Tap at firewaters. Pours a deep almost murky brown with weird rusted violet highlights at the edges. Aroma is spicy, phenolic, syrupy sweet raspberry extract - fruit must, and a solvent alcohol presence. Flavor is murky and jumbled together- lots of fruity sweet caramel malts, light spices, breadiness, hot alcohol, solvent, off raspberry, and a typical slick mouthfeel from most weyerbacher beers which I hate.

Draft @ Paradiso in DC. 10.5% from Weyerbacher has me worried. 10.5% with rye and raspberries from Weyerbacher has me really worried. The dark brown head and thick, viscous rolling body doesn’t relieve my concerns, and the boozy-sweet wino nose doesn’t help either. Going in for the kill, I’m greeted by a massively chunky and syrupy mess of bran-flavored raspberry liqueur that stings the palate. Combine this with the disgustingly syrupy presence of rye and you have what I would consider one of the worst ideas for a beer recipe I’ve ever tasted. Sure, they brewed it well, the process resulted in no glaring flaws, but the initial conditions are all fucked up.

I generally don’t indulge in fruit beer, but the fact that this was brewed with rye intrigued me. Cloudy dark ruddy pour with a frothy off-white head. Aroma basically of raspberry jam on top of dark bread. Flavor revealed more tartness in the raspberries, but still generally sweet and jammy. Some rye, breadiness, spice and earth notes underneath, which prevent this from coming across as a syrup-bomb, but still are not enough to adequately balance the jammy sweetness. Where’s the booze? I was expecting some vinous or warming character given that this is 10.5% ABV, however the alcohol seems to be hidden like a nefarious rootkit waiting to crash the hard drive which is my brain. Overall, I just wanted more rye and/or spiciness to balance the sweetness. Growler from Bierkraft.

Sample at the open house. Aroma is all raspberry light malt behind it. Pour was a hazy red. Flavor was mainly raspberry lightly malt and some ryeness. Palate was sweet yet relatively clean. Not too shabby.

Tap at Weyerbacher open house. Pours a nice slightly cloudy reddish amber color with a small lacing white head. Aroma is of raspberry and some sweet malts. Taste is complex and very nicely balanced, raspberry isn’t overpowering. Almost reminds me of a raspberry cookie. Impressed with this one.