Name: Cherry Raspberry Ale
Brewed By: Brown’s
Brewed In: Troy, NY
Type: Fruit ale
Brewed with: Malts: Domestic Two Row Pale, Caramel & Wheat; Fruit: Whole Crushed Sour cherries & Raspberries; Hops: Willamette & Cascade
ABV: 6.5%
What they say: “We combine buckets of juicy whole, crushed cherries and raspberries with a sweet amber ale to craft this unique, complex and revered taste. Mild whole hop zest and fresh-fruit tartness perfectly balance this ale’s big malt character.”
Website: The Brown’s web site automatically gets points for eliminating the completely useless “Are you of age” splash screen. The site is divided up into sections, with the logo always on top and the navigation buttons (About, News, Taproom Menu, Store, etc.) always on the left no matter where in the site you go. The “Our Beer” section is a scrollable list of beers with label graphic, description text, and ingredients list. Solid.
Why this one, Show? A few weeks ago the wife and I decided to take a day trip to Saratoga, NY. In addition to getting out of Boston for a day, we grabbed some consumables that MA hasn’t seen fit to import yet—including a bomber bottle of this fruit beer. Some months prior to that trip, fellow snob Tom brought up a six pack of the oatmeal stout to introduce me to this brewery that operates out of my former stomping ground of Troy, NY.
First Thoughts:
Head: Settles into a nice white layer on top.
Nose: Cherry, hoo yeah.
Color: Auburn; reddish-brown.
Presentation (5): The label is simple, but extensive. The Brown’s logo is stylized with red highlights and a couple of cherries and raspberries on it. Also included is a blurb about the type of beer and what it’s made with (similar in text to the “What they say” from the web site, above). Also posted is the ABV and a “Pride of New York” glyph. Straightforward and informative. 5
Originality (5): Fruit ales are branching out all over the place, with seemingly every brewpub and craft beer churning out something sweet for the non-hop-heads. I’ll toss some extra points their way for a brewery that dumps in whole, crushed fruit to the barrel instead of just some extracts for flavor. 4
Body (10): In my tasting, there was not much body to speak of. The beer doesn’t bloom a lot of carbonation in the mouth, and the sip feels thin as it passes through. It feels pretty weak. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you think it’ll feel like a juicy bowl of fruit, you’ll be disappointed. For something over 6%, I was expecting some “umph.” 6
Taste (10): There is more than a little hint of the fruit. The cherry and raspberry are evident. That said, there is no one flavor that’s exploding on the tongue. There is not a lot of sweetness, but there are on real bitter notes either. In fact, there’s no real hop taste at all. All in all, this is a decent fruit essence beer. It’s refreshing and tastes like you’re expecting, but there’s nothing off the chart here. 6
Efficiency (10): This beer gets good marks here. What you’ve got is a bomber bottle of 6.5% ABV easy-drinking fruit ale. And something like that is going to go down well. The fact that the beer is not too sweet gives it a push here, because you can go through the bottle and it won’t get syrupy on you. 8
Versatility (10): Since it doesn’t have a harsh body, a too-sweet taste, or a hop bitterness, this is good for just about anything. I’ll give it a small deduction for it not coming in six-packs (that I saw), but this is a solid choice if you need to pick something up for a dinner, or for just having on hand in the fridge. 8
Final score: 37 – Really Good Beer
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
