White Chocolate Raspberry
Southern Tier Brewing Company

I've been sitting on this one for quite a while and finally decided to give it a try. From a twelve ounce brown bottle, it has a pinkish hue with quite a bit of haze. The head is slim, but soapy and white. What is striking is the aroma....it is big with raspberry and sweetness. It smells more like a raspberry confection than a beer....lots of vanilla and berries. The taste is equally intense....thick, sweet (but not cloying), warming, and full of berries and vanilla. It is like drinking a boozy raspberry milkshake. I couldn't have more than one of these, but it is very well done and quite enjoyable.

 

I written it once, I've written it many time, Southern Tier rarely disappoint. In this particular case, it definitely does not...

...Quite possibly the ugliest looking beer I have ever had, the rest of it was supremely special. Sweet smell of chocolate, raspberries, and hops almost perfectly balanced - all of it translating quite well to the taste. You read the name of this beer and you think "dessert beer', but it's far from it. The booze is hidden behind all the sweet smells and balanced flavors, but it does catch up to you. Overall, a great beer - one that is perfect for this time of year...

On nitro tap at Flaherty's Three Flags Inn in Macedon, NY.

This one pours a bright and dark pinkish color, like the color of maraschino cherry juice, with a small foamy head, and lots of lacing.

This smells just horrendously artificial, with raspberry and cherry Icee syrup, melted ice cream, white chocolate, and just pure sugar.

Every so often, Southern Tier surprises me with a decent new beer. This has not happened here. This is honestly disgusting, with a slick, wet, and overly syrupy taste to this one. It just tastes so artificial, like they dumped a bunch of raspberry soda syrup in this one, or like Icee syrup. The white chocolate certainly does not help the sweetness, it just tastes like they melted some Hershey's white chocolate into this and called it a day.

The creaminess from the nitro is absoltely the only redeeming quality of this beer. Even with the creaminess, that fades away and just leaves a saccharine fever dream of a beer behind.

This is one of the worst beers that I've had in a while now. There's essentially nothing to recommend.

If you like the sweeter beers, this is quite nice. Pours a dark orange with a slight red/pink tint, and smells very nice with hints of the raspberry and some vanilla; couldn't really pick up on the white chocolate in the scent, but definitely there on the taste. Fairly rapidly receding head, lacing stays a while. Taste definitely comes through with the white chocolate and raspberry, with some vanilla in the background. Really smooth and creamy, and definitely staying on the list for a cooler-weather beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle, no dating that I noticed on it. Thanks to Brutaltruth for this one! Served in a snifter, the beer pours a mostly clear orange/amber/pinkish color with not quite an inch off-white head. Head retention and lacing are both good. The brew smells like white chocolate, raspberry, vanilla and a slightly medicinal berry aroma. Taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some bready/grainy malt flavor noticeable too. The medicinal character isn't strong and does ease up somewhat as the brew warms, but there's enough of it to bug me which knocked down my score for this. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's creamy and a bit slick with a moderate amount of carbonation. If it wasn't for the medicinal flavor/aroma, this brew would be a winner with me. With that being said it's not bad by any means and I had no problems drinking the bottle, but it could have been better. But still worth a try if you get the chance to since I know the medicinal stuff is hit or miss with different people.

L - Orange with red and pink hues along with an off-white head that disappears somewhat quickly leaving behind minimal lacing.
S - Definitely white chocolate raspberry. The sugary, vanilla, milkiness of white chocolate along with sweet raspberry is definitely on the nose.
T - Follows the nose: sugar cookie, vanilla, milk all put together make a nice, creamy, white chocolate flavor along with bright and sweet, yet tart raspberry. Some maltiness as well.
F - Medium leaning towards full bodied with a low to moderate amount of carbonation.
O - Really glad I saved this one for winter. Another great dessert beer from the Blackwater Series.

 

Poured 12oz bottle into a snifter. Beer is a blood orange color, clear but with small artifacts in it (yeast?), had a 1/4" bubbly head that dissappeared in less than a minute. Smell is a perfect blend of white chocolate and raspberry juice, with a small yeast and malt scent mixed in. Taste is first raspberry juice, then the well blended white chocolate joined in. Malt and then faint hops ended the mouthful. Beer is mildly sticky with low carbonation. A slight aftertaste lingers, kinda like a very tasty cough syrup. Alcohol is well hidden throughout the mouthful, almost totally hidden.

This beer is pretty good to me, however some beers of this brand are not quite as good-- almost like the beer is not properly blended. I had one that wasn't blended and it was not good. However my experience has been to wait 3-4 weeks and retry the other beers in the 4 pack-- every beer after this one was blended well and tasted good. This could be a Christmas beer, or winter beer seasonal.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours amber in color with a pink hue, one-finger foamy white head has short retention

S- aroma is spot on; creamy white chocolate and vanilla, with a blast of fresh pressed raspberries, reminiscent of a raspberry cordial candy

T- whipped marshmallow and creamy vanilla up front is immediately followed by a hit of tart raspberry. Mid-palate gives some white chocolate notes as the raspberry turns slightly medicinal. The finish gives a cough syrupy raspberry with more vanilla on the linger

M- medium-heavy body with moderate carbonation leads to a creamy mouthfeel that continues into the finish

O- the white chocolate and raspberry come through on both flavor and aroma, only downside is that the raspberry has a bit of a cough syrup flavor on the finish

From a bottle. Poured out with a quickly fizzling white foam head (a trace lingers behind) with a surprisingly light looking reddish-orange-rasberry body. Scent comes across as quite sweet (unsurprising) with the raspberry coming across first but quickly mixing with the white chocolate to produce a pretty enjoyable (if touch too sweet) scent. Taste has a solid flavor of raspberry and white chocolate with a solid presence of alcohol (it is 10% ABV, so this is not surprising). The feel is lighter bodied, a bit of effervescence on the tongue, and a slightly sweet aftertaste that fights a bit more of the alcohol. This is a nice change of pace but is a bit outside of my baliwick for more dessert oriented beers (which I would prefer a touch heavier in the feel department).

Southern Tier makes a line called the Blackwater Series that feature higher octane and flavors. The White Chocolate Raspberry certainly fits that model. It's a stout with an exceptionally sweet and fruity nose. I don't know if pink is the right color but it is definitely a little more red. It tastes just like chocolate raspberry candy and has a very smooth mouthfeel. I would like a little more non-sweetened chocolate notes to contrast the overly sweet raspberry flavor. Like many others of the Blackwater Series, I would definitely drink this again, but it's definitely something to sip and savor.