Marin Raspberry Trail Ale

Brewed by Marin Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Larkspur, California USA

Sampled from BevMo. Poured nicely but to a very light brown color. Aroma was nice with a berry scent. Mouthfeel was smooth but had a bit of an aftertaste. Falvor was nice but lacked a nice berry taste.

Bomber from Ledgers; Nose of fresh, sweet, yet tart raspberries; hazy gold with a big bubbly white head; grainy flavor with raspberries and a tiny hop note. Not too bad!

22oz bottle acquired in trade with DarkElf (thanks!). Poured a medium and hazy yellow color with a huge sized white head. Aromas of raspberries, lemons, and a splash of honey. Tastes of raspberries, wheat, and lemons. Lightly tart finish. Thin body.

Bomber poured a hazy golden yellow with a large lasting white head. Aromas of raspberry, wheat and light lemon. Palate was light bodied and crisp. Flavors of wheat, straw and a sweet fruitiness that does’nt really resemble raspberry to much with a crisp sweet finish. Not terrible but I’d pass on this one.

The body was slightly hazy medium gold with an off white head. The aroma was cow pies with some wood and dandelions. What are they putting in this to make it smell this way? The taste was dandelions with peach pits and some hay. There was also some watermelon gum. At this point I feel I have had enough fruit beers of various types to offer some advice. Stop using fruit concentrate or fruit flavored additives, they are inferior. Use real fruit, the end product will benefit from the extra care and expense.

22oz bomber, no date. Pours a hazy golden with a small white head that dissipates to a ring. Aroma of some tart raspberries--nice because it isn’t overpowering or overly sweet. A little wheat in there as well. Taste is fairly tart, though not terribly raspberry-ish. Has a wheaty finish as well. Thin bodied, moderate carbonation. Don’t seek this one out. It isn’t horrible, but not great.

A little of a nice bittersweet taste, on the mild side, sweeter as it warms up, very easy drinking on a hot day, ok brew.

I have to say that between the blueberry ale and the raspberry ale, the blueberry is the better of the two by a LONG way. The aroma for this was very light, raspberry notes turned down so low it’s hard to even pick them up. Apperance was EXTREMELY light colored, almost like a Hoegaarden. Plus, the beer has a HUGE head. I mean explosion type head, so be careful. Mouthfeel was watery, and it had a huge amounts of carbonation so it was sort of harsh. I could barely pick-up any raspberry taste at all. In fact, there wasn’t much taste at all except for some hops, some malt and that’s about it. Very disappointed beer.