I was having dinner with my family last night and noticed that my daughter was saving her favorite food until last. My wife commented that she must take after me, because that’s what I tend to do. I’ll admit, there are several great beers in the fridge, but I keep saving them until later. Well, I’ve decided not to wait, and as long as I have time to sit down and enjoy a beer, I should start enjoying the special ones. I picked up this beer this past summer, when we were passing through Wisconsin on our way back from my checkup at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. I figured that since I had just had the Founders Rübæus, I should have this one to compare it.
Location: Poured from the wax covered 25oz bottle into a curved pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 4% ABV, ~150 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark ruby red in color and has a good amount of clarity and carbonation. The off-white head was thick and foamy, but fell to just a thin creamy layer across the top after a couple minutes. It has a bright raspberry aroma.
Taste & Feel: The body is full and the mouthfeel is somewhat creamy and syrupy. It has a semi-sweet raspberry flavor up front, with some darker and sweeter fruit flavors rising up in the middle. In the finish, the sweetness peaks and becomes fairly tart with some hints of caramel maltiness in the background. The raspberry sweetness lasts for a minute or two in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: There’s a lot of raspberry sweetness in this beer. I enjoyed a piece of dark chocolate as I drank it, and it went great together. It would also go great with chocolate lava cake or another chocolate dessert. If you’re adventurous, I’d even suggest putting this on a stack of pancakes.
Overall Impression: If you like raspberries, you’ll like this beer, as it’s a lot like drinking raspberry juice. It’s hard not to compare it with Founder’s Rübæus Raspberry Ale, which I just had a week ago, and this one is definitely better. While the Rübæus had a lot of raspberry flavor like this one, this Raspberry tart had a lot of extras that made it better, including the creaminess, fuller mouthfeel, and hints of caramel maltiness. Overall, I really enjoyed this beer (although it’s still a lot more like a fruit juice than a beer), and I’d definitely pick up another bottle when passing through Wisconsin.
My Rating: 
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