Brett: I received this gem for my birthday this year and what a treat it was! You want a brew that is unique in flavor, ingredients, and creativity, you get it right here from New Glarus Brewing Co. This one of a kind brew is made and aged in oak vats for one year. It’s signature ingredient is the one pound of Montmorency Cherries added per bottle exclusively from Door County Wisconsin and of course, locally farmed wheat. Talk about character…awesome! Note: this brew comes in a wine sized bottle.

My wife and I shared this custom brew while chowing on our homemade pizzas made special on the grill…great pairing. As a matter of fact, you readers should probably do the same tonight.

At first pour, the beer modeled an incredible dark cherry color and 3 finger caramel head that playfully said “how do you like me now?” The head hung on for several minutes and the carbonation remained active and consistent throughout. The smell of this beer was incredible! Cherries, wheat, hops, cherries and more cherries fill your nose and leave your mouth watering. The taste is much of the same with an added sweetness I did not anticipate. You know, the kind of zing that makes your right eye twitch as your palate adjusts. The beer goes down light with a coarse and carbonated finish. This beer is great to try and fun to share on a simple occasion.

Extremely creative!  Grade: B

Tom:  World Champion!  It is printed right on the bottle so my expectations were high (not to mention it is a New Glarus brew).  While they make an amazing array of quality beers this one did not win me over.  The best thing about this beer was the presentation and appearance.  Deep rudy red hues danced in the sunlight as I steadied my camera.  The colors are vibrant in both the beer and head which had a pink tint to it.

Smelling like a freshly picked bail of cherries, this beer was sweet, floral and did not smell like a beer at all.  More like a syrup of some kind.  While I like the aroma the fact that I could not pick out any sour or oaky notes let me down.  It has a wine-like quality to it, but there was no pop or funk.  Just cherries.  There was no yeasty sour aspect like the Belgian beers in East Flanders.

The flavor was not much different.  Syrupy, sticky, medicinal, cough drops, and way to sweet.  The cherries did stand out and had a great fresh flavor to them, but that was about it.  Too much fruit.  The tart aspect I was searching for never developed and each sip carried with it a greater candy-like texture.  The aftertaste is a little harsh and still just cherries.  Unfortunately, there is not much else to this beer.

It seems many individuals give this beer high marks which means I need to give this beer another try.  Something just didn’t seem right to me about this beer.  Grade: C-