Cherry Busey

A beautiful opaque brown pour with red highlights produces scores of rapidly rising bubbles under a thin but persistent light tan foam cap. Cherry and dark cakey malt aromas drift in from 4 feet away. The cherries dominate but as you work through it hints of vanilla, raisins and dried fruit show up. The malt aromas are medium low. The sour in the aroma is not vinegary. Rich cherry flavors predominate. The malt character is medium to medium low with moderately low spiciness. Sourness on the tongue is medium to medium high. Caramel and toffee notes are medium low. The base beer balances between malt and sour/tart. Based on BJCP style guidelines for a Flanders Oud Bruin with cherries, the added cherries suppress the malt character. The beer needs more dried fruit, caramel and toffee to balance the tart and the cherries. Cutting back on the carbonation a little might help as would dialing back slightly on the cherries and kicking up the malt. Setting the style guidelines aside, this is a great beer and I would gladly drink another.