Cherry Cordial
Southern Tier Brewing Company

 

 

12 oz bottle with a 7 June 2018 bottling date stamp on the label. It was served in A Belgian snifter where the clear, reddish-brown body was essentially opaque and the short, tan head soon receded to a durable ring.

This Imperial Stout lives up to its name and description. It smells like a fine cherry cordial candy. The flavor is much less sweet and has less chocolate than the candy but it is about spot on for a "Cherry Cordial" dessert beer. While not having candy like sweetness, this is still very sweet. Chocolate and sweet cherry notes dominate the aroma, with a sense of some artificial cherry aromatics.
Smooth, near creamy, full body. Partially hidden ABV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am always really impressed & happy when I see something new from Southern Tier. I first assisted their nascent brewery during one of the first (if not THE first) Harrisburg Street Festival. Back then, Phin & Matt's was their flagship & they were really unprepared for the day's madness. I, on the other hand, lived to embrace the madness & we bonded over the course of the day. When they began releasing their big Blackwater Series beers, I knew that I had backed a winning horse. The late Tony Knipling of Vecenie's Distributing in Millvale (PGH), PA, used to lament that I was more prescient than he as he allowed them to sign with another distributor. 8=( I miss Tony something fierce & I raise this review as a toast to his (fond) memory.

From the Bottle: "A dessert beer with notes of chocolate & cherry"; "A decadent stout with notes of chocolate and cherry."; "Color [-] Black[;] Body [-] Creamy, heavy[;] Bitterness [-] Moderate"; "Our dessert beers are a fusion of exotic flavors, making each of them a perfect pairing when you are craving an exceptional stout full of personality."

Ooh, I am kind of excited to meet up with a beer that is full of personality! I decided to meet it with a Pop! of the cap, followed by a quick, C-Line pour. I was very interested as it rose up to kiss the tip of my nose with just under a finger of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-brown head with excellent retention, leaving great lacing in its wake. Color was utterly, absolutely, Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Nose simply made me smile & laugh. I remember the first time that I ate a cherry cordial - I was a wee lad & my wealthy aunt & uncle brought a box to Christmas at my maternal grandparents' house & I was curious. Nose was big on a sweet cherry quality that still evokes Maraschino cherries or their ilk. Far too sweet for my taste, but that is not the purpose of this review. Did it measure up to style? Sort of. The new Beer Style guide allows for a sweetness, but one borne of malt, not adjuncts. I will try to be judicious in my scoring. Finish was sweet, but not cloyingly sweet. I also got hints of its fusel alcohol heat, but that was acceptable, Whew! This was no playin' around. Good, but a real one-and -done.

Fairly nice dark imperial stout with some solid cherry flavors. Just a little too sweet at times (though not cloying). Pours a deep, dark rich brown color with a little tan head and very scant spotty lingering lacing. Smells of dark chocolate, overripe cherries, vanilla, malt and a little caramel. Tastes similarly, and although the cherry sweetness isn’t overpowering, it’s definitely in the foreground and there’s the vaguest sense that this is like a chocolate-Cherry Coke. Smooth, mild, surprisingly thin mouthfeel with decent carbonation. I tried this beer with both savory dinner and a chocolate cake dessert, and I have to say, it worked fairly well with both. Not a bad effort, I’ve just had better cherry ales and better fruity imperial stouts.

 

12/26/18 bottle

L - Deep, opaque black with a thick tan head that dissipates somewhat quickly leaving behind minimal lacing.
S - Chocolate and cherries right on the nose - almost cherry cola-ish with roasted and toasted malts with vanilla.
T - Tastes exactly as promised and follows the nose - dark chocolate up front followed closely behind by sweet, rich cherries, intermixed well with roasted, toasted oats and malt along with vanilla.
F - medium to full bodied - maybe leaning towards fuller bodied with a light amount of carbonation - smooth, creamy, decadent. Personally, for a such a stout, I'd prefer a fuller, heavier body.
O - Like all the Blackwater Series stouts, this is a rich, decadent dessert beer and like all of the stouts from the series, this one delivers on the name's promise - cherry cordial - it tastes just like one, but what hurts this one in my opinion, is that because it's a stout with low carbonation, this beer ends up tasting like a flat- cherry Dr. Pepper with alcohol - it's great, but just somewhat off.

 

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Dark pour... nearly black with thin tannish head.

S: Smells like a chocolate covered maraschino cherry. Sweet, roasty, and delicious.

T/F: Follows the nose... sweet roasted sugars. Strong cherry... lots of chocolate with subtler vanilla. Not much in the way of bittering, but then again... this is a dessert bear. Sticky on the tongue... only medium bodied so lighter than expected. Better as it warms.

O: A really great dessert beer if you like chocolate covered maraschino cherries. A bit too sweet for regular consumption... a great one to share, and fortunately not too much of a 'cough syrup' beer.... more like a cherry cordial. One I'd have again.

Chocolate covered cherry in a glass! Mighty fine!!!

This is a pretty tasty dessert beer and this bottle defied my expectations a little bit. Enjoyed 11/16/18, bottled 6/11/18.

Pour is jet black, looks the part, but minimal head develops in spite of an aggressive pour, and there's a certain fizzy, soda like appearance, Just a little ring of lace that quickly collapses. Aroma is quite mild but upon close examination an uncanny cherry cordial aroma emerges. I would love to have this come up and smack me in the face but at least for my nose, I need to hunt around for it a bit. Nonetheless kind of nails that cheap, artificial kind of cordial candy aroma pretty closely.

The flavor follows suit but removes any subtlety whatsover; it's a full on, sugar bomb with cheap milk chocolate and maraschino cherry flavors, thankfully only vaguely medicinal. Almost no bitterness or roasted qualities, instead one gets the sense of an alcoholic cherry coke (with chocolate).

Maybe this is just the current crazy state of affairs in beer but my impression is that this is medium bodied and not really as thick and sticky as expected -- not when it's the age of fudgy sludgy stouts. Yes it's sweet, but it's not nearly as heavy as anticipated, and carbonation is still only a tick under medium so there's a little life on the tongue.

My feelings are all over the map on this - did i enjoy it as a sinful indulgence while recognizing it's not even hitting close to the heights of indulgence one might find in today's stout scene? Yes. But in the end isn't a just a 10% ABV fizzy, slightly flat cherry coke?