Big Sky Smoove Cherry Ale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

I received this as a gift and figured it's going to be another one of those beers that is really sweet and cloying. I was quite surprised and pleased to find that it was really neither. The aroma and color are to be expected fruity cherry nose, loose head and a rosy color. After that is where the similarity to a kriek changes. The beer is heavy on the alcohol (8.75%) and that is noticeable right away. The maltiness also isn't masked by the fruit flavors. This beer tastes much more like a chocolate covered cherry than a sprtitzy lambic with fruit added. By the time it was gone I had already planned to head back to the store and hope the Valentines lot still had a couple bottles left on the shelf. 2008 Bottling - 533/2028.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Sampled on 12/18/2009. Bottle # 392 of 2028. 2008 version. This fruit beer pours a cherry red color from a 750ml bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is cherry, caramel, malt and sweet. A medium bodied fruit beer. The malts are caramel, cherry and semi-sweet. The hops are earthy and floral. Lively carbonation. A touch of tartness. Interesting, but kind of disappointing. The cherry flavors are just kind of there, they are sweet or tart. The base beer is bland and mild and frankly totally uninteresting. This would not be that much of a problem if the cherry flavors were a little more dynamic. Add bland to bland and you get bland. Drinkable, I have had a lot worse cherry beers, but this one is average at best. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

BevMo has stocked this beer for awhile now and after many attempts at getting it, but putting it back for something else I figured...wtf...let’s do it. Well, first...it’s a huge bottle. There was no way I was going to finish it by myself, unless it totally rocked. It didn’t, but I did get about 3/4 of the way thru it.

The aroma is dark cherry juice, with a bit of cough drop-like medicinal quality to it. Strong cherries in the flavor, toasty malt, a bit of spices...reminded me of a cheap cherry pie you get at a convenience store. Alcohol seemed pretty well hidden, although the more it warms the more it shows up. Not a bad fruit beer to start someone on. Cherry is clearly evident in the aroma and flavor. Looked great in my glass....a dark cherry red color, hazy with a nice pink fluffy head. Price is a little out of whack though.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

i have to start by saying this is probably the worst "expensive" beer I've ever had. What exactly did i pay $14 for? Pours a redish-amber, similar to Rogue's Menage Cherry Frog, and like that one ( a cherry flavored belgian) this one is a miss. Not a Kriek, not really tart...a little bitter, sweet semi-fake cherry taste, which does get better as the beer opens up, but somehow it manages to be thin and overcarbonated while also having way too strong an alcohol bite for a beer that's the Montana legal limit of 8.75%...to the extent that i question if it's really stronger and the label is just a gimmick. Probably not, but this beer really is a bit of a mess. Definitely won't buy again for the steep asking price.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

750ml bottle. Pours a light reddish-amber with a thin fizzy head that quickly diminishes to a tiny collar then disappears completely.

The aroma is off vegetal malts, cherries and sharp rubbing alcohol.

The flavor is sweet cherries and sharp tarry bitter alcohol. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and slightly watery with very low but sharp carbonation.

Overall, it's a bit of a mess. Way too much sharp alcohol.