Southern Tier Raspberry Porter

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Lakewood, New York USA

bottle thanks to ilovedarkbeer. deep brown almost black pour with no head. raspberries and chocolate on the nose. roasted malts and a tiny bit of raspberry in the flavor.

Sample at the Hopsnobbery Collective Porter tasting on 12/4/08: The beer pours a deep brownish amber color with a medium thin and creamy light beige head that diminishes steadily. Stringy lacing on the glass. Has an aroma akin to raspberry cough syrup, along with notes of roasted malt. Medium body with a strong tart raspberry flavor that is borderline astringent. Light malt sweetness and some chocolate prevents it from crashing. The finish is fruity with mildly roasty aftertaste. Just average overall.

This tastes like O Fallon Blackberry Scottish Ale. However this is an expensive beer and O Fallon is not. Should this affect my rating? I will drink the other at a third the price. Not great.

Tap. Pours a deep brown with a beige head. Aroma is bread and cereal notes, malt, and heavy raspberry that is almost certainly artificial. Taste is chocolate and bread/cereal up front, with a strange and likely artificial raspberry flavoring on the end. Beer is rather watery and almost tasted like a melted raspberry candy at points. It was just OK, nothing more than that.

Deep brown body with a little bit of copper at the edges. There is a decent light khaki colored head. The aroma has rich raspberries and pancakes. There is also some nice syrup. The taste is lightly burnt pancakes and coffee. Behind all that is a little bit of unsweet hard raspberry candy. It gets bitter very quickly and stays that way. Decent, but a little thin in body.

12 oz bottle. I’ve been routinely impressed by Southern Tier since discovering their beers, however this is not one of them. Very good for a fruit beer, not very good for an overall beer. It is very rare a brew containing any kind of flavoring can pull it off.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of a 6 pack purchased at the neighborhood liquor store. I had high hopes going into this rate, sadly a great review was not in the cards. Poured into a pint glass, a blackish brown hue that is largely clear (IE the edges are very light ridden), minimal head that doesn’t stick around. Aromas are largely artificial raspberry flavoring (Aspartame?) with touches of chocolate. Taste is artificial raspberry, semi sweet chocolate, touches of burnt malt, and some light bitterness. The artificial raspberry and one dimensional character lose points for this beer big time. Fairly mediocre appearance coupled with thin body leave this beer near the bottom of the collective "Porter Pile". Definitely not something I’d find myself driven to again.

Bottle. Translucent, deep ruby/copper mix with a small tan head. Aroma is strong raspberry and chocolate covered berries. Taste is roasted malts, slight hop notes, dark and bittersweet chocolate, and tart berries. Body is light-medium with a tart astringency and light to moderate carbonation. Some aspirin-like bitterness as well. Ends with more tart raspberries, dark, bittersweet chocolate notes and roasted malt. Soem bitter hops come through here as well.