SamGamgee (1465), Santa Cruz (La Selva), California, USA
| 3.7 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 4/5 | 14/20 | Mar 16, 2009 187ml bottle, 2007 vintage, shared by CaptainCougar. Hazy red-brown with a small head. Sweet raspberry and malt aromas with a lightly aged quality. tastes like a rich, alcoholic, chocolate-raspberry truffle. Thick, with low carbonation. Tasty stuff and a nice treat, but I’ve never been wild about the dessert category on the whole. nuplastikk (1218), Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| 4.1 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 3/5 | 9/10 | 4/5 | 17/20 | Mar 14, 2009 187ml bottle, thanks to CaptainCougar. Red brown color, no real head. Choco-ras aroma, very deep. Smooth white chocolaty thickness, no carbonation. I get lots of vanilla in it. Lots of sweet raspberry and caramel sweetness. I think this is the best "dessert" beer I’ve ever had. Delicious. CaryTheDude (1113), Longmont, Colorado, USA
| 4.1 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 5/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 17/20 | Mar 13, 2009 Big thanks to Honkeybra for hooking me up with this. Crushed with Honkeybra and Jakebra. Musty raspberry nose with tons of character. Flavor: chocolate-covered raspberries with much more I can’t even name. Incredibly complex, unique and full-bodied as hell. In my unqualified opinion, this brew is pretty amazing, but NG Belgian Red is still the best. MatSciGuy (639), Rosemount, Minnesota, USA
| 3.5 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 3/5 | 7/10 | 3/5 | 15/20 | Mar 9, 2009 [2004 Bottle] send by Cletus. So I was expecting a lot from this beer based on the reviews, but found it to be less than overwhelming. Pours a still chalky brown. Aroma is lots of tart raspberries and a bit of caramel and some oxidation. Flavor is chocolate covered raspberry fruit snacks, some chalky caramel malt, a touch of alcohol, and some oxidation. Mouthfeel was surprisingly thin for a beer of this magnitude. Is it really supposed to be like this? I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. marcbé (86), Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
| 4.1 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 8/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 17/20 | Mar 8, 2009 Explosive raspberry aroma even before the beer leaves the bottle. Clear red-brown color and the head is just a souvenir. This incredible aroma is more likely too emane from a Chambord liqueur than from a beer. Very sweet but not too syrupy, well balance for such an extreme brew. Is it really a beer... I don’t know but I like it. mcbackus (753), Merritt Island, Florida, USA
| 4.2 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 9/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 4/5 | 17/20 | Mar 4, 2009 bottle 2007: pours a dark berry red colour with no head. aroma is great full of tart raspberries, slight leathery earthness, and plenty of malt also with some maple syrup as a sweetness. just an awesome aroma. slight chocolate at the very end of the aroma. flavour has quite a bit of chocolate and a little bit of roast that makes the chocolate seem like a dark kind. the raspberries float in after that and then a nice earthy root flavour just a fantastic beer. ChainGangGuy (2597), Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
| 4 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 9/10 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 3/5 | 16/20 | Feb 28, 2009 2004 vintage.
Appearance: Pours a brackish, blackish-purple body with no head beyond a few, large bubbles.
Smell: Finely expressive nose of macerated, tart-scented black raspberry pulp and supporting earthy notes of cherry pipe tobacco, unsweetened chocolate, tree bark, molasses, and maple. An inkling of oxidation, too.
Taste: Beyond the berry, there are tastes of baking chocolate, blackstrap molasses, maple syrup, and a few choice hunks of gnarled licorice root. You even get a pinch of aromatic tobacco. There’s a fair share of oxidation evident. Also, I detect a tiny, tiny touch of roast. There’s a profusion of vinous raspberry flavor that is, at times, a bit tart and medicinal. The alcohol presence, while noticeable, isn’t ever obtrusive. A bit of warmth in the slow, leisurely finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. No carbonation.
Drinkability: A pleasing, pleasant brew, though I would like to try a different, more recent vintage sometime. In summation, it reminds me of that Chambord Liqueur you get in the "Holy Hand Grenade" bottle. I hear up in Michigan it’s regarded as a local celebrity of sorts. timbeer (57), Rosemount, Minnesota, USA
| 3.6 | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Palate | Overall | | 7/10 | 3/5 | 8/10 | 3/5 | 15/20 | Feb 19, 2009 2004 vintage bottle shared by MatSciGuy - thanks man. Pours a cloudy brownish tone with little to now head. Nose of chocolate, raspberry and plenty of alcohol. These smells carried through on the taste but they seemed to have waned a bit. It was warming on the tongue with some mild bitterness. An OK beer but not one of my favorites.
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