Amicas Raspberry Porter

Bomber [ approximatly 1 year old] poured a clear brown with red highlightsand a tan head. Aromas of chocolate with light raspberry and a hint of coffee. Palate was medium bodied and dry. Flavors of bitter chocolate and raspberry with a dry lingering finish.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is lightly malty (chocolate), trace hops (grapefruit), with a strong note of raspberry. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Pretty raspberry heavy with little porter effect in the nose. Sweet-tart in the mouth, slightly better to drink than to smell. Their pizza is great, but the beer needs some work.

when i entered my favorite local brewpub recently, i asked the hired help if the brewer had anything "big" on tap for the holidays. of course, "big" means one thing to beer geeks, and something else entirely to the common citizenry. she said "yes" in an emphatic and enthusiastic way that caused me to fantasize about my imminent gustatory co-mingling with a barley wine or an imperial-- or at least a christmas strong ale. alas, the holiday special release is a raspberry porter-- but one served in a bomber-- hence, a "big" beer. fruit beers seldom rock my world, but i suppressed disappointment and decided to give the stupid thing a fair try. it’s a reasonable looking presentation: dark as dank ship timbers with a ruby cusp. moderate head, oatmeal cookie tan. aroma was mostly lost in the restaurant wood-fired pizza ambience, but i got some-- guess what?-- raspberry. i wished i could have called in snorky, my trained sniffer dog, but i had a thirst to deal with, so ’raspberry’ would have to do. it’s sadly thin of body (the beer, not my dog) and then a sharp carbonation meets a cranberry sauce metallic bitterness head on in a domestic disturbance that wasn’t pretty to witness. raspberry floundered everywhere trying to help, but really just adding to the tumult. finishes sweet, some devil’s food dark malt background and then all that odd puckering bitterness. not bad i suppose, but not what i had in mind-- tho finishing those 22 ounces turned out to be a "big" project after all.

Salida, CO Beer Fest-22 oz bomber-pours a deep brown, almost black. very dark for a porter I thought. Nice tan head. Chocolate, smoke, peat, with a touch of that raspberry fruitiness going on. the flavors were not as good as the aroma. sour and chocolate. tasted like the malts were bad when they brewed this beer. This could have been kinda cool if done right, but this fell short of the mark