Melange De Framboise

Appearance:

Poured into a 7 oz. tasting glass. The color is a deep ruby red, with some brownish highlights, obviously coming from the raspberries. When first poured, the beer has a small half-inch head that quickly dissipates to nothing. The carbonation is a tad on the high side from the dubbel, large bubbles appear in the head and quickly burst. Perhaps the tannins from the raspberries is disrupting bubble formation.

Smell:

Freshly ripened raspberries! As a matter of fact, raspberries are the only smell coming from this beer. A little one dimensional in that sense, but the smell is full of fresh raspberries. Reminds me of New Glarus Raspberry Tart in the nose.

Taste:

Sweet tartness from the raspberries hits the tongue and sharp acidity rides throughout. There is some malt in the background, but they take a backseat to the raspberries. There is a slight dusting from the Belgian yeast, but only in earthy and dank undertones. The taste is refreshing and the acidity bright, with some bitter tannins coming from the raspberries themselves. The body is on the thin side and it finishes dry.

Overall:

First time brewing with raspberries and I have to say I need to do this again. The beer is extremely refreshing and great as an after dinner drink. For this recipe, I took 2.5 gallons of Dubbel Trouble and aged it on 5 pounds of frozen bought at my local Whole Foods. After secondary fermentation the beer tasted like pure raspberry juice and had no “beer” taste. I then decided to blend this with 2 gallons of my Three Nipple Tripel recipe and this is the beer I reviewed. Next time I will cut the raspberries in half.