Frambozen Raspberry Brown Ale
Brewed with Pale, Chocolate, Carapils, C-40, C-80, and Munich malts. Hopped with Magnum and 11% raspberries by volume. 6.5% ABV, 16 IBU. Pours out to a brilliantly clear deep ruby amber, forming a soapy light tan head with pink accents. The head has average retention and some lacing. Carbonation is moderate. The aroma is brimming with toast, red raspberries, suggestions of chocolate malt, nuts of all sorts, brown biscuits, and earthen hops. The mouthfeel is initially tart and spry, becoming quite rustic in the finish. Medium bodied. The taste begins with very earthy hops, followed by some slight acidity and fruitiness of the raspberries. The earthiness continues through the finish and lingers in the aftertaste with the sensation of dirt and moss. Toast and chocolate malt hang timidly in the background, and the earthy bitterness is mild. The raspberries come out in the late aftertaste. The beer is cleanly fermented with no appreciable off-flavors and the alcohol is imperceptable. Not a "typical" Belgian Frambozen, but a good brew in a similar vein. This one is kinda like a dirtier Fat Tire with raspberries thrown in. A good dessert brew, but not something that blows my mind like most other NBBC brews do.