Cherry Bomb!
Prairie Artisan Ales

 

 

 

 

 

Received from @fbarber in the NBS BIF. Poured into a tulip glass. It pours a deep mahogany. The medium mocha-colored head fizzled away immediately. It smells distinctly of black cherry along with chocolate, fresh coffee, and earthy char. The taste is cherry-forward but the base stout has less flavor than is typical for Prairie. There is chocolate and a hint of burnt nuts but the taste reminds me more of cherry soda than Prairie Bomb. The mouth feel is rather thin. The carbonation is appropriate and the 13% ABV is well-hidden. I typically rave about Prairie's Stouts but I have to say that Cherry Bomb! is not up to the standard.

Bottled on: 04-22-21

A - Dark brown pour with thin, molasses colored lacing. Lots of legs on the sides of the glass when it's swirled.

S - Chocolate malt, roasted cocoa, and a slight bit of char on the nose.

T - Chocolate char, roasted cocoa, alcohol, and some slight chili burn. There's a small amount of residual roasted cocoa and cherry on the back side.

M - Thick mouthfeel that's borderline light syrupy in texture. Silky smooth and leaves a sticky, sugary residue on the lips with some warming in the back of the throat.

O - Solid but there's other variants I prefer.

 

 

 

Not bad. Got a fair amount of pretty tart cherry on the nose and pallet . Personally didn’t really like how it plays with the base beer. One man’s opinion.

Pours opaque black with a thin reddish-tan head that dissipates quickly. Nose of roasted malt, dark chocolate and cherries. Taste follows the nose but with lots of cherry flavor and some black licorice and pepper on the finish. The brew has a big boozy kick from beginning to end. That said, it seems a bit unbalanced. Mouthfeel is a moderate body and carbonation with a bit of oiliness. I want to really like this and I do give it high marks. However, it seems like the cherry flavor is a bit too much for an imperial stout.

 

Prairie rarely, if ever, disappoints - and this one is no different...

I really enjoyed seeing the perfectly black liquid with it's light cherry smell and full-on booze. Mouthfeel was mildly full-bodied and the flavor was a decent balance of cherries and booze. You can never go wrong with this brewer, and I will be willing to grab a hold of one again, hopefully soon.

Smells great, looks great, tastes like pure cough syrup. No one would ever say they could taste peppers in here.

 

Maybe I should have rated this sooner. Seems like it’s not as strong as I remember. Balanced with coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and cherry, but the pepper presence is minimal, and everything is subtle, not strong. Lighter bodied than expected, a bit syrupy. Good, but not among Prairie’s best Bombs!

12 ounce bottle.

Bottled 04.22.2021.

Vigorous pour yields a 3/8 inch tan head over a black body with scant lacing.
Head is virtually nonexistent after a few minutes.

Nose of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, slight vanilla, and slight cherry.

Taste is where the chili peppers come forward to stay with cherry and the rest taking a back seat to the heat.
Finish is less hot with the cherry flavor coming forward in the best way.

Feel is less than ideal but still adequate, I would say.

Overall, a nice vehicle for cherries and would have again.
Cheers!!!

 

A: Pours an opaque yet still clear thick viscous jet black in color with light to moderate amounts of active visible carbonation along the edges of the glass and extremely faint very dark cola brown highlights. The beer has a quarter finger tall foamy very dark mocha head that quickly reduces to a medium sized patch of very thin film and a very thin ring at the edges of the glass. Light amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, roasted malts, and sweet + tart cherries with moderate aromas of brown sugar and caramel.

T: Upfront there is a moderate flavor of roasted + caramel malts with a moderate amount of caramel + brown sugar sweetness. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors dark roasted coffee and dark chocolate. Finally there is a moderate to strong flavor of sweet + tart cherries. Moderate amounts of roasty bitterness in the finish which does not linger for long.

M: Full bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Light hints of alcohol warming.

O: Drinks fairly easily with very well hidden alcohol and a full smooth mouthfeel. Very enjoyable and very rich - a really nice dessert beer though I feel like the cherry begins to dominate as the beer warms up.

 

91 Outstanding, huh. Usually these things are world class! Well hopefully it pans out.
$8.99, 12 oz bottle, 04.10.21 (I think), into Prairie BOMB snifter.

Inky black pour, forms a finger of brown head that recedes to a fingernail. No lace.

Aroma is like regular BOMB but muted somewhat. Chili pepper, vanilla, crisp cara malts, a little chocolate or fudge, roasted malt, and pepper flakes. I do not get any cherry on this nose.

Flavor brings Chocolate Coke (yes, Coke) with an emphasis on the syrup, some crisp caramel malt, a hint of Cherry Coke, a little bit of chili pepper, with a lingering cherry presence that's not overpowering and something that'd stump me if I didn't know what it was ("what is that note?"). A little tootsie roll action too.

Feel is semi-sticky and properly carbonated, some heat from the pepper and some heat from the alcohol. Semi-drying finish.

Overall, not a repeat purchase for me, but like all Prairie stouts, the style is on point and the flavor is not lacking. Heats up my face rather nicely. I would buy regular BOMB and nearly all the other variants (minus the Deconstructed series, bleh) over this one. For this reason, at $8.99 a bottle, being merely good, gets a quarter point dock from the final score.

It works. Not well, but it works.

$8.99 / bottle @ Taylor's Pantry

 

What a confusing lot of flavors that are better off separated. 12oz bottle from April 2021. Cherry, chile, and green pepper on the nose, the latter indicating pyrazines from over extracting the coffee. I've experienced this before from Prairie, and it's the main issue that makes me hesitate when considering the price premium on their beers. Bomb on the palate, with some additional pepper and mild cherry. Batch issues or concept issues, this is not as good as its origin.

Bottle pour- dark as night with short chocolate milk head leaving minimal lacing. Nose is roasty with whiffs of cherry and vanilla. Taste follows with hints of cocoa and a slight chili tingle on the way to a slightly woody and dryish finish. Delicious .

 

The beer pours the expected viscous, blackish brown color with decent head retention and light lacking. On the nose, I get considerable cherry, along with some underlying vanilla, dark chocolate and chili. That being said, the cherry component really takes center stage on the nose, tending to dominate the aroma profile. The flavor profile replicates the nose, and once again the cherry flavor tends to drown out of the other flavors. Even so, I still pick up noticeable dark chocolate, vanilla and heat from the chilis. That being said, I don't get anything like the cinnamon and chili pepper I pick up in regular bomb. Mouthfeel is fairly full, with the alcohol well integrated into the flavor profile. Finish is long in this fairly sweet beer, with virtually no heat from the alcohol.

This is a nice enough beer, but I definitely prefer regular bomb. The cherry just seems a bit overdone in this beer. Given that regular bomb is now regularly available where I live, I'm not sure this is a beer I'll be ordering again any time soon.

 

 

 

cool to find this on tap, especially in idaho, and while we miss a lot of relevant national craft, we do pretty well on prairie overall here. this is a cool version of the original, although once i kind of set my senses on cherry, it becomes a little dominant, perhaps coming at the expense of chocolate and chili, which are present still but more in the back now than in the original. i still get a lot of the dark grain though, and the coffee cuts through all of it, a trace of oxidation helps me pick it up easier, and the vanilla is still there late with some sweetness bolstering it. the cherry part is one part medicinal, one part candied sweet, and one part real fruit, but it combines with this massive and complex stout kind of weirdly, like its there up front, and its there at the end, but it kind of disturbs the rest of the cohesion, and i think overall its a little out of place, forced in there a bit, and like this is better without the cherry, even though i like what it adds, especially cool with the fruity coffee, the raisin middle from the grain, and the light smoke this has to it, maybe mellow some if they do a barrel aged version of this variant. its a little sticky, thick as it ever was, but maybe sweeter now, no heat really to the end anymore, and lots and lots and lots of alcohol on this, even when its cold, palate coating and close to still too, so its real heavy. i dont think its a miss, i think its awesome, and its a real fun beer to drink, if i had never had the original i would be in love with it, but i have, and its superior. cool to see them still playing around with this classic, and i was happy to have been able to get into this one. rich and complex, coffee forward with a good amount of all sides of the cherry. a must try if you are a bomb fan.

12 fl oz brown glass bottle with pry-off pressure cap nabbed at A's Wine & Spirits as a single for ~$10 USD incl. tax.

"Imperial stout aged on Cherries, Coffee, Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Beans and Chili Peppers." Bottled 04.10.2021.

Served cold into jug(s)ware.

APPEARANCE: No head. Black as night. Opaque. Looks right for the style but I guess I'd hope for a gilded tan head that stuck around for a bit if I was nitpicking.

AROMA: Vague impression of cherry and/or prune juice. Chocolate/cacao powder. Not getting any vanilla/vanillin, to be honest - even when I search for it. No coffee or roast either, unfortunately. No chili heat, or any Mexican chocolate redolent chili/chocolate hybridity. Thin chocolate malt sweetness.

Aromatic intensity is surprisingly downplayed.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Not much chili heat at all, but call me a fan since I imagined chili would clash with the cherry. Shame though, because cherry isn't really present - maybe some cherry juice if you will, but no actual Montmorrency chili pepper or anything redolent authentically of cherry.

Vanilla? No.

Cacao nibs? Sure...but it bleeds into the chocolate malt such that it's not recognizable.

Coffee? No. No earthiness, no roast (from coffee or carafa), no subtle fruitiness, no Java, etc.

I guess it's a bit simplistic given the ingredients ostensibly utilized, but it does come together neatly and feels balanced, and boy does it disguise its ABV well. The barely present cherry eclipses the absent chili to good effect, and while it's not a top tier cherry stout I do think it's broadly well executed as an imperial stout despite the minimal contributions of the additives.

Smooth, wet, medium to full-bodied, not too thick, perfectly carbonated, unrefreshing.

OVERALL: A solid imperial stout from Prairie, though not top tier work from the brewery (given their imperial stouts are usually their best beers). I don't buy many $10/bottle beers these days, but hot damn it's obvious Prairie knows what they're doing.

B+ / VERY GOOD

Pours a dark with small dark tan head that falls fast with just spotty lace.

Aroma is Bomb with some cherries added, light but noticeable. Have the normal big roasted notes, lots of chocolate, big vanilla, god coffee its vey smooth and well balanced lets not forget about the hint of chilis mingled thru out.

Taste is like the nose smooth well balanced stout big roasted malts, lots of sweet chocolate. loads of vanilla ,good coffee notes sweet molasses with some cherries thrown in. Nice complex beer that's blended well. Light chili notes that just add a touch kind of like hops to keep the cloying down or distract from the sweetness. Because this one comes close to desert beer sweetness for me anyhow.

Mouthfeel is big but not as chewy as 13% would make you believe it should be, carbonation is smooth.

Overall like the cherry addition, think its about perfect level not tooo much just enough to add to the experience. About the only thing making the Bomb being regular purchases in the price in NC.

 

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass with a quarter finger dark khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cherry, light cocoa and hot peppers. Flavor is dark toasted malt, sweet cherry, milk chocolate and chili. moderate Cherry and moderate chili finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Great Prairie stout body; cherry and chili well integrated and balanced with the malt. Lighter cocoa or milk chocolate notes, so this doesn't taste like a candy bar. Although the cherry and chili are not up to bomb levels, that's all for the best. A light hand with the chili and good balance to the cherry make this a great flavored stout. I'm not a fan of tart fruit flavors in stouts, so I wasn't sure about this, but I'm sold now; the cherry is more sweet and melds with the other flavors. Nicely done.

12 ounce bottle dated 4/11/2011 poured into a DFH tulip. Inky brown Bomb body topped by a medium dark tan head that disappeared almost instantly. Cherry is very forward in the smell followed by malts, cinnamon, chocolate, chilis and vanilla. Taste follows the nose except for the cinnamon. Booze is incredibly well hidden. I'm used to Prairie imperial stouts being extremely balanced but this takes it to a new level with the caveat that the cherry is alone at the top. Feel is appropriately smooth with there being no chewy factor; not sure if that's bad or good but it doesn't bother me. Another quality addition to the Prairie Bomb! lineup worthy of sampling.