Hey everyone. I recently picked about 7-8 lb’s of fresh tart cherries from my grandpa’s cherry tree and wanted to use them in a beer. Does anyone have any suggestions or recipes?
kriek!
without having to wait 6+ months to have my beer 
Not at all a fan of a vast majority of fruit beers but Fitgers in Duluth does an annual batch of cherry amber that uses a lot of tart cherries and was pretty fantastic when I tried it a few years back. I’m going to take a shot at it once I get a bunch of this years tart cherries. Also doing a kriek, started the base lambic last year.
American Wheat and Belgian Witbier are always good choices for fruit additions.
If not going sour, I would personally do a saison (even 100% brettanomyces, like Brett Trois) or maybe head in the direction of brown/roast with cherries. They can be really cough syrupy, especially when left alone in a simple/light malt bill.
Sweet Stout, robust or brown porter?
I added sour cherries to an American wheat a couple years ago, and wasn’t thrilled with the results. The balance wasn’t there. It was too dry, too sour and not cherry enough. Not quite sure how I hit that combo.
About 3 or 4 years ago I did a cherry beer for Xmas. Basically a strong Belgian ale with cherries. That one came out very good. Only put in enough cherries to give it a faint cherry flavor, but it worked. A sweet chocolate cherry stout has been sitting on my “to do” list for years, but I’ve not gotten to it. Maybe this year…
Or you could make a pie.
I added sour cherries to an American wheat a couple years ago, and wasn’t thrilled with the results. The balance wasn’t there. It was too dry, too sour and not cherry enough. Not quite sure how I hit that combo.
About 3 or 4 years ago I did a cherry beer for Xmas. Basically a strong Belgian ale with cherries. That one came out very good. Only put in enough cherries to give it a faint cherry flavor, but it worked. A sweet chocolate cherry stout has been sitting on my “to do” list for years, but I’ve not gotten to it. Maybe this year…
Or you could make a pie.
Probably the best two ideas so far. You could even do a maltier belgian pale ale. Think Fat Tire/Palm with cherries.
or baked goods.
