Huge pop from the cork, which was fun. It's got a strong aroma of dark chocolate, and when poured, generates foam like crazy. Dunno why, but it's rather dramatic. And before you say "it's because you're pouring in the middle of the glass, dummy," that's actually not it. I only pour in the middle for the last inch or so of the glass, to get the photo. It generated tons of foam even as I slowly poured on the side of the tilted glass, as per usual.
Black in the glass as you can see. As usual for super-dark beers, it doesn't candle at all. I also like that the head of the beer is very dark tan, approaching brown. Cool.
I let it sit for a bit (usually with darker beers, I let them warm up on the table for a few minutes) and then took a taste.
Jee-zus.
So, but first and foremost, CHERRIES. An amount of cherries far beyond anything I anticipated. Particularly, the cherry flavors are sweet - kind of like those Cella chocolate-covered cherries; sweet with notes of dark chocolate; however there is sort of undercurrent of dark chocolate and chicory, especially on the finish. The aftertaste is one of pulpy cherries and chocolate. But throughout the beer, you cannot escape the influence of that little red fruit.
Another note, about the texture. It's heavy, excessively dark and sweet, similar in mouthfeel to the W00tstout - super thick, syrupy, and powerful. I think that fact compounded the overpowering cherry flavors and made this a beer that was frankly tough to power through. I'm glad to have tried it, and for stout fans it is certainly a beer to try, but it's not my particular favorite.
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