Got in a trade with The-Adjunct-Hippie. 12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 6/2017. Pours lightly hazy very dark brown color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a large cap that lasts the whole. Thick soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of cherry, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, cream, brown bread, and light herbal. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of cherry, cocoa, and dark/roast/bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of lightly tart cherry, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, cream, toasted brown bread, and light nuttiness/herbal. Minimal herbal/roast bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of cherry, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, cream, toasted brown bread, and light nuttiness/herbal on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of cherry, cocoa, and dark/roast/bready malt flavors; with a nice roasted bitter/sweet balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Minimal dryness. Medium-plus carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready, and slightly silky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6%. Overall this is a very good fruited chocolate stout. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of cherry, cocoa, and dark/roast/bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. Not a ton of cherry, but had nice presence; without having acidic/syrupy character in the mouthfeel. A very flavorful chocolate stout, with complementing backing cherry flavors. A very enjoyable offering.

Bottle. A- Roasty, cocoa, subtle char, light tobacco, leather. A- Dark brown color, dark liquid, beige head. T- Smoke, roasty, char, tobacco, cocoa, subtle cherry. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, roasty finish. O- Looks like Empyrean decided to resurrect this one. I can’t decide if that is a good thing or not. Hardly get any cherry and tons of roasty charred cocoa. Decent, but still a bit underwhelming.