Razz Pale Ale
Founders Brewing Company

Normally, I don't like fruity beers or flavored coffees because I think that the flavors clash. However, I had this on tap at Founders on one of my vacation days where I tour the great lakes area in search of the great beers from the regional microbreweries. This one was impressive and very under-rated.

Appearance: A dark reddish brown with minimal head.

Smell: Outstanding combination of rasberry and malts.

Taste: Incredibly good rasberry flavor with a great mixture of tartness and alcohol bite mixed with some malty carmelly notes.

Mouthfeel: Nicely carbonated with thick, sticky mouthfeel.

Drinkability: I would characterize this as the beer to finish a session with because I always like to start with the mildest beer and end with the boldest. I also wouldn't recommend more than two of these in a given session unless you need to catch up on your sleep.

Michigan beer rocks. This under-rated gem is a serious competitor to the Kuhnhenn Rasberry Eisbock, which you all should know because it recently was #2 on the B.A. top #100 list and I'm not sure if I could tell the difference if blindfolded. Michigan used to be the car capital of the U.S., but now I think it might be possibly one of the best states for beer in the U.S., along with California and Oregon (Stone and Rogue, respectively).

This beer has a light red, raspberryish, color with a small white head. Aroma is all raspberries with a nice tartness to them. I really liked it. Taste is tarty as well but more bitter and sweet go into the mix. The hops give a bitterness that goes well with the raspberry tartness. There's an underlying sweet flavor in there as well which is juicy. Body seems a bit thicker than most fruit beers, but that's better here. Acidity is fairly low giving a nice long dry, fruity finish. A very good fruit beer here.