Keg at Mikey's in Plover, 11/27/21. Hazy dark red, thin frothy off-white head, good retention. Aroma of chocolate, raisin, vinegar, cherry. Taste is tart cherry, balsamic, chocolate, caramel. The chocolate really detracts from this beer. Good concept but it doesn't work. Slick, palate coating.

Bottle

On tap at Arts and Crafts Amsterdam Ave. Pours rubescent dark brown. Chocolate, sweet dessert cherries, tart, funk, oak, vanilla, dark chocolate cherry cake. Medium body. Good.

330ml bottle @ monthly tasting, Chez Sophie, Oct 21. Thanks Mike for this. Pours a deep ruby. Mild cocoa aroma, some cherry hints. Taste presents comforting chocolate with a sweet cherry influence, moderate wild acetic tang coming through. Interesting, but not overly convinced of the chocolate presence.

25th October 2021. Shrewsbury Beer Share in Chez Sophie; 5 guys splitting beers and talking bollox, great fun. Cheers Mike for the 33cl bottle of this (BB28th April 2023). Ruby pour, nearly clear; dull off-white head. Chocolate esters in the aroma, cherries also. Taste is similar in nature to the nose, chocolate first, then semi-sour cherries. Different and I actually enjoyed it.

The cherry version of Duchesse de Bourgogne which was launched several years ago, did not entirely come as a surprise, seen the tradition of making cherry beers ('kriek') out of Flemish sour ale (see Liefmans, Rodenbach and the others), but I must admit that I did frown my eyebrows when I stumbled upon this bottle: this is that same cherry beer 'enriched' with cacao aromas... I will never forget that bizarre Floris Chocolat by Huyghe (though in a totally different beer style) and am therefore very suspicious when 'cacao aromas' show up in beer - but, especially given the generally positive reviews below, let's give this a fair chance. Medium thick, pale greyish off-white, quite regular, lightly lacing, slowly opening but edge-retaining head on a clear, deep bronze-brown beer with bright ruby red glow - and remaining so throughout, so clearly filtered. Unusual but admittedly alluring aroma of - very dominantly - Mon Chéri (Belgian chocolates with cherry filling) and other 'pralines', 'speculoos', passionfruit, Kirsch, indeed cocoa powder but more 'genuinely chocolatey' than I was expecting, ripe elderberries, clear vanilla-scenting oak wood, caramel sauce or even dulce de leche, fruit yoghurt, background touches of candied orange peel, furniture wax, roses, dry earth and old cloth. Tart onset, fruity, hints of passionfruit, fig, blackberries and pear only gradually - but thoroughly - overruled by the cherries; dark sugary sweetness contrasting with lactic sourness in this typical 'sweet-sour' effect of twentieth-century style 'oud bruin', very lively carb, stinging a bit. Both the sourness and the sweetness are tangible on the teeth; a supple caramelly malt body glides over the tongue, carrying this thick, rich tapistry of sweet-and-sour fruitiness of bursting, ripe black cherries and yoghurty lactic sourness onwards to a surprising, 'praline'-like finish, when the cherry meets the chocolate factor, proving to be quite strong in the end with, again, a prominent retronasal effect I can best compare with Mon Chéri chocolates. Some vanilla-ish oak wood is there, but tannic effects remain limited - and thus cannot get into the way of this play of cherry and chocolate, busily fighting for attention over this quieter, caramelly and passionfruity 'oud bruin' bedrock. Okay, I get it now, this beer is meant to be the liquid version of cherry-filled Belgian chocolates - and it must be said, Verhaeghe does a perfect job at that. This creation is frivolous, a bit decadent in a tasty way (like, again, a box of liqueur-filled chocolates), indulging and strange all at once - I am still a bit unsure of what to think of it. The sweetness is a rather too much for me personally and the overall effect too 'likeurpraline'-like, but I can understand the appeal of this beer, it is certainly not an ordinary one and I will for sure remember it for a long time to come. Not entirely my personal taste, I must admit, but have a point for originality.

Botella 33 cl de Cimmeria tomada en Belmonte 31..08..2021. Color rojizo ginda muy oscuro casi negro. Sabores intensos, todo lo buen que sabe esta cerveza, pero con el toque añadido dulce ligeramente amargo de chocolate y el ácido afrutado de las cerezas. Se nota más la cereza que el chocolate y todo esto sobre la base ascética de este cerbezon. Una buena mezcla. Bastante buena, para repetir sin duda.