Front Porch Raspberry
Calabogie Brewing Co

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. My first beer from the Calabogie, Ontario brewery...

Nov 26 2024

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated May 14 2024 and served barely chilled.

Pours a clear golden-yellow colour, producing roughly two fingers of loose, soapy white head that sizzles away within a minute or two. A frothy collar and filmy cap remain, with minimal lace deposition - looks the same as regular Front Porch, more or less. Raspberries on the nose, with hints of wheaty malts and white bread; I'm also getting suggestions of stone fruit and grassiness.

It tastes along the same lines - the raspberry puree stands out, adding a sweet, jammy note that obscures flavours of bready malts, grainy wheat, lemon peel and faint grassiness. Raspberry and graininess on the back end, dissipating into a drying aftertaste. Light-ish in body, with assertive carbonation that adds some prickliness to this brew's soft, frothy mouthfeel. Undeniably crushable, but at the end of the day it's just another raspberry wheat ale.

Final Grade: 3.64, a B grade. Calabogie's Front Porch Raspnberry is an inoffensive, fruity summer wheat beer-type deal - not really my jam, and not especially kölsch-like, either, but brews like this do have their place. The raspberry, while not exactly intense, is still enough to overwhelm the underlying kölsch flavours, making the experience similar to that of a fruited wheat ale: largely one dimensional, yet appealing in its own right. That is, assuming you enjoy raspberry beers. I do, and even though I've had much better ones in the past, I wouldn't rule this out in the future.