Widmer Brothers Reserve Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter

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A - Pours a dark black color with a hint of brown around the edges and a finger of frothy khaki colored head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some nice lacing. S - Aroma is mix of roasted chocolate malts, dark fruits, raspberry, black licorice, vanilla, earthy hops, coffee, and a bit of booze. T - Starts off with a mix of roasted dark chocolate malts with some dark fruits, raspberry, black licorice, and a bit of vanilla. Through the middle, some more sweet berry flavor comes through with some earthy hops and some coffee. The finish is a mix of roasted chocolate malts, dark fruits, raspberry, coffee, and some booze. M - Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a sweet and warming finish. D - Very drinkable. Good russian imperial stout with good complexity added by the raspberries.

Bottle at Chriso - 25/09/12. Sorry - can’t remember who brought this one but thanks all the same! Dark chestnut brown with a very thin tan head. Alcohol hits you on the nose from the off allied to a certain nuttiness, raspberry, roast malt and other dark fruit tones. Taste follows nose, roasted malts become more apparent still getting the raspberries and a little chocolate come into play. Higher end of medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Drinkable but not really my idea of an imperial stout, a little to light and fruity.

Bottle at ChrisO. It pours very dark brown, with a thin beige head. The nose is roasted malt, bitter chocolate, sweet berry, raspberry yoghurt, jam and treacle. The taste is roasted malt, dark fruit, sweet berry, ash, raspberry yoghurt and light acidic notes, with a bitter, roasty finish. Medium body, moderate carbonation and foamy mouth-feel. Not bad.

Raspberry shows through on the nose. Almost a raspberry jam flavor on first taste. Follows through with a nice stout base. Lightly toasted with a molasses and dark chocolate. Slightly bitter after-taste but balanced by raspberry.

The aroma is very unique, I’m getting a smell that reminds me of baby powder. while it looks great the taste has a very mid fruity flavor with a harsh astringent taste that is very hard to ignore. overall its not the beer I was hoping for.

The aroma is very dark and roasted with molasses, coffee, chocolate, grass, and a hint of fruit. The appearance is red brown with a small head. The taste is like the aroma and almost completely lacks raspberry. The palate is smooth. Overall it’s a very good beer but lack raspberry so I can’t really endorse it.

2012 vintage poured by the founder of the brewery himself. The raspberry is subtle, more of the flavor than aroma, but the best dimension of this is the very strong roasted, toasty, lightly burnt flavor in the finish. Otherwise quite chocolatey as well. Enjoyable. (bottle at the Ale Jail backyard beer festival, 2012)

So this is very good. Nice dark pour. Thick brown frothy head. Great balance of rasberry and roasted malts and cocoa. Excellent ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

A very good beer, the heartiness of russian imperial stout with the sweetness of raspberries. Pours jet black with a tan head. Not a lot of roasted flavor, but the alcohol is noticable, but balanced by the raspberry flavor.

Draught at Beer Authority, NYC. Black beer with a lasting brownish head. Roasted aroma, raspberries, cocoa powder, figs, dark bread, licorice, some chocolate, salty, some tar, raisins. Raspberry flavor, chocolate, quite bitter, sourish, vanilla notes, strawberries, cocoa powder, tar, licorice, metal, tart, rubber notes, some ash, some red currant. Bitter finish with raspberries, perfume and some chocolate.