Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Denver, Colorado USA

tap. strawberry color pour with thin white head and nice lacing. fresh, clean wheat and rasp aroma. wheat, sour malt, rasp. nice fruit brew. this was crisp and easy to drink.

Upon viewing the other rater’s scores on this page, I guess I hold this beer in higher esteem than most. I think much of my higher score can be attributed directly to the low expectations I had when I bought this bottle at Brennan’s Market in Middleton, WI. I have had some of Great Divide’s beers in the past and found them to be very good, but I have had far more fruit beers that were simply low-quality lager with artificial fruit flavors overpowering the whole mess. With those tempered expectations in mind, I found this to be extremely well-balanced and refreshing. The nose was a bit underwhelming in raspberry notes, but the flavor had a very good marriage of "classic" beery flavor and slightly tart raspberries. The balance remained as the beer warmed towards room temperature, impressing me greatly. The fruit flavor was mild enough to allow this ale to be served in a standard pint glass rather than in a flute (as the site recommends). I’m not sure if I’d session this one due to its fruit flavor, but don’t make the same mistake I nearly did by turning down a bottle to sample. Not bad at all.

12 oz bottle. Poured amber-pink with a very tall creamy head. The flavor was very clean with a faint raspberry flavor which was only present in the 10 seconds after the sip. Not what I expected from such a powerful brewery. Don’t get me wrong the beer wasn’t bad, definitly GREAT for a hot summer day, it just wasn’t what I expected coming from a brewery that creates such up front gnarly beers.

12oz. Pours a bright ruby red with a small, fizzy white head. Aroma is carbonated, sweet raspberries. Taste is raspberries as well. This is a pretty one dimensional beer that delivers what it promises. If that’s your thing you can’t really go wrong but this is not anything special.

I’m drinking a 12oz purchased at Hyde Park Wines. Color is red/amber. Head is small. Smell is very berry intensive. Heavy, fake-extract taste though it says they use fermented berries. Also slight cream soda flavor.

12 oz. Bottle from Westover Market. Spare head quickly dissipates. Very interesting amber-magenta color when poured. Nice aroma of raspberries but light in body and thin in texture. Short flavor, not too much raspberry but not much ale flavor either, mildly malty, with a somewhat bitter finish. This beer tastes like they used fresh fruit, not some fake flavoring. Nice for the summertime and quite palatable for those who aren’t regularly beer fanatics.

Bottle. Pours reddish/brown--has a small bit of off-white head. Smells like...well, raspberries, of course. Very effervescent. Drinks pretty light, somewhat fresh and dry. My girlfriend would LOVE it. Not bad, but I think Great Divide doesn’t really need this in their ’brewfolio’.

Pick your six from Liquid town. Obvious rasp which I didn’t like at all. I almost poured but decided it was worth another chance. Don’t like the fruit.