Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout | Central Waters Brewing Co.
Brewed by:
Central Waters Brewing Co.
Wisconsin, United States
centralwaters.com
Style: American Double / Imperial Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.00%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
No notes at this time.
Added by dirtylou on 03-22-2007
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 795 | Reviews: 260
4.14/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Bottled 5/5/16; drank 5/13/17 @ the Yarchives.
Opaque brown/purple appearance.
A rough pour yielded a small tan head; minimal lace.
Montmorency cherry, brown sugar & faint autumn leaf notes in the nose.
Medium thick, sticky mouthfeel.
Mildly tart cherry & brown sugar flavors up front; a prickly bite settled on my lips on the finish.
As this warmed, a very faint booze heat emerged. Easy to enjoy & not overly challenging, this is a nice summer sipper of an barrel aged, imperial stout.
499 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Bottled 5/5/16; drank 5/13/17 @ the Yarchives.
Opaque brown/purple appearance.
A rough pour yielded a small tan head; minimal lace.
Montmorency cherry, brown sugar & faint autumn leaf notes in the nose.
Medium thick, sticky mouthfeel.
Mildly tart cherry & brown sugar flavors up front; a prickly bite settled on my lips on the finish.
As this warmed, a very faint booze heat emerged. Easy to enjoy & not overly challenging, this is a nice summer sipper of an barrel aged, imperial stout.
499 characters
3.9/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
2014 version tasted on 4-23-17. Pours a nice black with small head. Inviting smell of bourbon, but CW has that on point, so nothing outstanding when comparing the brand. A hit of cherry. I didn't care for the flavor mixture. The cherries used were either tart, or the flavor didn't play well with the barrel.
314 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
2014 version tasted on 4-23-17. Pours a nice black with small head. Inviting smell of bourbon, but CW has that on point, so nothing outstanding when comparing the brand. A hit of cherry. I didn't care for the flavor mixture. The cherries used were either tart, or the flavor didn't play well with the barrel.
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3.81/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.86/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
First time having this beer from central waters, very light barrel and thin body, interesting flavor, very cherry prominent. Something different, better as it warms as more of the stout flavors (coffee, chocolate) begin to emerge.
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look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
First time having this beer from central waters, very light barrel and thin body, interesting flavor, very cherry prominent. Something different, better as it warms as more of the stout flavors (coffee, chocolate) begin to emerge.
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3/5 rDev -20.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
L: pours very thin for a Ba stout, looks like a red ale pouring.
S: slight tart fruit, tobacco, chocolate...no barrel
T: omg....very tart cherries, and no barrel. This does not taste like a stout.
F: thin and puckering
O: bad
228 characters
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
L: pours very thin for a Ba stout, looks like a red ale pouring.
S: slight tart fruit, tobacco, chocolate...no barrel
T: omg....very tart cherries, and no barrel. This does not taste like a stout.
F: thin and puckering
O: bad
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3.75/5 rDev -0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.63/5 rDev +23.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75
3.49/5 rDev -7.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
2016. Deep amber with minimal to no foam head upon pour. Not much on the nose other than faint Cherry. Very little to no bourbon noticed at all, on smell or in the taste. There is Cherry in the taste but nothing pronounced. This tasted more like a quad than a stout and the mouthfeel was very thin.
Overall, disappointing considering what some of the other CW Brewer's Reserve series, but it's still not a terrible tasting beer. Just not what you would expect.
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look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
2016. Deep amber with minimal to no foam head upon pour. Not much on the nose other than faint Cherry. Very little to no bourbon noticed at all, on smell or in the taste. There is Cherry in the taste but nothing pronounced. This tasted more like a quad than a stout and the mouthfeel was very thin.
Overall, disappointing considering what some of the other CW Brewer's Reserve series, but it's still not a terrible tasting beer. Just not what you would expect.
465 characters
3.99/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.97/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75
A nice beer, but not what I was hoping it would be. Bought a 4-pack and have spaced them out over the last 8 months.
Look: Dark with some redness to it, looks a bit like a flat cherry coke.
Smell: Booze (big surprise) a malt extract kind of smell, roasted but nothing special.
Taste: it's a Bourbon Stout, you figure it out... Now, having made a milk stout with the same strain of cherries (former Wisconsinite) I know their flavor, and I felt like they went overboard, but they're the pro's. It brings a nice non-hop (but hop adjacent) flavor, which is what makes stouts so fun.
Feel: Think flat soda... found myself wishing it had thickness, would've really helped the beer.
Nice beer, but I won't be chasing after it again.
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75
A nice beer, but not what I was hoping it would be. Bought a 4-pack and have spaced them out over the last 8 months.
Look: Dark with some redness to it, looks a bit like a flat cherry coke.
Smell: Booze (big surprise) a malt extract kind of smell, roasted but nothing special.
Taste: it's a Bourbon Stout, you figure it out... Now, having made a milk stout with the same strain of cherries (former Wisconsinite) I know their flavor, and I felt like they went overboard, but they're the pro's. It brings a nice non-hop (but hop adjacent) flavor, which is what makes stouts so fun.
Feel: Think flat soda... found myself wishing it had thickness, would've really helped the beer.
Nice beer, but I won't be chasing after it again.
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3.65/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
4.27/5 rDev +13.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
4.23/5 rDev +12.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
this is a cool concept, a huge barrel aged stout with cherries in it. as expected, being central waters and all, its outstanding. the cherry is pretty powerful in here, i was surprised to see the sweet and tart dark ripe cherry juice element show through such a robust base beer, the stout beneath it is obviously enormous. especially with the bourbon barrel, which adds a ton of char to an already bitter dark full bodied base, and a hint of vanilla that really brings the cherry to life, the balance and depth of flavor here is pretty astounding. its not too much bourbon, some of their other big beers lose their identities a little bit to the barrel, but not here. the cherry keeps up with the other big flavors without adding hardly any sweetness, almost more of a tang from it really, cuts the richness at just the right instance. tons of body and nice and smooth, but it needs more bubbles to keep it moving, this one stagnates a little on the feel for me, gets too heavy and the booze comes out when it warms up even a little bit. overall though an incredibly complex beer, great use of fruit in a dark brew, and very much as good as any of the other huge barrel aged beers these guys put out. enjoyed on draft, but i would love to try it from the bottle as well.
1,271 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
this is a cool concept, a huge barrel aged stout with cherries in it. as expected, being central waters and all, its outstanding. the cherry is pretty powerful in here, i was surprised to see the sweet and tart dark ripe cherry juice element show through such a robust base beer, the stout beneath it is obviously enormous. especially with the bourbon barrel, which adds a ton of char to an already bitter dark full bodied base, and a hint of vanilla that really brings the cherry to life, the balance and depth of flavor here is pretty astounding. its not too much bourbon, some of their other big beers lose their identities a little bit to the barrel, but not here. the cherry keeps up with the other big flavors without adding hardly any sweetness, almost more of a tang from it really, cuts the richness at just the right instance. tons of body and nice and smooth, but it needs more bubbles to keep it moving, this one stagnates a little on the feel for me, gets too heavy and the booze comes out when it warms up even a little bit. overall though an incredibly complex beer, great use of fruit in a dark brew, and very much as good as any of the other huge barrel aged beers these guys put out. enjoyed on draft, but i would love to try it from the bottle as well.
1,271 characters
3.67/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout (2014), 10% ABV. Pours dark brown/light black, medium viscosity with decent head. Nose is cherry, no bourbon. Taste follows - the prevalent flavor is tart cherry, no bourbon detected. Mouthfeel is excellent, but overall I was disappointed. I had hoped for a full spectrum of cherry flavor, more than just tartness, and would expect to taste bourbon in a BB beer. I had gone in wanting a growler (would have been my first) without even trying it, but they weren't offering this in a growler, so I settled for a 9oz pour. Glad I wasn't able to get the growler. Still liked this better than their BB Barleywine, but disappointing compared to their other BB offerings.
715 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout (2014), 10% ABV. Pours dark brown/light black, medium viscosity with decent head. Nose is cherry, no bourbon. Taste follows - the prevalent flavor is tart cherry, no bourbon detected. Mouthfeel is excellent, but overall I was disappointed. I had hoped for a full spectrum of cherry flavor, more than just tartness, and would expect to taste bourbon in a BB beer. I had gone in wanting a growler (would have been my first) without even trying it, but they weren't offering this in a growler, so I settled for a 9oz pour. Glad I wasn't able to get the growler. Still liked this better than their BB Barleywine, but disappointing compared to their other BB offerings.
715 characters
3.74/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout from Central Waters Brewing Co.
3.76
out of 5
based on 795 ratings.
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75