Amsterdam Framboise

Draught @ Bar Volo, Toronto, ON: Pours red amber, no head at all. Boozy aroma with caramel and raspberries. The taste is exceedingly sweet, lots of raspberries, a few hops near the end. I’m not much a fruit beer fan to begin with but drinking a pint of this was like death to me. I can tell it’s decent for the style.

Aroma of strawberries and alcohol. Taste is tarte, alcohol crispness with a fruity tartness. Finish is almost plasticy. Insane amount of head. Took awhile for me to pour it.

341ml bottle from the LCBO. Pours a light red with a pink head. Appealing fruity aroma. The tartness is a nice surprise, as I was expecting the cloying sweetness that usually accompanies fruit beers. Well done.

Bottle. (I had this from a cask last year and remember it tasting like freshly squeezed juice, almost as if you expected to find a chunk of fruit or two at the bottom.) This beer is pinkish brown with a rosy pink head. The aroma is leafy with some raspberry. Mouthfeel is a bit sticky. I taste plenty more raspberry (fresh fruit, not artificial). Finish is short.

12oz bottle - Appearance: Dark red with a small white head. Aroma: Concentrated raspberry, sweetness, quite ’jammy’. Flavour: Wow - lots of raspberry, quite like a defrosted/unfrozen ice pop (Mr. Freeze) wheat, carbonation, dry and a long sweet finish. Not bad at all. My favourite Amsterdam product.

Draught @ Only. Deep garnet, close to being opaque, little tan head, some lacing. Fresh raspberry and soda-like aromas but not too sweet. Thin, light mouthfeel. Finishes slightly tart and dry. Refreshin bevvie. Not complex but also thankfully, not too sweet.

12oz draught
6.5% ABV
I tried this beer on August 1, 2008 at "Smokeless Joe’s" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The beer poured a deep semi-translucent red with a thick pink head. The aroma was raspberry with a malt hint. The mouthfeel was medium bodied, and highly carbonated. The flavour was sour raspberry, and a little grainy malt.

Too thin and tart for me. Certainly the essence of framboise is here, but it doesn’t save this bummer of a fruit beer (a style I normally enjoy). No cloudiness.