Founders Cerise

Brewed By: Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan 
Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from a 4-pack bought at Friar Tucks in Urbana, IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 6.5%

"Cerise" is a French word for "cherry," and literally means "shade of red" or "a deep red color." So it would follow that Founders Cerise is a cherry beer. In case you're unfamiliar with Founders:

Founders is the holy grail of Michigan brewing. Based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Founders was founded in 1997 and produce some of the best beer in the world.

Founders is the mac daddy of Midwestern brewing. Well..one of them. Anyway, if you check out the beer page for the Founders Cerise, you can find some basic info on the beer. This beer is fermented with Michigan tart cherries, as cherries are added five times during fermentation. This beer clocks in at 6.5% ABV, and packs 15 IBUs. This is a seasonal beer, and is available from June to August. There's not much else to say, so let's glass it up and see what's going on.

 Founders Cerise

The beer has an interesting pour, as it pours with 3-fingers of super foamy, thick, pink-tinted head. The head is made up of dense, small, finely-packed bubbles. In low light the beer has a dark, cherry/red appearance. As the head comes down, there is some lacing on the glass, and the head seems to be sustaining at about a half-finger's worth. In bright light, the head is still a light pink color, and the beer is a lovely bright red color. There is a lot of carbonation in this, and it appears to be fairly effervescent. This beer is murky, with chunks of cherry sediment floating around, and you can't see through this.

The aroma is nowhere near as aggressive as you might expect. When I swirl the beer, I get some tart/sour cherry notes. There are some bready/grainy malts in this, and I'm smelling some very faint/subtle spice. I'm picking up some canned cherry pie filling, and maybe some cherry currants as well.

The taste seems to be a lot more fullfilling than the nose. Straight away I'm getting hit with some sweet, but slightly tart/sour/acidic cherries. I'm not talking about Sour/Gueuze acidic, but just gently acidic. I actually felt a chunk of cherry sediment on my tongue as I took a sip. I'm tasting some nice malt presence, and it's kind of bready/doughy. When you pair the malts in this with the cherries, I swear you taste pie crust. I'm tasting cherry currants, cherry pie filling, sweet cherry notes, and some hints of organic cherries. There's also a hint of light spice in here that I can't place.

This is kind of like a cherry pie in a glass, and I'm okay with that. The cherry notes really remind me of cherry pie filling. But this is a natural cherry flavor. Compare this with say...the totally artificial tasting, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. That's the difference between a real cherry taste and a syrupy, extract taste (although, Sam Adams claims to use real cherries). The more I drink this, the more I think the spice is a slight "zing." Like lemon-zest, or light cinnamon or nutmeg. It's just a subtle, subtle spice.

The drinkability of this beer is through the roof, although this beer is fairly sweet and will probably be off-putting for people who hate sugary, sweet, fruity beers. The 6.5% ABV is completely undetectable. In fact, I'm a little surprised to see this beer clocking in at such a high ABV. I wonder if it has to do with all the cherry fermentation. This is medium-light to medium-full, with moderate-high to high carbonation. Palate depth is good; complexity is kind of one-dimensional, but it is Founders Cerise. Up front you get tart cherry notes; which roll into a sweet cherry pie filling middle; the back end is lingering cherry sweetness, with hints of malts that trick the ol' brain into thinking about pie crusts and shit. There is an elusive spice note that comes and goes.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average rating on this beer. Fruit beers are kind of a love-hate thing, and I happen to enjoy them. I happen to love intensely bitter, roasted, non-sweet drinks...but this weekend I partook in a cookout. And at this cookout was a bunch of shitty beer and party drinks like Mike's Hard Lemonade. I had a few Mike's, and then I tried a bottle of the Cerise later in the evening. The Mike's really messed up my palate, because I could hardly taste the Cerise. Now that I'm sitting here dissecting the Cerise, I feel confident saying that it's a good...if not sweet-forward beer. But those cherry pie notes. If you're looking for a sweet beer, or a fruit beer, or some cherry pie...give this a whirl. It sort of reminds me of the cherry version of Pumking.