Death By Cherries, Is It Alcopop Or Beer?

Death By Cherries is a cherry sour beer from Vocation Brewery located in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. A great brewery that produce some great beers. However I am a little worried about this one as I am not keen on sour beers. But I’ll give it a go.

Death By Cherries is not a beer, it’s an alcopop and a very sweet one too. It pours a deep cherry red with a half finger pink head. On the nose it is just cherries. The taste is just cherries, sweet and tart like an alcoholic Cherryaid. As a cherry fruit juice it would probably score high, but as a beer it gets 1.5 out of 5.0.

I know sour beers are not like a normal style beer, which is probably why I don’t like them, but this is too much.

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Death By Cherries Beer Review

I am not expecting much from this sour beer as I am not a fan of the style, but I love Vocation brewery and have enjoyed several of their beers over the years.

What I will say is Death By Cherries is off to a good start when you look at the can. It stands in a 440ml silver can with a black label. On the label are two cherry skulls which look great, simple but effective.

Vocation always have great designs on their cans, and normally contain great beer too. Beers like Love And Hate, Life And Death and Roll With It. But Death By Cherries, maybe I should have left this one in the can.

On the can it says this cherry sour is rich, sweet and tart, and it comes in at a session 4.5% ABV.

So what is it like?

Drinking Death By Cherries

Cracking open the beautifully designed can, it is time to get it into a glass. It pours a deep cherry red with a half finger pink foamy head. Holding the glass to the light you can see plenty of bubbles rising up the glass, so it looks like plenty of carbonation.

On the nose it just screams cherries, there is nothing else to report. The taste is the same, sweet and tart fizzy cherries. The kind of taste that makes your face pucker and sucks your cheeks in.

It is definitely not rich, but it is sweet and tart, in fact I think it is really sweet. For me this is a fruit juice, not a beer, its not disgusting, but it is an alcopop style drink.

Alcopops from years ago, like Hoopers Hooch and Two dogs alcoholic lemon brew come to mind when I take a glug of Death By Cherries.

It is not disgusting by any means, but it is like a fruit juice. So gets a low rate my beer score of 1.5 out of 5.0.

M’Lady likes it more than I do, saying “I thought it would be really sweet, but it’s more tart then sweet. I quite like it, it’s not the nicest beer, in fact it doesn’t taste like a beer. I like cherries, but it’s not a beer.” Lou scores it 2.8 out of 5.0.

Death By Cherries is not for me.

Vocation Brewery

Vocation Brewery started life in a chicken shed way back in 2015. The founder John Hicks didn’t set out to be a large craft brewer producing the amount of beer currently being produced.

The intention was to create more of a lifestyle business, but little did he know then that it would explode into what it now is today.

Now exporting to over 40 countries and running 4 bars in the North of England, you will always find a vocation beer in a lot of the big supermarkets.

Each bar team has brewed their own beer to represent their home town.

I have always loved Vocation for their artwork and their beers, and I guess the cherry sour is not their fault. It’s not a beer style I like and I don’t think it is proper beer.

Vocation Beers

Vocation have plenty of beers to choose from with many pale ales, IPA’s and stouts. However they also have some I am not so keen to try, like Death By Daiquiri a strawberry and lime daiquiri sour. As well as Death By Margarita a slated lime sour.

I can see a pattern emerging here, but I will just put them out of my head. But here are a few that do spark some interest.

Heart And Soul

Heart And Soul is a session IPA coming in at just 4.4% ABV. Brewed with Mosaic hops it is said to be a fruity tropical hoppy beer.

Flavours of mango, pineapple, passionfruit and grapefruit it sounds like a cheeky hoppy IPA. I am just hoping it has a nice chunk of bitterness thrown in.

One that is worth test driving.

Double Whammy

Double Whammy is the big brother of Whamageddon a double dry hopped IPA with a bold 7.0% ABV. However Double Whammy goes a bit further, this double IPA weighs in at a ferocious 8.7% ABV.

Brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe hops it explodes with flavours of mixed berries and tropical fruits. Described as sticky, fruity and chewy, I hope it backs that up with a nice bitter finish.

Double Tonka Frappe

Double Tonka Frapper is a stout, but this one is infused with Tonka beans giving it that latte creamy coffee feel. Said to be a full bodied stout with flavours of coffee, caramel and chocolate with a hint of vanilla.

I do like a stout and this one sounds complex, but I will only be having the one because it packs bit of a punch of strength at 8.0% ABV.

Who’s up for a Tonka Latte Stout?

Final Thoughts

Vocation beers have exploded since I last checked them out, the range seems to have grown considerably. Not all of them I like the sound of, but there are plenty I would like to get stuck into.

Death By Cherries, unfortunately is not for me, but that may be my struggle with sour beers. We all have our own taste profiles and opinions and this beer is the first glitch in my Vocation journey so far.

If you have tried Death By Cherries, then do share your thoughts, especially if you are a sour beer fan. Let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment below.