Samuel Adams Cherry Chocolate Bock
This special release is brewed just for the holidays. For a new approach to a classic favorite, we added cherries to our traditional Chocolate Bock for a sweet, slightly tart note. Aged on a bed of dark cocoa nibs, the malty, chocolaty, and dark fruit flavors create a rich, complex beer perfect for winter. Cheers!
3.3
313 reviews
Boston, United States
Community reviews
Very good beer. NIce to drink, smell and look to. Cherry smalls and creamy unflitered features all the time.
Not a huge fan of dark beers, but this is somewhat intriguing. The aroma is like a chocolate covered cherry, with a similar taste. Got this as part of the Christmas season variety pack. Gonna give the rest to a friend who likes these, since this is really not my style.
This beer looks like any good stout when poured into a glass, with an almost entirely opaque brown-black color and a modest tan head. Even with the word "cherry" in the name, the aroma is surprising and intriguing with how much it reminds me of a freshly opened jar of maraschino cherries. The gimmicky cherry addition doesn’t work with the flavor profile, though, with the sweet/sour of the cherries conflicting with the roasted malts and bitter cocoa. The texture is surprisingly light, but the sugary sweetness still makes it a bit syrupy. Overall, the addition of cherries to this recipe is strangely alluring, but the gimmick wears off quickly.
12oz bottle into a pint glass.
Pours a clear, deep brown with a one finger medium tan head. Surprisingly good head retention for Sam Adams although not much in the way of lacing.
Aroma is very cherry with some wisps of chocolate. There is also a cola note and it reminds me of a cherry coke. A bit metallic too.
Flavor is not very good at all. A sweet syrupy cherry flavor permeates throughout and again that cola taste. Chocolate is more muted but is present in the background. Very little in the way of bitterness and a sticky finish.
Overall, Sam Adams missed the mark with this one. I really liked the chocolate bock last year but adding the cherry just messed it up. Too sweet and artificial tasting.
Best before March of 2014.
Appearance: This might be the most beautiful shade of garnet that I’ve ever seen. Perfect clarity with an opaque center. The brilliant and deep garnet shows on the edges. The head is a frothy tan with good retention. Wow.
Aroma: This smells like a chocolate covered cherry with some maltiness. Wow.
Taste: This drinks about as perfect as this style could have gone. Holy cow. Chocolate covered cherries with a mild bock sweetness. Nothing is cloying, this is prominent chocolate and cherry, but no artificial flavors. Just a very nice beer.
Palate: Medium bodied with mild carbonation.
Overall: I am blown away with how good this is. When Sam is on they are on. The flavors go so well together and are balanced very nicely. This is something I would love to have in a 12 pack of to enjoy every once in a while through Winter.
bottle. Brown with small head. Both the cherry and chocolate are quite prominent within a malty base. Sweet and pleasant. Seems like a great beer to have around a fireplace or campfire.
Poured from bottle into snifter.
Appearance - Black/red depending on lighting. By that I mean if held to light the smallest bit of red comes through. Little to no head. Almost nonexistent after a minute or so.
Smell - Slight chocolate, but a more intense cherry nose. Reminded me of the cherry wheat but a bit more subtle.
Taste - Cherry upon entry but rounded with chocolate and malts. Interesting to say the least. Cherry aftertaste that again reminds me of Cherry Wheat. Not horrible, but after a while I can already tell this is a once and a while taster.
Mouthfeel - About average carbonation. Easy drinker and smooth going down.
Overall - Not too bad, just a bit too cherry for me. I was hoping for a more chocolate tasting beer, but overall this isn’t a bad sipper every once and a while. Well I have 3 more, they will go in time.
Bottle: Cherry comes across as a bit of cough syrup. Otherwise its like a cherry tootsie roll from start to finish. Perhaps a lot like that knock-off cherry soda from those weird grocery store brands. Otherwise a bit of carob. This one was way too artificial. Just didn’t work for me.
12oz bottle from holiday sampler. I don’t why Sam Adams didn’t try a chocolate cherry porter instead of a bock, you’d think that would work a little better. Anyways, this poured a brown to red into the pint glass. Like the other bottles from the holiday sampler, this is overly done and limits you to one or two. The cherry in this begins well balanced with the sweet malt backbone but after awhile its like having cough syrup.
Bottle from holiday 12 pack. Pours near black with a small tan head. Aroma is of maraschino cherries. Flavor is of sweet chocolate and cherries. Body is decent. Finish is a little weak which is a knock that I have on a lot of Sam Adams seasonals. Kind of excited when I saw this because I’ve enjoyed the Chocolate Bock. Its a decent beer, but the cherry flavor/aroma is pretty medicinal. Very much like the Cherry Wheat. Its a nice holiday beer that I would drink again, but its not something to seek out.
Heavy on cherry. Chocolate rather subdued. This was included in a Christmas pack. It was a pleasant surprise as had not had the chocolate cherry combo and like both flavors. Nice sipping beer. Would not want to drink many in 1 sitting but a nice occasional change of pace.
Great beer for start to finsh. Aroma is rich and full of cherry, chocolate and a little tart. A nice flavor profile that starts malty with chocolate and a nice cherry finsh. A great dessert beer.
Aroma was cherryheavy. Taste Too sweet on the cherries. Chocolate subtle but there Syrupy. Smooth beer otherwise. Not a very drinkable beer.
Comparted it side by side to a local brewery in the area called Triptych who just came out with their own (very limited supply) Cherry Chocolate. Really is no comparison. I was expecting more from a Sam Adams. I will pick up another grower now. Sorry Sam, you lose this taste test.
Flute. Great cherry and chocolate odor. Pours an almost black color but has little head. Awesome malty mouth feel. Really tasty beer but I think I could only drink one at a time.
Dark brown, almost black, beer with lots of tan head. Strong cherry aroma with some hints of roasted chocolate. Smells just like a cherry cordial. Full bodied with surprisingly subtle flavors. A little too much cherry but it wasn’t as overpowering as expected. Decent beer but drinking more than one would be too much.
12 oz bottle from a sampler pack. Nose is cherry, chocolate, and some light background wheat and banana. Hazy dark brown with a small cinnamon head. Flavor is sweet, chocolate, cherry, and a small,lightly tart/funky note.
Bottle from Fresh and Easy: Poured a dark brown liquid that was near being opaque and was topped with a thin layer of foam. Aroma smells very fruity as if I had just opened a jar of preserved Maraschino cherries with no scents of malts or any other factor to remind me this is actually a beer. The drink is overbearing with the flavor of preserved cherries but when combined with the chocolate malts it sort of reminds me of a sundae ice cream topped with the Maraschino cherries. Taste is extremely sweet with heavy dosages of sugar and artificial cherry flavor that is a bit too much for my liking since I stay away from jarred cherries. I actually enjoyed the regular chocolate bock and the chili chocolate bock, but this was not a pleasing recipe to entice drinkers who wanted to taste the new addition to the holiday 12-pack. I foresee this being retired and discontinued FOREVER.
I was initially disappointed when I saw Sam had tweaked their chocolate bock to this new Cherry Chocolate Bock. But, as a fan of Sam, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried it with an open mind. Still, not as good as the Chocolate Bock, but still an excellent winter beer. The chocolate is overwhelmed by the cherry, though the cherry--to me--did not seem as overpowering as it is the Cherry Wheat. Very good beer.
12 oz bottle served in a Belgian snifter. Pours very dark but clear with no sediment in the bottle. The tan head is thin and short-lived.
Aroma: chocolate covered cherries, and not Godiva quality, with a faint bready malt base.
Flavor: Thankfully, this is not nearly as sweet or candy-like as the smell suggests. Still, lightly sweet with prominent cherry flavor that eventually fades to let the chocolate come thru in the aftertaste.
Feel: medium body with medium-light carbonation.
Not much more than cherry in the aroma. Dark brown with minimal tan head. There's the chocolate in the taste. Surprisingly good. Wasn't expecting to enjoy this one.
If you like a glassful of chocolate covered cherries then this is the beer for you. Aroma was of chocolate covered cherries. The taste was much of the same. Very sweet. Not bad but couldn’t drink more than one or two without needing to have something with a little more hops to counter balance my palate.
Don’t really remember too well but this was good. Dark pour with slight cherries on the nose. Would love to re rate and try again
Better then I imagined. Smelled great tasted good. Got this in a sample pack pleasantly surprised.
Bottle from Ron. A bit similar to Rohrbach Kasey’s Christmas. Heavy on th e cherry, followed by heavy chocolate. Decent but not great, not exactly my thing..
Bottle. Strong maraschino cherry and light chocolate aroma. Dark brown with moderate tan head. Sweet-lightly tart cherry and chocolate malt flavor. Really no bock characteristics at all but still a pleasant fruit beer.
The color is an opaque brown with a large tan head that fades somewhat quickly although a thin layer does stick around, and the indulgent aroma blends chocolate malts, cocoa, and a heavy level of cherries. The taste fuses a high level of umami with a mild sweetness and touch of chocolately bitterness, and the palate is a very pleasant fusion chocolatey finish, medium body, thick texture, and a soft carbonation
Bottle.
A- Cherry, chocolate, cream.
A- Black color, dark liquid, brown head.
T- Medium sweetness, slightly malty, cherries, cocoa.
P- Medium body, thin texture, average carbonation, smooth finish.
O- I didn’t have high expectations, but this was actually enjoyable. It seemed a little thin, but the chocolate and cherry tones felt natural and balanced. Quite good.
On tap @ Black Bottle. Pours a fairly clear reddish brown appearance with a brown head. Maraschino cherry x20, chocolate, light vanilla, tart aroma. Flavor is more subdued but still very good. Tart black cherry, caramel, cookie flavor. Very similar to Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat in terms of the cherry. Great.
Samuel Adams releases a lot of seasonal beers. They’re almost always unusual in some way - usually it’s the ingredients. Some of these creations are bold but ultimately bad and some are surprisingly (and happily) decent. Cherry Chocolate Bock isn’t that different from these other beers, conceptually. The chocolate and cherry ingredients are intriguing additions to a bock beer. What’s different from a lot of the aforementioned beers is that this one is pretty awesome. It has a cola-colored body with a velvet-soft, tan head. The cherry aroma is fresh, sweet perfection. The taste offers a lot of chocolate and cherry sweetness, but there’s a nice touch of fruity tartness to keep it from being overly sweet. I’d like a little more richness and complexity from the taste. Still, it’s hard to complain when you have flavors that are this good, and this balanced. I’d very happily have another one of these right now.