Liefmans Frambozenbier

Formerly brewed at Liefmans (Moortgat)
Style: Sour Ale
Oudenaarde, Belgium

Bottle purchased at Spirits RB. Pours a murky brown with slight ruby highlights around the far edges and an average size foamy white head that has just a hint of pink. Big sour raspbery aroma that is both sugary and sour at the same time. Light bodied with not much carbonation that is refreshing. Flavor is a drop off from the aroma and the raspberry flavor seems artificial like a package of Sweet-n-Low was used to give it sweetness. Overall an average beer that is nothing to seek out.

Why is this a sour and not a lambic? Doesn’t make much sense to me. I liked but didn’t love this beer. Yes, the fruit was there and was good, but it wasn’t an excellent example of the style. Tart raspberries with a hint of sour, lots of sweet. Little taste complexity, no finish...my bottle says 4% ABV.

2007 bottle sampled relatively fresh, upon rumors (ill-founded, I hope) of Liefmans’ bankruptcy.

Pours a pink-tinted murky brown with a long-lived tan head. Powerful raspberry syrup nose., delving deep I get a rich and lovely raspberry caramel with hints of vinegary sour. The flavor is very sweet, again a rich raspberry caramel dessert, tempered with a mellow and relatively mild malty sourness that works very well, before returning to the raspberry tartness on the long end of the flavor. Smooth mouthfeel is surprisingly rich for the 4.5%.

Tasty, sweet, highly accessible sour ale.

750ml Bottle. It pours a semi-cloudy burgundy with absolutely no head. The aroma is of sweet/sour raspberries. There is subtle carbonation to the tongue. As the brew hits the tongue, instantly there’s a weird funk. I can’t exactly describe that flavour since it doesn’t last long enough for me to examine it. Soon after, sweet yet tart raspberry becomes completely dominant. The flavour inherits a caramelly sweetness as the brew leaves the tongue. A light bitterness bites your taste buds in the somewhat dry finish.

Draft at Max’s (Fell’s Point). Poured Brownish Red with a smooth white head. Great Raspberry aroma and a hint of a funky good yeast. Taste is not too tart raspberry with a hint of raison. Very drinkable and probably very good with a chocolate cake.

Pours a purpley brown with a thin pinkish grey film of a head with some loose clusters of bubbles. Clear and reddish. Strong and sweet with a genuine raspberry aroma. A clearly malty aspect. Some caramel and perhaps a hint of chocolate malts. Very low carbonation. Smooth. Not watery at all, perhaps a tad syrupy. Very raspberry! Big fruit, malty, big malt but not too sweet. Round malt, a bit of caramel balanced with some fruity acidity. Lingering raspberry bite. Really tastes like raspberry! Sure the please beer haters everywhere... and it’s enjoyable enough for the rest of us.

Dark red, with a huge, creamy, pink head. Both aroma and flavour has sun ripe raspberries with their natural sweetness and sourness. The flavour has a nice body and balance, and this framboise is actually quite close to Lindemans, and that are big words coming from my mouth!! 1740

Botlle 25 cl. Pours a purplish amber with a small off-white head and a rich sweet smell of raspberries and malts. Taste is almost only cassis, maybe small hints of citrus here and there, but mostly raspberry. A very nice beer