I was feeling a little adventurous when I grabbed a bottle of Raspberry Ale from the Thirsty Dog Brewing Company. As part of a mixed six-pack from one of my favorite little spots (Craft Ale House), I decided that it was worthy enough for a review. This beer was better than I expected with its smell and taste but the 3.9% ABV was a little disappointing.

This session started, as always, with my pour of the 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Even with my gentle pour I received an enormous amount of head. Too much, in fact. I needed to wait until it dissipated in order to finish the pour. I’m not really sure why there was so much. The color was a nice, slightly hazy golden/orange color.

The smell of this beer was outstanding! Immediately I was hit with a nice raspberry smell. That was really the overwhelming majority of the nose. It was a really nice sweet and tart raspberry smell with very candy-like features. Other than the raspberry, I didn’t get much else. The billowy head didn’t mask any of the flavor and I could smell this a mile away while I was pouring. Great so far.

The taste wasn’t what I was expecting but it was good. I thought by the smell I would be hit with an immense amount of raspberry flavor but it was to the contrary. There were mild hints of the raspberry hard candy. The mouthful was light and quite carbonated so I’m wondering if this detracted from some of the taste. The finish was a solid (but slight) bitter- hop backbone to bring it all together.

A really solid fruit beer but don’t let the nose fool you. It’s much less sweet than you’d think. Very sessionable on the taste and the alcohol content, so points for that. It’s not my favorite but I’d definitely have it again.

Overall: 7.5/10