Sour cherries vs regular Cherries makes a huge difference. I made an imperial cherry vanilla stout 3 years ago and friend of mine liked it so much, he made made his own batch. The only difference was he made his with sour cherries. We both used 7 lbs, but got pretty different amounts cherry...
I had dinner at a sushi joint with my boss and coworkers. He ordered Guinness for all of us. Since then I have come to the conclusion that Guinness and raw fish do not go together.
I have a love hate relationship with smoke beers. Some examples I love (stone smoked porter, ass kisser porter pounder) while others I loathe (schenlerka smokebeer, Sam Adams Bonfire).