Fruity Beer

The last week of July (Monday or Tuesday, I don't remember which) we went to lunch at Waterstreet Brewery. There was a convention in town, and it didn't work out to our advantage because they were B U S Y. While we were waiting for a table, one of my co-workers bought me the Raspberry Weiss - Well, I ordered it and he insisted on paying for it. Gotta love a free beer - I ordered the Raspberry Weiss because it was a warm, sunny day and I was expecting a nice light beer with mild sweet tartness.

Or so I had hoped.

I had never had it before and as it turns out, I didn't care for it. It was too sweet and too fruity. Drinkable, but not something I'm interested in trying again. It reminded me too much of Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss, which I'm not really a fan of. At the Brewfest we attended on 7/31 I had amanda try the Waterstreet Brewery Raspberry Weiss because I wanted to see what she thought of it since Leinie's Berry Weiss is her favorite beer. She said the Raspberry Weiss isn't as sweet and fruity, but it was "okay".

In retrospect, I might be willing to use it as a beer mixer. In my opinion, there are two good ways to mix beers - at least two good ways that I've tried. One is the layered approach, like you get in black and tans, and the other is just to pour two beers together, like the Honey Bear (a mix of Leinie's Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss which had some limited popularity a couple of years ago. I've never tried it).

I'm a big fan of the half and half layered style drinks. I've done it with Murphy's Stout and Hardcore Cider. Guiness Draft and Harp. Guiness Draft and Bass. Guiness Draft and Berry Weiss (which was only "okay" in my opinion).

But I also tried a mix of Guiness Draft and Lindemans Framboise Lambic - which I rather enjoyed. It was suggested by a friend of ours who was bartending when Amanda and I went out a couple of years ago. She asked if they had Berry Weiss. He said they didn't, but that they had Framboise. He said that he liked it mixed with Guiness. I tried it and had to agree with him! New Glarus Brewing Co. also has a nice raspberry framboise ale - Raspberry Tart - that works well.

The Raspberry Weiss doesn't have quite the same kind of flavor as the framboise, but it might work in a similar mix, so I might try it sometime.