Brouwerij De Troch
Ternat, Belgium
Imported by Noble Union Trading Ltd. Co.
Houston, TX
Available: CA, CO, TX, IL, IA, MN, WI, MI, OH, IN, LA, AL, GA, FL, SC, MA, NJ, VA, DE, MD, NY, PA, DC
Alcohol (wt.): n/a
Alcohol (vol.): n/a
Color: 28 EBC
Bitterness: 14
Original Gravity: 14.5 P
Final gravity: n/a
Malts used: n/a
Hops used: n/a
That this beer is flavored with raspberry juice rather than fermented with whole raspberries is evident from the first pour, which reveals a ferociously turbid, almost blood red brew. The nose confirms these suspicions, rich as it is with sweet raspberry and holding only trace notes of tartness. The body continues suit, with a soft background tartness—from the lambic base or the fruit juice? it’s hard to tell—easily overwhelmed by raspberry fruit flavour. Suitable for anyone with a highly developed sweet tooth, or as an ice cream flavouring, but traditionalists beware.
Screaming fresh raspberry aroma! Doesn’t pass any clarity or head retention test. An extreme “lambic.” Acidity seems to come from raspberry, not from the complexity of spontaneous fermentation. Sweetness is massive. My apologies if I cannot elegantly express my dissatisfaction. Quite out of balance and so sweet I cannot imagine finishing a serving. But I love the aroma and the undertones of earthy barrel aging. To each their own, but not mine.
This is a deep brownish-red beer with an odd pinkish head that quickly drops. The nose shows plenty of raspberry but the underlying lambic exudes a cheesy/woody funkiness. The palate is very sweet with negligible bitterness but plenty of acidity. The promising funkiness vanishes behind the raspberries. This is a modern sweet framboise that will make traditionalists cringe. But it’ll taste awfully nice with cheesecake, chocolate tarts or vanilla ice cream. Your move.
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn’t looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn’t have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.
