Canned 7/2/25, drunk 7/12/26.
Ryeway to Heaven and Straight Jacket are two excellent, excellent, rich, malty, flavorful beers and this adds more French oak and cherries to that?! Certainly smells intense and aromatic, but nothing raw/sharp/overdone that I can tell. Cherries very minimal. Tons of round, rich oak, deep toffee and aromatic, spicy rye for days. No sign of the alcohol in the nose.
Cherries definitely jump out in the flavor, though, right alongside the soft, rich, not-syrupy malts offering toffee and vanilla. Showing a good deal of sweetness but quickly balanced/dried out by a big helping of peppery rye spice. Still a rather brisk, somewhat overreaching carbonation. Going to let this sit for a few and come back. Does get a bit more cohesive once the strong carbonation falls off a bit. This is certainly pretty nicely-balanced, rich, not too sweet, boozey or over-barreled, and yet, something isn't tying it together for me. Maybe the cherries are unnecessary (that seems like the biggest offender here)? Maybe I actually want a bit thicker and more syrupy of a texture, too? Not sure. It's certainly a lovely beer, whatever the case, but Revolution sets itself an unbelievably high bar for this type of beer.

12 ounce can from Tavour. Dark brown pour. Foamy tan head settles to a small ring. Aromas of dark malt, whiskey, toffee, oak, rye, dark cherries and vanilla. Wow, first sip is intensely flavorful. A big dose of booziness is followed by complex notes of dark cherries, vanilla, brown sugar, whiskey, oak and Kirschwasser. Simply amazing. As the brew warms, the depth and complexity expand.