It is still summer and that means it is still okay to drink beer brewed with raspberries. For you see like the looming onslaught of seasonal pumpkin beers heading down the pipe that one can and must only consume in October, I tend to view raspberry (or berry beers of any kind) to be a summer time indulgence.
With that caveat in mind I picked up a can (yes, a can) of Berried Alive from Longwood BrewPub in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
The Beer-dict
Berried Alive pours a bright raspberry colour with great clarity and some off-white foamy head. A huge fruity nose all sweet and earthy and one of the most berry berry beers I have ever tried. That is to say a lot of raspberry flavour comes through while you drink it, so much in fact that at times I felt some of the beer part of the equation was being drowned out. At the same time the raspberry is not cloying or artifical, it has that subtle sweetness and hint of tart that speaks to the real deal. Quite light-bodied at 5% ABV, clean drinking and thirst quenching when it is cold. The finish hints at a the ale underneath imparting a slight hoppiness and, well, more berry. Overall a nice treat now and then but definitely not a beer that would make it into regular rotation but hey that’s why it is a seasonal right!
One other thought I liked to toss out there, while drinking this beer, even after de-canning it (i.e. pouring it in a glass) I feel like some of the can taste lingers. Most likely this is all in my head stemming from my early childhood phobia of drinking anything from a can believing it tasted like aluminum but nonetheless given the choice, and I am usually given a choice in the beer I consume, I will continue to choose a bottle over a can.
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