Raspberry Tart - New Glarus Brewing Company

jcalabre

California

4.22/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I originally sampled this beer on 8 March 2003. I am writing this review from my notes
It looked like a glass of cloudy merlot. Huge nose & flavor of... Raspberries. These guys did this one right. It's not a beer w/ some raspberries thrown in. It's the sweet/tart taste of raspberries, that happens to be a beer. Great job.

Serving type: bottle

08-23-2003 04:21:07 | More by jcalabre

ecoboy

Rhode Island

4.35/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The color of raspberry pie filling (since there was a piece in front of mainebeerman when I sampled this,) the ale hits the glass with a slight head. The head may be the only subtle aspect of this beer.

Huge sweet fruit aroma; I didn't look for any complexity here, and didn't find any.

Big round mouthfeel with a touch of a syrupy quality. The mildest bit of carbonation breaks up that thickness. The beer does coat the tongue leaving a very long "real fruit" finish.

Not a gateway fruit beer for the uninitiated, but a big raspberry dessert of a beer for lengthy savoring.

Serving type: bottle

07-08-2003 09:34:31 | More by ecoboy

jeffboo

Minnesota

5/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

#100 Honestly, I didn't know how this review would turn out. I've enjoyed this beer many times in the past and thought I knew it's story, but, as Chris Berman would say...."That's why they play the game." So let's cut the schuck and jive and get on with the review...

Deep purple color with an equally purple foam rising up in the glass. Very tart,ripe raspberries emerge from the foam and fill the room, you can smell the seeds,pulp, everything raspberry. The brew has a very drinkable full body that balances sweetness and tartness with a solid ale base. It starts fresh, sweet and tart raspberries with a great toasty/caramelly finish. You actually feel like you need to remove the seeds from your teeth, it's that fruity, but it also has a better ale base than it's popular sister brew "Belgian Red". Just as Wisconsin cherry growers have a friend in the Cary's, Oregon raspberry growers are getting much out of this relationship. I didn't know if I would ever give out a perfect "5" but would know the beer if I ever drank it....I just drank it!

If curious check out my Young's Double chocolate for a blended review.

Serving type: bottle

06-24-2003 08:42:57 | More by jeffboo

Gusler

Arizona

4.22/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The pour is a nebulous deep raspberry red, the head monstrous in size, creamy in texture, and a winsome cherry pink in color, the lace a satiny sheet to conceal the glass. The tart raspberry nose is a treat; the start sweet and sour, top is middling in its feel to the palate. Finish is crisply acidic, fruit tart, the finish is dry and quite a treat from my usual over the top beers. A very intriguing beer, quite different as I never hunt out these types? Well I think I've made a mistake, which will not be repeated in the future.

Serving type: bottle

05-26-2003 13:12:27 | More by Gusler

tavernjef

Minnesota

4.83/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Hello raspberries, welcome to my mouth. Wow, what a nice little refresher of raspberry surprise. Another 1pint 9oz fancy green bottle from New Glarus with the neck dipped in red wax, very cool, unique, classy, and makes for a good conversational piece.
Color of this pours out of dark ruby red and settles to be very opaque but glowing deep of rich raspberry colors. No head or lace produced, not all that necessary, but a slight disappointment.
Quite a bouquet of prefumey raspberry joy, both red and black varieties, very dark and deep, super lucsious and just plain fresh like just picked from the bushes. Taste is just as lusciously fresh, a raspberry delight, I detect more black raspberries then red. Moderately tart and sweet, souring a bit, taken in fairly easily but the sour can get the lips a puckering if you drink to much to fast or at once. Its a sipper to settle down with, makes for a great dessert or capper. Feel is medium with lots of tartness in front and goes tangy and sweetly smooth to a raspberry drying much like the fruit itself would do, just take out those tiny yellow seeds that get stuck in your teeth, which they've already done for you here, so your set.
The tartness may be a little much for some but seems to fit perfect for what this brew is after. Yum! Yum, again!

Thanks to jeffboo for the bottle!

Serving type: bottle

05-21-2003 19:22:57 | More by tavernjef

feloniousmonk

Minnesota

4.5/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

There's a precious, raspberry-red wax over the crown and down the neck of this beer, proper insurance of a finely crafted and properly presented product. How often do you see the like in a beer?
Snap! Fssh...and out wafts the incredible raspberry aroma! Let's get that in a glass and up to my lips, pronto!
Color pours out a devilishly dark, bloody red, with a head that starts fine, but swiftly dissipates. I search for associations with appearance and can only come up with candies, desserts, pies, liqueurs...all things sweet, delicious, and fruity!
Up in the nose, BAM! Raspberry Sorbet! Gorgeous! I used to work in an ice cream factory, and relished the time spent with fruit purees, before blending and freezing. This is exactly like that.
I don't even care if I never get to drink it, just to smell this all day long would be heaven!
A highly charged pounce upon the palate at first sip, a bracket of hops, a rush of carbonation.
So much lip-smacking going on throughout the drink...ooo,tart! oo, tart!, but still sweet and delicious.
Texture: phenomenal, body:full, finish: eternal!This beer has a flavor that never lags, or sags, or forgets it's business.
My only caveats are that the tart flavor can be too much at times, and though quite a delight, this is strictly a special occasion ale, best enjoyed after a perfect meal, among several friends, with plenty of time to loll back and marvel at the splendor!
Other than that, perfection!

Serving type: bottle

05-02-2003 01:54:35 | More by feloniousmonk

jreitman

California

4.33/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

As soon as you open the bottle, you get smacked in the face with the raspberry aroma. Poured a raspberry purple/red with little to no head. Initially, the beer was very reminiscent of a Lindeman's Framboise, but as it warmed it showed quite a bit more character. The tartness really started to come out and a it was evident that the beer was quite a bit more complex than it initially led me to believe. A quite nice beer especially when you consider it's from a US brewery.

Serving type: bottle

04-26-2003 18:14:24 | More by jreitman

PhantomVodoo

Ohio

4.22/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Dark red wine like in color with a pinkish red head.
Wonderful aroma of sweet raspberries and more raspberries.

Taste: Oh the glorious raspberry; sweet, but yet sour at the same time. The taste is initially sweet, but then the tartness of the raspberry takes over. Fresh raspberry flavor dominates all other flavors throughout. The balance of sweet and sour is well done and is a little addicting.

Good mouthfeel. Good amount of carbonation.
Good drinkability. Very fesh tasting.
Overall, a great fruit beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-20-2003 11:45:24 | More by PhantomVodoo

Redrover

Illinois

4.33/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This is a GREAT beer. My wife & I really enjoy this one. The beer pours a brown & ruby color is attractive. The head is not huge but does stay for the duration. The smell is wonderful and is dominated by the raspberries.

This is the best tasting American fruit beer I have ever had. In fact it may be one of the best in the world, it really is that good! The raspberries are the main element, but the underlying ale tastes do not fade that far into the background. They have managed a fine balance. The mouthfeel is good and could perhaps be a bit thicker, but this is a small quibble.

I love the taste of this beer but can not drink more than a couple as it tends to get a little sour after more than two.

Do yourself a favor and try and find this beer. I have heard that they are going to stop distributing all of their brands outside of Wisconsin, so you may have to find a local BA to get it for you.

Serving type: bottle

01-22-2003 17:12:38 | More by Redrover

inebrius

Michigan

4.53/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a clouded blood under a surreal frothy, pink and sticky head reminiscent of cosmetic sales-persons outfits and autos. Wonderful bouquet of honey and raspberry syrup over pancakes. Flavor is all raspberry, all the time, tart, just like I like 'em and riding a huge effervescence that clears the buds of sweetness but allows the sour character to linger. First example of a North American spontaneously fermented--whatever that may mean--beer I'm aware of.

A thousand thanks to cokes for hooking me up with this one!

Serving type: bottle

01-12-2003 18:56:13 | More by inebrius

cokes

Wisconsin

4.58/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Deep, bloodied garnet, bordering on purple in color. Wispy pink head is as impressive as it is unique and shows good rentention.
Raspberries dominate the aroma. Then dominate the room. Deeper inhalations indicate bready malts and touches of cinnamon.
Taste is a jolting blast of raspberries. Tart and sweet and all points in between. This isn't your artificial-tasting malternative or quasi-beer. This is complex and joyous in its cacophony. Balsalmic vinegar floods the mouth, coupled with a spicy oak counterpoint. The trifecta of rasperries, vinegar and oak provides the majory of flavor here. But much more lies beneath. Breadiness appears as it warms as do sweeter malt hues. Traces of toffee. There is too much going on for the hallertaus to assert themselves. Careful attention enambles them to be located, but just in the faintest, grassy sense.
Mouthfeel is equal parts spritzy and sticky. Interesting and intense. Burns the gullet on the way past, not from any sort of alcoholic strength but from the blistering tartness.

All told, I believe that this is a better and more complex creation than the heralded Belgian Red (which is still very impressive in its own right). I tend to dislike raspberries, but I still enjoy this one alot. Fans of the fruit will moan in delight.

Serving type: bottle

12-14-2002 00:55:56 | More by cokes

brakspear

Wisconsin

4.88/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

An amazing beer with such an intense raspberry aroma that at first when I poured it, I thought a neighbor was baking a raspberry pie! A dark and murky garnet coloring topped with a wispy pink head that looks fantastic. The aroma is raspberry...all raspberry, fresher than if you were crushing berries right off the vine in your hand. The taste is fruit up front, followed with a sharp acidic tanginess, that mellows in the finish. The body is light and slightly fizzy.

If you serve this to the unprepared, be ready for them to be shocked at first, then curious, then finally addicted and asking for more....

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2002 20:16:53 | More by brakspear

marc77

California

4.22/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Hazy dark red / garnet hue, topped by a head that settles into a thin but tight light pink head that leaves sparse lace. Ripe, sweet and fresh real raspberry aroma hits the nose at first, then is followed by light caramel malt notes, and a Belgian flanders red like tartness. Deeply fruity in aroma and quite sweet-- reminescent of a lambic minus the lactic notes. A blend of sweet raspberry fruitness and subtle tartness is perceptible upfront, then the initally overshadowed malt backbone becomes somewhat creamy and a touch bready, but remains secondary to the fresh fruit character throughout the taste. Light tartness emerges mid palate and contrasts the fruity sweetness well in a Lambic like fashion. Moderately bodied, w/ a smooth mouthfeel aided by relatively low carbonation, at least when compared to a Lambic or Flanders. Finishes sweet, w/ pleasant lingering fresh red fruit lingering on the tip of the tongue. Raspberry tart is quite a unique and tasty brew. It's easily the best American fruit beer I've had thus far... the fresh raspberry flavors are striking. It's devoid of fruit extract twang. The writing on the bottle suggests drinking this ice cold-- Don't. Cellar temp brings on the malt nuances. Tasty!

Big thanks to Bighuge for the sample of this enjoyable brew!

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2002 19:32:12 | More by marc77

ZAP

Minnesota

4.95/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Dark red...nice lace..very very strong raspberry aroma...strong raspberry taste...tart...If it says raspberry tart, I expect that, and I got it with this one...excellent beer if you're into this type...Their Belgian Red gets all the pub but this is almost just as good, if not as good..

Serving type: bottle

04-25-2002 22:04:33 | More by ZAP

Bighuge

Minnesota

4.78/5  rDev +9.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours a luscious dark burgandy color. Slight head. The aroma is exquisite. Smells like sweet raspberry pie. This beer has a tart quality that isn't overwhelming. Perfectly balanced. Not your typical brew. Great raspberry sweetness. The malt and hops here are used as a backdrop for the fruity sensations to work their magic. This is extroadinary. It is like drinking a liquid raspberry pie with whipped cream. A great experience.

Serving type: bottle

04-21-2002 19:53:41 | More by Bighuge