the neck, meant to mimic champagne & while I drank a lot of it in my youth, I have not done so in many years & I think that they are now out of business. As to this beer, it had a lot of cherry and vanilla "natural flavors", but as far as its being a Cream Ale, I would have had a tough time identifying it as such. Finish was sweet, but not cloying. The cherry and vanilla flavors lingered well past the swallow. It was a novelty, for sure, but I am unsure as to its adherence to style. Mine is the first review with only five previous ratings, so I will be interested to see what others think of this in terms of a review.