Expecting an intense, sweet and fruity beer – I split this one with a few people. Poured from the 750 ml bottle into a snifter, the Wisconsin Belgian Red has a hazy, ruby colored body with a off-white and slightly pinkish/brown head. There is really outstanding sticky lacing all around the glass, along with a decent retention ring. For being aged in oak barrels with tons of cherries, this seems about right.

On the nose, maraschino cherry juice and flesh, pureed cherry and blueberry skins, sweet and somewhat of a tart red fruit juice aroma come through. It’s very aromatic and fruity though it’s hard to pick out much of anything past that. No hops, but some very pale grains towards the back end.

Sweet red cherries, certainly a bit more akin to a fake or preserved cherry flavor (again, Maraschino comes to mind) are up front in the taste. Somewhat of a fresh cherry flesh and pits come in mid-palate with a gritty, grainy backbone. Sugary cherry and red fruit candy flavor lasts well into the finish and linger. The body is bubbly but very creamy and silky on the palate. Medium-bodied, sweet and dry in the finish. It’s a nice feeling beer, very lively.

Even split a few different ways, more than 8 ounces of this was starting to really get to me. In terms of drinkability, this isn’t very high – it’s just very sweet and the flavor profile starts to wear you down. Personally, I’d split this with as many people as possible and when not forced to drink a lot to finish the bottle, this is good.

Rating

89
out of 100

Served in a 20 ounce nonic pint glass, the Little Gruesome poured with a dark copper colored body and a bubbly, slightly off-white head. A retention ring eventually formed and left behind some sporadic sticky lacing. In its own regard, it’s a really nice looking beer. Aromas of peanuts immediately come through along with an overall nuttiness to the beer. Caramel and toasted malts, seedless grape jelly and strawberry preserves can be detected on the back end. It doesn’t necessarily scream Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, however all the elements are here for a beer incarnation.

In the taste, gritty and oil-free peanut butter are up front, followed along by a solid toasted malt base. It’s not the focus of the beer but lays a nice foundation for the fruitiness of the beer to showcase. Grape jelly, raspberry and a touch of strawberry jam all come through towards the mid to end palate, and even more so as this warmed. It’s quite impressive how well this beer works in terms of flavor – it’s pretty close to PB&J in beer.

From the aromatic nutty and fruity notes, to the prickly medium-bodied nature of the beer and full-flavored peanut butter and jelly sandwich taste, this is truly a unique beer. I haven’t seen many brewers like Spring House push the envelope in terms of beer you wouldn’t immediately think to make. For this one, it absolutely works without becoming boring, one-dimensional or sickening.

Rating

93
out of 100

The corked popped quite furiously,  like a bottle of champagne would and gave off an intense and amazing fruity ester smell from the bottle. The pour had a deep, rich burgundy body with some charred purple and maroon hues, complete with a soft pinkish two finger head. The carbonation was immediately evident as the bubbles clung to the glass and could be see rushing to the surface on the edges.

Overwhelmingly, this beer exemplifies a fruit beer in its nose. The Black Raspberry Reserve is complete with tons of smooth raspberry sorbet, with an almost tartness to it, perhaps like a raspberry lemonade. Aromatically, this is outstanding although not very complex. The nose stops at the fruit and while some malt is distinct, there’s nothing here to compete with the powerful raspberry smell.

Instantly with one sip I noticed how carbonated this one is. I would have thought with being a few months old, the carbonation would have mellowed but it’s quite the contrary. It’s overly bubbly, like a cheap champagne, though, in its defense, it thins out quickly and leaves a smooth finish on the palate. The flavor profile exemplifies a dry red wine, raspberry candy tartness and a certain grain/malt character once everything evens out in the end.

While fruit beers are generally not my favorite style (though I do like them), I’ve always enjoyed having the Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve every once in a while. By no means is this a sessionable beer that I’d have weekly, but it’s always a nice treat. I’ll take the flavor profile for what it’s worth, single-threaded though mastered. While I would love to see a bit more complexity here, you’re not led by the marketing to believe you should have some. It’s a Black Raspberry fruit beer, plain and simple, and it demonstrates the style quite well.

Rating

86
out of 100

Title photo from: Flickr

The beer states right smack on the label that it has beet color. True to it’s word the beer poured a light redish color with a some faint pink hues and formed a slight one finger light-pink head that dissipated very quickly. There was some nice lacing that formed around the glass as well.

The aroma was pleasant and had some fruit accents and sweet caramel. There was no one fruit or scent that was more dominant, though the beet malt that is used in the beer can be picked out when focused on. The taste was just mediocre for me. There was nothing that screamed this beer is special! Contrary, there wasn’t anything that screamed this beer is garbage either. It had some light fruity accents in the mouthful, and almost tasted a little like strawberries, but I am convinced it was the beet malt used for the coloring. Other than that, the flavor is not diverse, a bit bland and uneventful.

The Wacko was tasty but not delicious; it was enjoyable but not jaw dropping. It’s another one of those beers that I would recommend trying to get a “macro-brew” drinker hooked onto the micro-brew scene. This beer is a pleasant summer seasonal that could be something fantastic if it tried a little bit harder.

Overall: 7.5/10

Title photo from: Flickr

The Black & Blue seemed perfect for my Dogfish Head hand-blown glass, and poured a clear ruby red. If cranberry juice were carbonated, you’d have an identical match to the Black & Blue. The head is fizzly with a generous, soft pink appearance. Much like the fruit used to make this beer (think inside, not the skin), the dominance is in the red hues.

The smell is noticeably boozy and your nose is engulfed by blueberries mixed with some raspberries, strawberry and a touch of blackberries. Overly dominant, interestingly enough, seems to be the berries omitted from the labeling. At any rate, it’s a fruit beer, as to be expected.

The sip on the Black & Blue is extremely silky and quite smooth. The mid-palate is mildly carbonated while being medium to full-bodied. The prominent raspberry flavor sticks around but is intertwined with blueberries and some more booze. It’s very tolerable and downplays the dark berries in the beer, but overall this fruit beer definitely packs a berry-filled mouthful. This one finishes smooth and has some lingering heat in the chest.

In comparison to the Red & White, which I’ve had both on draft and bottled, the Black & Blue is clearly my favorite of the two. To me, the Red & White was understated in the flavor and, from what I remember, much too boozy to be enjoyed. The balance in ABV, flavor profile, mouth feel and drink-ability is all right there for me on this one. Hands down, Black & Blue.

Overall: 9.2/10

Title photo from: Flickr

I poured this beer carefully into a pint glass. In the light, the color is really enhanced with the light being filtered through, giving it a nice golden-amber color. There was little head on the beer with very little lacing left around the glass as well.

The scent is a very pleasant apricot aroma that tends to overpower any of the other smells. Trying to get past the apricot, I picked up on other citrusy flavors, as well as a hint of barley. It reminded me of the nice beautiful spring weather we have recently been having.

I was very anxious to try this brew out for the first time on my patio with the sun shining down. The predominant apricot mutes many of the other flavors. The main issue I have with this brew from Ithaca has to be the heavy carbonation. It is not needed at all for a beer like this. It reminded me of the carbonation a soda would have. While there is also a floral hint to the Apricot Wheat, the carbonation is what really holds this brew back from being something really fantastic.

I try not to be bias when doing these reviews; however, I really wanted to like this beer from Ithaca. In the past, I have been thrilled with all their other brews that I’ve sampled. Again, the carbonation really needs to be toned down. The fruit flavors are dominant enough for a fruit beer and the color and scent are wonderful.

Overall: 7.5/10

Today, I decided to go for the Raspberry Fruit Beer, in keeping with the Spring feeling. Personally, I don’t mind a nice balance of fruit in my beer as it can accent food really well. The Celis brand of beer was originally developed and brewed by the same gentleman that created Hoegardden. He later sold the brand of Celis to Miller Brewing Company. Miller in turn ended up selling Celis to Michigan Brewing Company as it was not very profitable.

After opening the beer and taking the initial smell, it is apparent that raspberry is the main focus of the beer. I was a little taken back by the smell as it was pretty overwhelming. After getting past the fruit smell, there was a slight hint of maltyness to it. I poured the bottle into my pint glass to examine the color. The beer poured a golden orange color with very little head.

The taste alone was a sharp, bitter raspberry. The aftertaste ended with a slight hint of vanilla. I was not overwhelmingly impressed after just having the Red and White from Dogfish Head yesterday. Not entirely what I expected from the fruit beer but satisfied nonetheless.

I was content with the Celis Raspberry overall. If you need a raspberry malt brew, I would recommend this; however, if you have a choice to select another microbrew over this, may I suggest the later. The raspberry tasted forced. I am hopeful that the Celis White will improve my impression of the brews, as it is their flagship brew (review to follow). I just felt that this brew missed that traditional “beer” flavor.

Overall: 6/10

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

When I first poured the Kasteel Rouge, which also goes by Kasteel Kriek, I thought that I had accidentally been given a bottle of sparkling wine. The bottle says Belgian Ale with cherries and cherry juice added, in fact this is a fruit beer. The beer itself is a dark maroon with a frothy off-pink head that doesn’t leave much lacing.

Kasteel Rouge smells very much like cherry candy. Really sweet smelling, which is to be expected. It doesn’t smell like real cherries, but more like a mix of cherry hard candy and cherry cough syrup.

Once this beer hits your mouth you instantly feel all of the carbonation on your tongue, much more than a standard non-fruit beer. The taste is of sweet cherry syrup with a lot of sugar going on. There is no true sourness or bitterness to speak of, just a lot of cherries and a lot of sweetness. Again, here as with the smell it is not 100% of real cherries but some artificial cherry flavors coming though.

In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit that I am not a fruit beer guy. In fact, I have never really found one that I could drink and enjoy. In order to be fair with this beer I’m trying to be objective and not let my dislike of the style get in the way of evaluating it on its own, as a fruit beer.

Kasteel Rouge is a decent beer, something you could easily drink a glass of and enjoy, though after one or two the sweetness may get to you. I wouldn’t buy it again for myself, but I know plenty of friends who would enjoy this beer more than I would.

Overall: 6.8/10