Dire Wolf - Cherry Coffee Vanilla
Wolf's Ridge Brewing

22 oz bottle, 12.8% ABV, poured into a snifter.

L: Pours inky black with a thin, fizzy dark tan head that vanishes into a ring and patch in short order.

S: The nose is thick with cherry, over some faint cocoa and dark roast coffee.

T: Much like the nose, this opens with a rush of tart cherries, with swirls of dark roast coffee, loamy earth, cocoa, and soft tinges of vanilla here and there, over a black bread backbone. The cherry lingers on the tongue after the swallow, along with soil and damp coffee grounds.

F: Thick, full, and smooth, this clings to and coats every surface in the mouth.

O: This is a tasty adjunct stout, rich and deep. Would buy again.

22 ounce bottle packaged on 2/16/21 @ 12.8%. Poured into a DFH tulip a medium khaki head lingered over a dark brown body. Smell at first was an undefined sweetness over a malty base. As it warmed up the cherry, vanilla and coffee became more evident, so much so that I upgraded the smell. Taste is very tart cherry forward at first, dominating everything; but as it warmed the other flavors came forward. But no booze. I realize that at 12.8% this is well within drop the hammer territory but it's surely the lack of barrel aging, no matter what was stored previously, that keeps the beast at bay. Just a thought: Maybe barrel aged imperial stouts should be their own category. Mouthfeel is just fine.

At first I was so overwhelmed by the cherry tartness I thought this was too one dimensional but warming it up has expanded everything. I need to try more Wolf's Ridge offerings. I'll hector the local bottle shop shortly.

22 ounce bottle, packaged on JAN 31, 2019, label says 12.2% ABV. Server in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch and a half tan head. Head retention and lacing are both good. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like cherries, roasted malt, coffee, vanilla, and some bittersweet chocolate. Taste is similar to the aroma, with tart and sweet cherry, coffee, vanilla, cocoa, burnt/charred malt, caramel, dark bread and earthy flavors. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's coating and a bit creamy with a moderate amount of carbonation. The 12.2% ABV is well hidden although it does catch up to you later. I'm not sure if there's any other differences between this and the regular Coffee Vanilla Dire Wolf other than the addition of cherry, but the cherries do stand out in this brew. Really like this brew a lot, although I have to say I've liked all of the Dire Wolf variants I've had. But if you come across this don't hesitate to buy some! $14.99 a bottle.

Solid black with a creamy tan blanket fading to a thin ring.

This has really roasty, earthy, almost smoky malt up front, with some charred coffee that more calmly settles into nutty sweet cherry in the full, softly frothy body finishing with a semi-dry tang bringing vanilla wafer on the exhale.

 

 

A: Rich deep black body with very little head.

S: lots of the coffee and vanilla some light chocolate, roasted nuts

T: nice coffee vanilla and finishes with a nice cherry flavor. huge beautiful rich coffee cream vanilla flavors, with some nuttiness, and some sweet chocolate with a an almost maraschino cherry finish.

M: Soft mouthfeel nice feel not as thick as some of the variants, but still not bad.

O: great beer love to see this bottled one of my favorite variants. This is a nice dessert beer.