Is is possible to not enjoy a cherry?  Of course there must be a few people out there that don’t enjoy the tart/sweet combination.  Or maybe the texture is off-putting to some?  I love cherries.  As you bite into one, the sweet, sugary juice that graces your mouth and simultaneously excites the sour/tart elements in your taste buds is incomparable.  Just one cherry is never enough and I’ve lackadaisically consumed handfuls in a sitting.

So, we’ve (I’ve) determined the people love cherries.  And I’m telling you with great confidence, that people love beer too. Well, a lot of people love beer, I’m sure of this statement.

So, by using some bizarre logic recall, coupled with common sense, I conclude the following.

Cherries(great) + Beer(also great) = Amazing!!!

Most cherry flavored beers that I’ve had are being delicious.  However, I’m usually only able to try one at a time as I don’t typically have multiples on hand, or the alehouse/bar I’m at doesn’t have multiple cherry beers available.  So when the opportunity to pit two, similarly marketed, cherry beers against each other afforded itself, I filled my glasses.

Flying Dog SuperTramp – This 4.7% abv beer advertises itself, or at least the label does, as a tart cherry ale.  The smell reminds me of a ludens cherry cough drop with a wet wheat and dead leaves undertone.  The carbonation is pronounced at the beginning but quickly dissipates, leaving a thin, dark hay colored body.  The taste reminds me of a slightly more robust,malty, belgian blonde ale with a dash of artificial cherry flavoring.  Essentially, take a mediocre blonde ale, slightly on the malt forward end, and dip a ludens cherry into it.  The result will get you close to the SuperTramp.  Sadly, this one is disappointing. 3/10

on the other side….

Victory Kirsch Gose – This, also 4.7% abv beer (imagine that), pours a vivid, radiant, lets call it nuclear-cherry color with a fluffy, persistent, and slightly rouge-tinted head.  It smells prominently of ripe and tart cherries with a slightly sour and salty finish.  The taste is sweet, red cherry forward, and with rounding notes of tartness and sourness, which are followed by the pleasing flavor from the distinguishing element of the gose style, salt.  This is extremely enjoyable and definitely worth seeking out again. 8/10

Hopefully the craft beer world affords me the opportunity to pit (no pun intended) two cherry beers against each other in the future.  But for this evening, Victory Brewing Kirsch Gose reigns supreme.

Humbly yours,

J