Corked & Caged, 375 mL bottle. 2025 Vintage.

I’m absolutely positive that I’ve had this on a least one other occasion, but no notes that I can find.

Pretty, burgundy pour, decent head out of the bottle but it fades quickly. Little retention, some scanr, spotty lace.

There’s always a risk with any cherry based beers that the dreaded cough syrup creeps in. That doesn’t happen here – just – but the beer does deliver a disturbing bitterness in the back end, that is probably derived from the fruit skins and the tannins within.

Plenty of fruit here, but no sweetness, the beer seems bitter rather than tart. Maybe that’s the advertised clove? Definitely some sweet elements that presumably are due to the honey. ABV is decently disguised, and there’s no way I’d put this above 8%. Mouthfeel is relatively thin, and the beer just seems a little simple. Not much complexity here, some cherry juice and a bitterness without any of the nuance of a BDSA. Belgian in style? Nope, this feels very American to me, with a lack of defining features. Tröegs have made some fine beers over the years, this isn’t one of them.

Meh.