Raspberry Wheat Ale - Garrison Brewing Company

graybayou

Nova Scotia (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%

07-07-2012 21:50:36 | More by graybayou

djcreepshow

Nova Scotia (Canada)

3.25/5  rDev -5%

04-07-2013 15:46:27 | More by djcreepshow

TimeLincoln

New Brunswick (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev +2.3%

03-10-2013 18:36:31 | More by TimeLincoln

Idrankthat

Saskatchewan (Canada)

3.25/5  rDev -5%

10-13-2012 04:26:43 | More by Idrankthat

CurtisD

New Brunswick (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%

09-06-2012 00:39:39 | More by CurtisD

Cris4545

Indiana

2.75/5  rDev -19.6%

08-11-2012 03:05:05 | More by Cris4545

leaddog

Alberta (Canada)

3.58/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Appearance- Pours a peachy blush colour with a 1/2 finger width of bubbly head.

Smell- Raspberries, wheat malts, strawberries, lemon/orange zest.

Taste- Natural raspberry flavour. Well balanced with the wheat taste. A little sweet but has the perfect amount of sweetness. A little bit of bitterness in the aftertaste which is a little surprising.

Mouthfeel- Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Maybe a tad thin.

Overall- A tasty raspberry wheat ale by Garrison. Good raspberry flavour but not overly sweet. The aftertaste could use a little tweaking but otherwise, perfect for a summer day.

Serving type: bottle

05-01-2012 03:46:11 | More by leaddog

Mora2000

Texas

3.15/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to my dad for sharing this bottle.

The beer pours an orange color with a white head. The aroma is full of syrupy raspberry with some wheat notes thrown in for good measure. The flavor follows suit. I get a lot of raspberry, as well as some grain and wheat notes. Thin mouthfeel and high carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

04-07-2012 03:19:04 | More by Mora2000

Ivanhoes_Backpack

New Brunswick (Canada)

3/5  rDev -12.3%

03-29-2012 17:00:46 | More by Ivanhoes_Backpack

hopsolutely

Ontario (Canada)

3/5  rDev -12.3%

01-20-2012 02:16:52 | More by hopsolutely

CoreyJKelly

Ontario (Canada)

3/5  rDev -12.3%

01-17-2012 04:03:14 | More by CoreyJKelly

Skizem

New Brunswick (Canada)

3/5  rDev -12.3%

12-23-2011 22:31:15 | More by Skizem

Long813

Nova Scotia (Canada)

3.95/5  rDev +15.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A: Pours a clear golden-orange body with three fingers of white fluffy head. Retention is great and leaves some nice lacing.

S: Aroma consists of sweet raspberry and some moderate grains. Very pleasing fruity notes.

T: Great notes of sweet raspberries and some nice hops. Quite simple in flavours.

M: Light bodied and medium-high carbonation. Texture is water light and leaves a sweet berry finish.

O: Pleasing beer, but with it's lack of dimensional character I can only drink one or two in a sitting. Good nonetheless.

Serving type: bottle

11-15-2011 02:45:44 | More by Long813

mikereaser

Pennsylvania

3.93/5  rDev +14.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A - Pours a light clear orangish copper with an inch of white foam that faded fairly quickly to just a layer of tiny bubbles
S - The aroma is a nice raspberry smell with just a bit of malty sweetness, really nice aroma
T - Flavor is a nice light wheat grain with hints of lemon and a nice amount of raspberry, its not overdone and blends nicely with the light beer
M - light bodied, crisp carbonation
D - very easy to drink and enjoy. My parents met the brewer on a recent trip and this was their favorite.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2011 02:03:10 | More by mikereaser

Shadman

Alberta (Canada)

4.03/5  rDev +17.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Purchased the mixed 6 @ Trackside Liquor in Medicine Hat..

Looks great. Nice. slightly hazy golden colour, great head and lacing..

Sweet honey and floral, ripe raspberry...hmmmm nice!

Really good..lot's of stuff going on here. Clover honey with a hint of raspberry, toasted malts, decent dose of hop bitterness, Finishes with a mix of raspberry tartness and hop bitterness. Makes me want to have another sip.

Feel is medium-light and the carbonation works well for my palate.

Very good, refreshing fruit beer. I liked it muchly

Serving type: bottle

07-22-2011 01:51:12 | More by Shadman

kjyost

Manitoba (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev +14.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle received from BBrianBoogie, thanks! Poured into a wheat beer glass at around 6C from an undated 341mL bottle

A: An orangeish gold body with nice white head that descends quickly and leaves to lacing. The beer is almost crystal clear... Disappointing.
S: Raspberries dominate with a light sweet malt presence beneath it.
T/M: Clearly a wheat beer with malt flavours and a nice viscous body. The dominant flavour is raspberry, though not so much and so obtrusive as to taste solely of raspberries, but it is the #1 flavour here, as advertised. Enjoyable with slightly lower carbonation than I expected.
O: A well balanced fruit beer. Just enough beer to keep me happy, just enough fruit to make my wife happy.

Serving type: bottle

06-11-2011 22:20:48 | More by kjyost

Rutager

British Columbia (Canada)

3.3/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance. Pours a lightly hazy, gold-amber with a finger of bubbly white head.

Smell. Light grains and raspberries. Imagine that!!!

Taste. Sour raspberries, bubblegum and some light grain. A little hop bitterness at the end.

Mouthfeel. Medium-light body with medium-strong carbonation.

Overall. Very drinkable, but not as pleasant as other fruity wheat beers I've tried.

Serving type: bottle

04-17-2011 02:46:34 | More by Rutager

Converge

Alberta (Canada)

2.75/5  rDev -19.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

341ml bottle poured into a 14.5oz pilsner glass.

A - About a full finger of head, that dies down into a nice lace around the top, with an off-white color. The beer itself is semi-transnparent orange hue with a lot of floaties (Maybe I stored it too cold?) that just hang in it

S - Much more subdued smell than expected. Rasberry sourness is there with wheat and light malt. Slight hoppy-ness as well.

T - Distinctly rasberry, very sweet with a touch of sour. The wheat taste isn't quite as obvious, but is still present. Very little hops, but light malt and citrus flavor make it fairly complex. Don't know if I really love it. Starts to warm up with a bit of a soapy taste, not crazy about that.

M - Shockingly thick and dry. Carbonation is about average. Just surprisingly heavy for a wheat beer.

D - Starts out pretty strong, but the flavor simply doesn't hold up. Not terrible, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2011 03:44:33 | More by Converge

joemcgrath27

Alberta (Canada)

3.43/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A - slightly hazy golden copper, short white head dissipated to a thin covering, not much lacing to speak of
S - raspberry and bubble gum with a grainy note
T - the dominant flavour is more sweet grape and bubble gum than raspberry, phenolic with some bready malt and grassy hops
M - medium carbonation, light and thin, leaving a fuzzy medicinal feel
D - the flavour is fruity and sweet but not exactly what I was hoping for, the phenolic aspect tends to make the flavour come across as more artificial, but still tasty and easy drinking

Serving type: bottle

03-20-2011 02:20:05 | More by joemcgrath27

andrenaline

Ontario (Canada)

3.7/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

A - Pours a hazy golden colour with an amber hue, thin layer of head with no retention and no real lacing.

S - Raspberries dominate with a bit of a wheat and grassy hops coming through.

T - Nice bold raspberry flavour off the top, the wheat backing it up alongside a bitter grassy hop that comes through on the finish. Uniquely balanced and quite tasty.

M - Medium bodied that goes down with a slight prickle and finishes a tad too dry for my liking.

O - Overall, contrary to many of the reviews, I quite enjoyed the hop flavours that came through and found the bitterness was nicely balanced with the sweeter flavours.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2011 16:30:59 | More by andrenaline

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

2.75/5  rDev -19.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Yet another from the variety 6-pack from Garrison, a 341 ml brown bottle. Pours out a slightly hazed golden hue with a tinge of amber from the berries. A finger's width of creamy white head that settles to a thin cap.

The aroma is all sweet raspberry, with a very faint background of bready malt.

Things switch places in the flavour with some sharp grainy malt that smooths out in the middle, faint sweet raspberry on the finish along with leafy, grassy hops that get more spicy and herbal into the aftertaste.

Medium-full mouthfeel, creamy smooth texture with low carbonation.

A bit of a misfit when it comes to a fruit beer, especially a raspberry wheat. The flavour doesn't tend to really offer what's on the label, and the hops tend to stick out like a sore thumb in relation to the style. Not sure what they were aiming for with this one, I admit I don't get it.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2011 00:36:47 | More by IronDjinn

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

341ml bottle, 4.6% ABV, part of the MIXED "6" pack shipped west of late...

This beer pours a slightly hazy pale golden colour, with one finger of foamy white head, which settles soon enough, leaving a decent berm of lace around the glass. It smells of reduced raspberries and biscuit malt - a very enticing homemade raspberry pie aroma, for certain. The taste exhibits a sharp drop-off in the titular fruit character - it's more of an echo amongst the grainy, pale malt base, very tame wheat spiciness, and a bit of earthy drying hops. The carbonation is moderate, and unobtrusive, the body light, a bit pithy, but clean. It finishes just a tad off-dry, some honey notes standing atop the mild graininess.

Not a bad fruit wheat ale, which seem to be the rage lately, and would probably work better on a bright summer patio. As it is, if only the flavour kept up to the promise of the nose, we'd have a stellar example of the style here. Oh well.

Serving type: bottle

02-22-2011 23:57:37 | More by biboergosum

socon67

New York

3.3/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A- Pours very light with more of a gold to tan color.

S- Smells of citrus. Yes, there is raspberry, but also either orange or tangerine.

T- Tastes sweet, but not all that strong for a fruit beer. You do get a feel of wheat as well. Not a bad taste at all; just wish it was more noticeable.

M- This beer has a dry finish. It almost reminded me of a chapagne. Not really liking that part.

D- This is a good beer for the season. Definitely works well in the summer.

Overall I found that Garrison has a couple varieties that are better than this one.

Serving type: on-tap

09-11-2010 21:06:35 | More by socon67

JohnnyBarman

Ontario (Canada)

3.4/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Bottle brought back from Halifax by a friend of mine.

Poured into a nonic glass. Light copper/amber, with a fairly decent frothy head. Some lacing for a while, but this dies off.

Nose is raspberry, lemon, cream. Not bad, doesn't smell artificial.

Doesn't taste bad, just nothing special here. Raspberries are muted, not the tart juicy variety I was hoping for. Soon, they give way to a lemon, yeasty finish.

Medium-bodied, slick, decent carbonation.

Not bad, but gets tiresome after a while. Not the best introduction to Garrison for me, but it's about par for the course in terms of raspberry wheat ales.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2010 19:28:49 | More by JohnnyBarman

TheHammer

Ontario (Canada)

3.28/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Appearance - The body is a very plain looking amber ale with blonde notes with a fairly noticeable amount of particles floating in it and a degree of cloudiness. The carbonation is fairly disappointing as the body seems barely alive, and the thumb of head the pour offered vanished after the second sip, so lacing also isn't happening.

Smell - Has a nice light raspberry scent that doesn't come across as artificial. There is a light wheat and toffee malt in the background and it didn't take much warming to come out.

Taste - A bit odd as the raspberry is saved for last. It starts with a balanced wheat and toffee malt with the dry wheat reigning in the sweeter barley. From there a bitter kick of what I assume are hops make a presence but while the bitterness is present, the taste is completely reigned in by just the right amount of raspberry flavor that slowly wisps away.

Mouthfeel - The carbonation seems to only accent the rather boring malt flavor of the beer. The lack of head also hurts it here, as the fact that it leaves no raspberry aftertaste, which I sorta expected. Good transitioning and the fact there is little cloying going just make up for the issues.

Drinkability - It's not quite there sadly. I mean it's easy to get down and leaves no gas or stomach issues, but the bitter/sweet duality while interesting doesn't let this beer become an easy summer drinker or a fruitier desert beer. That and the dryer wheat malt may actually be working against it a bit.

Final Thoughts - I'm disappointed by this beer, but I can't really blame the brewer here. I guess I'm searching for a raspberry Wit that has a degree of citrus complimented by the raspberry. This one sadly doesn't do it, and it comes across almost like a fruit pilsner. It's decent, but I think for my wheat beers, I'll stick to wits and heavy banana weizens for the time being.

Serving type: bottle

08-07-2010 01:48:12 | More by TheHammer