Revolution Deth By Cherries 2017

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company in Chicago, IL
Purcased: 12oz CAN from a 4-pack bought at Revolution Brewing Tap Room in Chicago, IL; 2017
Style/ABV: American Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout, 13.1%
Reported IBUs: 27

In keeping with my plan to review Revolution's 2017/2018 lineup of barrel-aged beers, I'm looking at the 2017 vintage of Deth By Cherries. Deth's Tar is Revolution's barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout, and the base for their Deth by Cherries, Cafe Deth, VSOD, Double Barrel VSOD, and a handful of variants that were tap-only.

The can reads: "Unfermented tart cherries add a mild acidity and subtly rounding sweetness to our Deth's Tar Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. Flavors and aromas of bourbon and oak meld harmoniously with the fruit, each balancing the other. Enjoy now or store cold." 

The appearance is basically mantit for hipster tat to Deth's Tar. It looks stocky, probably under-dressed in clothes slightly oversized. It waits patiently in line. It's black. Wait...

Revolution Deth By Cherries 2017

This smells amazing, by the way. Take everything that could be better about Deth's Tar, dial up the chocolate, and throw in the cherries. My untappy notes said, "surprisingly balanced and barrel forward. Cherry w/ dark truffle, wood tannin, light kiss of bourbon and vanilla. Nice alcohol, whiskey." I DO get a lot of wood and barrel on the nose. The woody notes are really surprising. I also get a lot of chocolate a la those chocolate truffles. The cherry note on here is natural and integrates with the raisin notes from the whiskey. It definitely inspires some cherry-chocolate liquor comparisons.

So how does it taste? Well, amazing. This is really a pleasure to sip. The depth and duration are huge, and the layers are complex. The finish smacks you with vanilla and bourbon, and then lingers with warming alcohol heat and spice. The front end is loaded with fudge, chocolate truffles, bourbon, and then cherries. The cherry sweetness really shows up in the middle, with slightly tart natural cherries. I'm getting a lot of cherry skins, raisin-cherries, and light acidity. It never drifts into sour territory, and the cherry note is very much restrained. Unlike numerous other cherry beers (many featured previously on my blog), this never dabbles in cherry pie filling.

Fruited stouts are the type of thing that can divide a beer community. I would say this is one of the better ones. Aggressive sips are revealing for me some of that splintered wood and raw barrel power you get in the base. There's some anise hugging the edges of this too. I bet this ages pretty good for a few years. As it sits out, I get more fruit. Full-bodied, complex, long duration, good depth, good sipping beer...front loaded fudge/chocolate...fruity mids...fade out to vanilla, bourbon, and spice/heat.

Rating: STRONG Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd) 

Cherry pie, be gone! The fact that "cherry pie" or "cherry pie filling" are completely absent from my review should be a positive thing for 99% of beer drinkers. This is a legit fusion/addition of cherry to an amazing base beer, and the big ass wood, barrel, anise, bourbon, and Stout presence holds up and integrates well with the lightly tart cherry notes. Revolution, I tip my hat to you.

Random Thought: So where does this stack up as a variant? Or just in general? For me....I would go DBVSOD > VSOD > Deth By Cherries > Cafe > Reg. I understand RevBrew is doing a currants variant next year, I'm sure that will be awesome.