Raspberry Flanders Red - 2018 Blend - Tasting Notes

This beer was blended using 3 Flanders Red I'd been aging for 2-3 years back in December 2018 and then aged for another 8 months with almost 16 lbs of home-grown raspberries.  I bottled in 2019 with 2 lbs of invert sugar for back sweetening and then bottle pasteurized the entire batch to leave some residual sweetness as the beer was very dry after the aging and quite sour.

This is my second attempt at a Raspberry Flanders Red (see post on the first attempt).  I used 10 lbs of fruit last time.

I selected my base blend using tasting notes from my 12 fermenters of Flanders Red beer with the goal of minimizing the beer acidity as the fruit are plenty tart themselves.  I plan to do the same for the next batch but may shoot for an even milder beer.

My timing for the pasteurization and level of back sweetening weren't ideal for the batch as it ended a bit dryer than I would have liked (carbonation levels aren't too high at least).

I think it's high time to do an official tasting of this beer.  Some good lessons learned from this batch to aid in decision making for the next one (which will hopefully be performed soon).


Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong aroma of raspberry.  Leathery and cheesy brett character comes through in the background
• Appearance:
• Red/brown color and a little murky.  Pours with a very thin foam layer that fades almost immediately
• Flavor:
• Very tart up front after which the fruit flavor comes through.  It is a rich and jammy raspberry flavor.  The finish is dry with a bit of acidity lingering with the fruit.  I think some bready malt comes through faintly as does some leathery Brett
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Pretty prickly on the palate.  Fairly easy drinking and refreshing - the dry sour finish calls for another sip
• Overall:
• I think the raspberry and base Flanders red get along very nicely.  The fruit dominates but the beer shines through enough to keep it interesting.  Definitely a little on the dry side of the balance scale - could have done with some more back sweetening