Barrel-Aged Imperial Cherry Eugene
Revolution Brewing

Crowler purchased from the Revolution taproom.

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells dominatingly like tart cherry, with a bit of chocolate, and no barrel.

Revolution is typically wonderful, strong, and balanced, and this is none of those things. There's none of the finesse I'm usually used to from these guys, as tart cherry dominates this one - as is they just blended tart cherry juice in with a fairly weak base porter. It's unfathomable to me that this was in barrels for 20 months - there's essentially no barrel here - the cherries smother all of that.

This is thin, and akin to just drinking cherry juice, giving it not the best drinkability.

This is a rare miss from Revolution. It's also quite a significant miss, which is just odd to me. Deth by Cherries was excellent, so it's weird they'd miss the mark so badly on something relatively similar.

Reviewing a crowler from the release of AB Ryeway and On & On Vol. 1. I remember enjoying a version of this as a one-off draft release from a previous Deep Woods release, but this seems a bit different. Part of that may be cloudy memory from a noise-polluted taproom, but it really does seem like more tart cherries than before. Certainly more tart than the cherry impression from, say, Deth by Cherries. The porter base also doesn't stand up quite as well to the fruit and barrel, leading to flavors that are more imbalanced than the aroma. Still glad to have gotten it, but it's not as special as my memory of it.

Pours a dark brown color, reddish tinged around the edges. Two finger dark tan head forms then dissipates leaving no residual head. Appears thick and viscous when poured.

Aroma has notes of musty oak, bourbon, light charred wood, chocolate and of course, cherries. Cherries are slightly tart, fruity, and natural.

The taste is largely dominated by the tart cherries which impressive considering this was aged in barrels for 20 months. Underneath the tart cherries are notes of cocoa, chocolate, roasted malts, musty oak, bourbon, and wet oak. The interplay of the cherries and the oak results in this tannic presentation with a remarkably dry presentation.

Feel is medium to moderately bodied. Very smooth. It is very dry starting mid palate continuing through to the finish. Mild carbonation.

Overall its a nice bourbon barrel aged beer. It doesn't have the pop that the Deep Woods series beers do and I suspect that is largely from the base beer they used for this. Regardless, it is an enjoyable beer if you like fruited barrel aged beers. Revolution does do an excellent job using fruit in their barrel aged beers.

Crowler filled 12/20/20; drank the same day @ the Yarchives.

Black/brown appearance.

An even pour yielded a small tan head; nice lace.

Tart cherry, mild oak & faint chocolate notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Tart cherry, oak & faint chocolate flavors; it's thin, and not much going on here.

It's not terrible, but I'm glad it's not a real part of the Deep Woods series.