Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout

Fruit beers have a reputation for being frou-frou. Not so this raspberry Russian imperial stout by Widmer Brothers. It's about as serious as they come. When I looked at the label, I thought, what an odd pairing--I'm used to fruit beers being light affairs, whether they are berry beers or apricot beers, they all seem to emphasize blonde ales. So I was immediately intrigued. I also thought, raspberry is Tracy's favorite fruit and she asked me to pick up something special for her. I did suspect it might be too strong, but I also thought it was worth a try, something different and definitely special.

As counter-intuitive as it seemed when I looked at the label when I tasted it the combination was, of course, perfectly natural. Like raspberry and dark chocolate. Very dark chocolate, like 80% cocoa dark, with some coffee to make a very dark mocha flavor. Plus 9.3% alcohol and some fortifying hops. The flavor is very strong, and you wouldn't think that the hint of raspberries from the aroma would be able to hold up against them, but it does, creating a striking flavor that really works in every one of its facets.

Alas, Tracy did not like it--it was too strong. To be fair, she doesn't like 80% cocoa chocolate (truthfully, I don't tend to, either, but with hops & alcohol, I can go with it). But I really did. Highly recommended. An image of the beer itself. It doesn't do justice to the head--it's Tracy's portion poured back in the bottle to wait until I could enjoy it and it had gotten more than a little flat. Remarkably, it's still tasty that way. It's very dark, but if you hold it up to the light and tilt the glass to get a view through the thinnest portion, there's some purple there. Highly recommended!

Cherry Wheat

Again, Sam Adams is a pretty reliable brewer. They're not likely to produce anybody's favorite beer, but when you open a Sam Adams beer, you're not likely to get swill, either.

I remember clearly the first time I bought Cherry Wheat. It was late 2007. The rain was turning to snow, and I was driving the Volkswagen. Dinner was spaghetti. I stopped into the sleazy corner liquor store looking for something a little different. This was what they had. I also picked up some free Budweiser posters with Latin flair to send to Nog.

When I got home and opened up my first bottle, the sweet smell rose into my nostrils and I looked into the mist at the top of the bottle, I was struck by the thought that it would be cool to always be opening a new, untasted beer. "More happy love! More happy, happy love!" And it was probably in that moment that the first seeds of this 300 beer year began.

Having tried it a second time, it was still a pretty OK beer. Swheat and tart. If you like mild fruit beers, this is a good one for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't go out of your way to try it.

Patty's Chile Beer

My first chile beer. Not a big fan.

Purple Haze

This is the first beer I've had from Louisiana. Not terribly impressed. A wheat lager with raspberry puree added late in the process. This ought to give it a good fresh flavor, but it all kind of muddles together. Not a great fruit beer.

Holiday Cheer

Seriously, Shiner, this is your attempt at a celebratory beer? I guess maybe in Texas it's not considered a good party until everyone is gagging in disgust, but not where I come from. Peaches. I taste peaches. Nasty peaches. Gross, and it didn't get any better, though I did manage to choke down the entire glass.

Frambozen

I've said it before that New Belgium sometimes gets knocked by beer aficionados, but they do make some pretty fine beers. Frambozen is the best raspberry beer I've had. Light and tasty, fruity but not overdone, a really nice complement to a wide variety of foods. I think that because this starts with a more flavorful beer than most, it's easier to keep the raspberries from overwhelming the flavor.

Vertical Epic 10-10-10

Talk about a beer with a story. Stone is trying to brew something like 11 of these beers designed to peak, or at least be drinkable all on the same day ten years after the brewery opened. I don't think I'm going to be doing that. This is an unusual brew, for sure, a Belgian strong pale ale with enough grape flavor to make it almost like a wine. At first a little hard to get into, but then it grows on you. Definitely a good beer once you get into it.

Pumpkinhead

Another really good pumpkin beer, probably the best of the three I've tried--Highly recommended. And really a delightful surprise after the terrible Export Ale

Pumpkin Ale

This is more like it--a really tasty beer, not too squashy, a little spicy, but still mostly a tasty ale.

Pumpkin Lager

Being as how it's getting on toward autumn, there were a number of seasonal beers out last time I went to the liquor store, and having gotten a recommendation for a pumpkin beer, I decided to try a few different ones. This one was disgusting. You pretty much have to keep at it to take the edge of the squashy taste, and any time you stop it comes back.

Blackberry Wheat

Samuel Adams

Audacious Apricot Ale

Pyramid