St-Ambroise Framboise
McAuslan Brewing

St-Ambroise FramboiseSt-Ambroise Framboise
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
McAuslan Brewing
 
Quebec, Canada
Style:
Fruit and Field Beer
ABV:
5%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.63 | pDev: 11.85%
Reviews:
43
Ratings:
99
Status:
Active
Rated:
Apr 26, 2019
Added:
Jun 13, 2006
Wants:
  4
Gots:
  10
Made with carefully selected fresh raspberries and top-quality sun-ripened hops, St-Ambroise Raspberry Ale is the perfect thirst quencher for sundrenched summer days. If its glorious red hues don’t woo you, it’ll win your heart with its delicate fruitiness and crisp hoppiness -quintessential St-Ambroise.

25 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by thehyperduck:
Photo of thehyperduck
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)

3.81/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
341 mL bottle from the LCBO (via the brewery's summer sampler); best before Jan 31 2013. Raspberry fruit beers tend to sit well with me compared to most other fruit-infused offerings, so this is one I've been looking forward to since I picked up the pack.

Pours an opaque, muddy, reddish-brown colour, with bright crimson highlights under the light. The pour generates nearly two fingers of billowing, puffy off-white head at the surface, which retains itself impressively well for a fruit beer. It takes over five minutes to fully die down to a smooth, creamy cap, coating the glass with a layer of sticky lacing. Intense, tart aroma with plenty of floral, juicy raspberry character. Some leafy hop notes are buried beneath this, but picking anything else out of the avalanche of raspberry jam character is a challenge. As a fan of the fruit I am not inclined to complain, but objectively it just seems a bit... one-dimensional.

Fortunately that theme does not completely carry through into the character - there's a lot of raspberry obviously, but it'd be hard to mistake this for a cooler because it does have a few beer-like traits. Primarily the bready malts that keep the sweet/tartness of the berries in check. A slightly earthy hop presence creeps forward toward the finish, mingling with raspberry tartness. Fairly light-bodied, although the fruit juice thickens it up a bit and gives it a slick mouthfeel. The relatively mild carbonation contributes to the smoothness of this brew.

I like this stuff, but I must keep my personal biases in check here. As much as I love the raspberry flavour (which is not at all artificial or cloying), this just isn't an especially well-balanced fruit beer. The malt backbone is weak and the hop presence isn't much better, so if you aren't gung-ho about raspberry beer to begin with, this probably isn't something I'd be in a hurry to recommend. That being said, I'd certainly drink it again.

Final Grade: 3.81, a B+. St-Ambroise Framboise isn't mind-blowing, but if you're looking for a highly drinkable raspberry-flavoured beer for the summer months, I can't think of any other domestic examples I would prefer over this. I would rank it ahead of Amsterdam's KLB Raspberry for sure. From an objective standpoint, their Apricot Wheat Ale (also in this sampler) is a better beer - but as a raspberry guy, I'd probably choose this first anyway. Flawed, but still superior to a lot of Ontario-made fruit beers. Unless you have an irrational hatred of the fruit, I'd say give this one a whirl.
Aug 04, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of altstadt
Reviewed by altstadt from Canada (BC)

2.3/5  rDev -36.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
Look: Murky red-brown. Light head hangs around for a couple of minutes before turning into a small patch.
Smell: Mostly yeast. Cooked raspberry shows up after swirling the glass.
Taste: As expected, the raspberry flavor did not survive the brewing process. The cooked raspberry turned into more of a malt flavor. Rather sour from the leftover acid in the raspberries.
Feel: Swells from small bubbles, to medium, and then large bubbles. The bubbles make it hard to swallow until it dies down a bit.
Overall: Disappointing. Raspberry is hard enough to turn into juice commercially since it burns at such a low temperature, so I wasn't really expecting much from a beer. Is it permitted to use gamma ray preservation on the raspberries instead of cooking them?
Apr 26, 2019
 
Rated: 4.17 by EricPhilpott from Canada (ON)

Nov 27, 2018
Photo of taxandbeerguy
Reviewed by taxandbeerguy from Canada (ON)

3.88/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Review from notes. First time enjoying this after over 5 years. Didn't love it the first time, let's see if my tastes have changed. Served from a 473 ml can into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for a little over $3 CDN.

Appearance - Deep pink and purple colored beer. Light pinkish head mostly white. Light and fluffy head. Haze throughout the beer.

Smell -Raspberries all the way, like fresh ones picked right off the bush.

Taste - Raspberries in a big way, middling sweetness and some tartness.

Mouthfeel - Light bodied, easy drinking and carbonation is light. Obviously a fruity finish.

Overall - A better beer than I remembered, the raspberry smell and taste are quite natural and make this a delightful fruit beer.
Jun 19, 2018
 
Rated: 3.72 by sdm9465 from Canada (NS)

Jan 11, 2018
 
Rated: 3.77 by Bf_89 from Canada (ON)

Aug 13, 2017
 
Rated: 3.25 by Pmicdee from Canada (ON)

Jul 30, 2017
Photo of ewpass
Rated by ewpass from Canada (PE)

3.76/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Deep red with a good head. Raspberry nose obviously with medium body with a raspberry tartness on finish. Light body, easy summer drinking.
Jul 14, 2017
 
Rated: 3.42 by Mack from Canada (QC)

Jul 05, 2017
 
Rated: 3.96 by Tivlavrie from Canada (AB)

Sep 05, 2016
 
Rated: 3.25 by Mlkluther from Canada (AB)

Aug 17, 2016
 
Rated: 3 by rugene from Canada (QC)

May 23, 2016
 
Rated: 3.14 by -chii- from Canada (QC)

May 23, 2016
 
Rated: 2.75 by SocalKicks from California

Oct 28, 2015
 
Rated: 3.3 by CurtisD from Canada (NB)

Sep 04, 2015
Photo of VbolieuV
Reviewed by VbolieuV from Canada (QC)

3.59/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Dark red in color with a nice pinkish head. Smells of raspberries with some pale malt and a little bit of hops. A nice raspberry taste with a nice carbonation but nothing incredible.
Aug 08, 2015
 
Rated: 3.87 by beerboy21 from New Hampshire

Jul 04, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by mikeincharleston from North Carolina

Jun 09, 2015
Photo of Svingjo
Rated by Svingjo from Canada (BC)

3.91/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
The slightly tart real raspberry fruit flavour jumps out and grabs a hold and doesn't let go. Tasty!
Dec 23, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by spycow from Illinois

Dec 05, 2014
St-Ambroise Framboise from McAuslan Brewing
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 99 ratings