Dark Horse Raspberry Ale

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Marshall, Michigan USA

Pours a slighly cloudy raspberry color with very thin to non-existent white head. Aroma is ripe fruit with notes of plum, apple, spice, pear, and some slight honey and caramel sweetness. Flavor is slightly fruity and sweet with notes of raspberry, plum, pear, some faint sweetness. Generally light body with a wheaty and sweet raspberry finish.

12 oz bottle. Pours a somewhat hazy orange/amber color with a medium sized white head that has decent retention and nice lacing. Aroma is slight raspberry with a hint of wheat. Very mellow nose, which is nice. Flavor is a mellow raspberry with a nice wheat profile. Very easy drinking and goes down very easy.

First tried a little sample that reminded me of Founder Roubious. On that note I had to try a pint. What a mistake. A little sample of this beer is nice a pint is just too much. A light yellow sparkly pour. The raspberry flavor is nice but that is all this beer has. Nothing is behind the sweet fruit flavor so after a while it felt as if I was drinking some sort of raspberry cream soda. I could give this to my children as a nice treat.

Bottle. Aroma has notes of raspberry, wood, and sweet malt. Hazy light brown hue with a small disappearing white head that left no lace. Flavor is sweet and tart. Palate is light, watery, and lively. Pathetic overall but chicks probably love it.

Aroma of raspberries, with a lot of raw-cereal malts and grass. Medium-amber pour, heavy sediment, thin white head, no lace. The raspberries are there in the flavor, but overshadowed by a malt profile that’s just off: sour, almost metallic take, heavily biscuity. Palate, on the other hand, is very lively with a nice dry finish. Lingering raspberries on carbonation long after the glass is empty.

I’ve like everything Dark Horse has thrown at me so far and I figured somewhere along the way I’d run into a ho-hum beer. As I suspected it happened on a non dark beer. Cloudy amber with no head. Aroma of raspberry, sweet malt and yeast. Taste of mild raspberry and grain. Been down this road with too many fruit beer that miss the mark, but I still buy them time and time again because the wife likes to try them.

12 oz. bottle from the loose rack at Sam’s. Smells malty when I pop the crown, so the DH guys got that part right. Pours golden to brassy yellow with just the slightest tinge of pink, and a fizzy brief head. Once poured, the raspberry scent pops through. More razz in the first sip. But not much. Some decently detectable malt, though hops are light; still enough to keep the fruit finish subdued. A bit of dryness like a blush wine. Carbonation is a little too strong here; I’m thinking this could improve with a smoother mouthfeel. But it’s pretty decent.

This fella poured a darkly and thickly into the glass and was just raspberries all over from start to finish. The berries were definitely apparent from the smell alone and then upon drinking, it finished with a crisp raspberry bite. I’m not much into the fruity ales, but I would recommend this one to those who are. All in all was well done.