C.S.S.P. - Cherry Springs State Park
New Trail Brewing Company

 

Poured from a 16 oz can into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Inky black pour with 2 fingers of dark brown head. Great lacing.

S: Roasted grains and cherry. Some coffee and more dark fruit.

T.F: Semi-sweet... maraschino cherry, dark chocolate, light espresso, and roasted grains. Some vanilla and lactose. Baked raisin... more cherry cordial. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. More cherry and roast to finish.

O: A delicious cherry forward milk stout. Drinks like a chocolate covered cherry... definitely a dessert brew, and a nice change of pace beer.

Pours as dark as midnight oil with a coffee colored head.

Big cherry and chocolate and coffee.

Cherry, chocolate, coffee, currant whole grain toast. Delicious.

Slightly less then a fingers worth of audibly fizzy purple froth quickly subsides... Color is a sleek black that lets a bit of light to leak in around the edges... Mostly still... Nose of of chocolate covered cherries... Initial tastes are sweet like a chocolate covered cherry but turns a bit more bitter, not in a hoppy way, bit bitter dark chocolate... Feel is medium and bit thin with limited carbonation... Decent but unremarkable brew...

 

 

 

Poured into a small chalice: color is solid black, head is tan with fine bubbles, head presents 1 finger thick then dissipates to thin top and ring along the glass.

Smell is light chocolate and light medicinal cherry, lighter malt notes of roast and chocolate.

Taste is more medicinal cherry, very strong, tastes like cough syrup, then lighter chocolate, little roast, limited malt.

Mouthfeel is lower carbonation, moderate sweetness, low/moderate bitterness, lingering medicinal presence.

Overall the medicinal like cherry flavor is just overpowering and limits the character and presence of the base beer. I like NT stouts/porters/dark beers but the flavor addition versions usually are way over done.

 

New Trails is exceptional at double hazy brews. Their stouts are almost as equally good. Layered is a must try label. To pass on this could be a major blunder. The C.S.S.P. stands for Cherry Springs State Park, so it's appropriate that this is a cherry chocolate stout. Once in a pint can, the brew now rests in a clear Imperial pint glass. The black coffee colored brown familiar to most stouts is its color. There's no head nor glass lacing. The aroma is just like a dark chocolate covered cherry, with virtually no roasted malt bitterness. It truly is as advertised. The taste follows and is delicious. Agreed, desert brews aren't for everyone, but if you like them, this is a must try. The bitterness of a stout's roasted malt seems to have been removed, but the creamy body remains intact. There's a generous taste of cherry, just enough dark chocolate and yet, it's not close to being too sweet. No doubt, the milk inclusion softens the taste and smooths the mouthfeel, but it isn't close to making this the sticky mess of the typical milkshake brew. One of the best desert beers available, this is, as long as chocolate and cherry are agreeable to the drinker.