Raspberry Red Ale

Not a fruit flavor beer fan, Gave it a try, primary 4 weeks, cold crash 1 week in the keg, carbed, set it and forget it 1 week. once the flavoring mellowed out, it was GREAT. Would I make it again, You Bet ! Great beer for something different.

This was the second batch of beer that I brewed. I took it to work and got great reviews from it. Several people were wary of the the raspberry taste but said it was surprising good. Just a touch of raspberry.

I didn't think I'd be a fan of the fruit flavoring (I was half temped to keg half with the extract and half without) but I'm really glad I went ahead with it. This beer has been on tap for 2 weeks and I doubt it's going to make it a third. I would definitely brew this again. I used the extract kit, but will give the AG a try next. The beer smells of raspberries but doesn't taste too much of them. It's not a thick/sweet/syrupy beer like I had feared. My final gravity was a bit low on this one (4.9 brix or 1.020 unadjusted, 1.006 adjusted).

I hope my pumpkin ale comes out as good as this one did.

Awesome beer. Mellow Raspberry taste, on the exhale. Smooth, flavorful, (even besides the raspberry) Great kit, great shipping. Very happy with this product!

So far not impressed with this one. The smell is awesome...the taste is not so much. Upon entering the palette, there is an instant 'fake' raspberry taste to it and its not pleasing to the buds.

I had it in primary for 11 days and secondary for 16 days then straight to the keg where it sat chilled for about 7 days.

I bottled it all and hope it will smooth out while resting, otherwise I don't know if I can drink this all ;)

Note that the raspberry flavoring has natural AND artifical flavors (boo!). I added raspberry extract prior to bottling/kegging.

1.045 @ 95F on 11/14/2010 (1.050 estimated using Dave's Dreaded Actual Specific Gravity Calculator)
1.014 @ 70F on 11/23/2010 - Transferred to secondary
1.013 @ 70F on 12/02/2010 - Bottled into 12 bottles and kegged

Sampled on 12/13/10 after carbonating at 10 PSI @ 40F. Disappointed with the raspberry flavor. WAY too much and it has an artificial, overly processed flavor. I will not be making this again.

I make this one about every other summer, with 2 pounds of honey in it. Reminds of Black Dog Honey Raspberry Ale from Spanish Peaks Brewing in the day. LD Carlson is good extract for this beer, without the putziness of using real fruit (which usually lacks flavor and is messy).

Although the raspberry taste is a little "fake" it still tastes great. They mixed the fruit flavor with a great Red Ale recipe which is obvious when you drink it.

If you're on the fence about buying this....don't. I dismissed the reviews about it being "fake" tasting and bought it. I added 4/5ths of the raspberry extract, and it still tastes very fake. The red ale also lacks body. First tasting was after 10 days primary, 2 weeks secondary, 2 weeks 40F @ 12PSI. I bought it for the girlfriend, and she seems to like it, so shes inviting her friends over to kill the keg so I can make room. I'll try another fruit beer, but real fruit in the secondary only. No fake extract.

This was the first beer I ever brewed and it turned out great. I keged it and needed more cab and after that it was fantastic