Raspberry Frambozen
Steamworks Brewing Company

Raspberry FrambozenRaspberry Frambozen
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From:
Steamworks Brewing Company
 
British Columbia, Canada
Style:
Fruit and Field Beer
ABV:
7%
Score:
82
Avg:
3.59 | pDev: 14.76%
Reviews:
15
Ratings:
41
Status:
Active
Rated:
Aug 31, 2019
Added:
Jul 01, 2005
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  3
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by biboergosum:
Photo of biboergosum
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.66/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
650ml bottle. Lots of steampunk brewing imagery depicted on the embossed graphics label.

This beer pours a clear, medium magenta colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly pale pink head, which leaves some decent layered low-lying cloud lace around the glass as it slowly sinks away.

It smells of musty, underdeveloped raspberries, grainy and lightly biscuity pale malt, a twinge of earthy yeast, and really not much else. The taste is bready, mildly crackery pale malt, a growing raspberry pie fruitiness, gritty yeast, perhaps a suggestion of clover honey, a weak flinty stoniness, and plain leafy, weedy hop bitters.

The bubbles are fairly tame in their equally playful and perfunctory frothiness, the body on the low side of your typical middleweight, and generally smooth, the raspberry essence here not really capable of messing things up. It finishes on a strong drying trend, the malt starting to think about announcing that it is giving up the ghost, with the now ethereal raspberry fruitiness having tapped out a long time ago.

Overall, not a bad fruity craft brew, but the middling nature of the raspberries that enable this brewery's temerity to use the 'Frambozen' moniker precludes me from getting particularly florid here. Easy enough to put back, I guess, especially with the well-integrated booze sort of laughing at my naivete - I can't smell or taste it, so why should I even worry, right?
Aug 18, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of Hat_Fulla_Beer
Reviewed by Hat_Fulla_Beer from Canada (AB)

3.59/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
650ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours a clear ruby amber with one finger of pale pink head that leaves a few splotchy arches of lace as it recedes.

Smells of raspberry jam on biscuits, and some mild leafy hops.

Tastes of more raspberry jam and biscuity malt, more leafy hops and some detectable booze.

Feels perky and fizzy. Medium bodied with peppy carbonation. Finishes off-dry.

Verdict: Recommended. Not too sophisticated, but pretty tasty.
Aug 31, 2019
 
Rated: 4.34 by beer-fan-1 from Washington

May 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.83 by Svingjo from Canada (BC)

Apr 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.9 by feariegreen from Canada (AB)

Jan 07, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by YamagamiTravis from Canada (BC)

Nov 22, 2015
Photo of mactrail
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington

3.89/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Attractive reddish amber with a fine-grained foam in the Maredsous goblet. Warm and malty, but not overly sweet. A woody taste along with the fruit.

Really pleasant raspberry taste with a tangy note. Finishes with a dry edge and just a hint of hops. Yeasty and fruity with a slight buttery note. A nice surprise, and really a decent interpretation of the Belgian brown ale with fruit. From the 22 oz bottle purchased at Bottlecraft in San Diego.
Oct 06, 2015
Photo of wordemupg
Reviewed by wordemupg from Canada (AB)

3.52/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
650ml bomber poured into tulip 6/9/15

A glows a ruby red with lots of fast tiny bubbles feeding a short lived light pink head that leaves no lace

S sour cherries and tart raspberries, not sure what celeia hops are but I'm getting some noble notes, some strange metallic notes and dry cereal

T earthy notes a little weedy, some booze most of what I smell is there with a little less fruit

M medium bodied, a little gritty, on the palate, enough bubbles to fluff it up, sticky on the lips

O not bad but a little average, some strange notes popping up and a little boozy at times

Nothing to write home about but I'm not going to have any trouble finishing the bottle either, just another fruit beer
Sep 06, 2015
 
Rated: 3.31 by Jeremy7 from Canada (BC)

Aug 25, 2015
Photo of boilermakerbrew
Reviewed by boilermakerbrew from Indiana

3.37/5  rDev -6.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
A- Pours a nice, pink rose in color with a ton of haze in the body. A small to average sized head forms and retains fairly well with a decent amount of lacing. Head is off white to slightly pink in color and reduces down to a layer of film on top of the beer after a few drinks.

S- The scent of this beer is pretty straight forward with big raspberry notes first and foremost. The berries are slightly sweet, but very close in smell to fresh picked raspberries from the garden. Under the fruit is a touch of malt that dries out the sccent a little bit.

T- When the beer hits the tongue, the natural reaspberry flavor comes through first. Right after the raspberries, there is a bit of funk from the malts and just a touch of balancing hops bitterness. Towards the end of the drink, the fruit returns and is a little sweeter than its previous appearance. Lingering flavor on the tongue is of lightly sweet raspberries.

M- On the palate, this beer is smooth and rather thick for the style. It drinks easily despite its weight and hides its alcohol very well. All of the flavors are subtle and not overpowering, so it makes for an easy drink there as well.

Overall, this is a decent fruit beer that is neither strong in fruit, nor lacking in it. The overall impression of the raspberries are subtle and very natural tasting. This isn't a standout beer, but was a good representation of the basis of a fruited beer.
Aug 20, 2015
Photo of imfinished
Rated by imfinished from Canada (BC)

3.33/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
This one is too sweet for me.
Jul 24, 2015
Photo of teromous
Reviewed by teromous from Virginia

3.6/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5
Appearance: The body has an interesting shade of brown with a pink to light red tint. The head is white with a hint of pink which fades quickly. The body is hazy but I can make shapes through it.

Aroma: At first whiff I picked up a very present hop aroma, then the aroma of alcohol followed, and a very rich candy malt aroma floods in. It has a really sweet smelling aroma, like smelling raw malt syrup. The aroma reminds me of something I would personally drink during the Christmas holiday season.

Taste: I'm happy to report that it tastes like raspberries. It has a natural flavor to it. I don't know if there are any artificial flavors used in this beer but it tastes like actual raspberries. There is a bit of malt sweetness following the light tangy raspberry flavor. At the end I am picking up some hop character too. It's a good tasting beer but it's a bit muddy. There is an obvious alcohol presence that keeps popping out and is unwelcome in a paltry 7% beer.

Mouthfeel: The beer has a good body to it which supports the beer well, but it feels wholly under-carbonated.

Overall: It's an interesting beer for sure. It had a good raspberry flavor but it was pretty muddy and didn't have ample carbonation to pop anything particular out of the background. It's not a beer I would look for again but I am enjoying it while I have it.
Jun 25, 2015
Photo of NeroFiddled
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25
Steamworks Frambozen
22 oz. brown glass bottle, coded "6224"
$8.99 @ Cost Plus World Market, Arlington, VA

Appearance: Deep amber with a reddish cast and orange highlights beneath a creamy pink head of foam. The head retention is limited, as is the lacing.

Aroma: Limited but pleasant aroma of berries over a soft malt base.

Flavor: Semi-sweet and just subtly tart raspberry atop a straightforward golden malt base with just a touch of bitterness and some very mild leafy/grassy hops. It's more sweet at the front of the mouth, then more tart and bitter at the swallow, but overall quite similar straight through. It finishes dry with a drop of honey-water sweet fruitiness and some minor leafy and grassy hops that all fade steadily away. The alcohol never appears, but at 7% it shouldn't. Really nicely rounded and polished. Superb balance.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and remarkably smooth with a very fine-bubbled moderate carbonation.

Overall: Middle of the road in berry flavor, sweetness, and tartness but at the same time probably more accessible to the masses, and actually flawlessly balanced. At the very least it doesn't make the mistake of being: 1) too sweet 2) too tart 3) too fruity 4) too malty 5) too wheat - no wheat at all! 6) too hoppy 7) too bitter 8) too carbonated... and so on. One of the better raspberry ales I've tasted. I think the bigger size, and the alcohol that goes with it probably help with that. Worth trying.
Jun 23, 2015
 
Rated: 3.45 by hophugger from Virginia

May 01, 2015
 
Rated: 3.42 by Ivanhoes_Backpack from Canada (NB)

Feb 21, 2015
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Rated by ygtbsm94 from Utah

2.85/5  rDev -20.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75
Nose of faint malt, berries, maybe some wheat. Taste slight fruit, wood, & sugar. Very thin and light.
Feb 09, 2015
 
Rated: 3.25 by kaufmaal from Alabama

Nov 08, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Boozecamel from Canada (BC)

Nov 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Guitars_and_beer from North Carolina

Oct 24, 2014
 
Rated: 3.24 by CWVegas from Nevada

Aug 18, 2014
Raspberry Frambozen from Steamworks Brewing Company
Beer rating: 82 out of 100 with 41 ratings