Ripe - Raspberry
Double Nickel Brewing Company

With the cracking open of a pint can, a vague raspberry aroma is to be had, but it's muddled. The entire contents of the can emptied easily into a clear glass liter mug, as there was almost no off-white head. It's color is orange-amber and although it's hazy, it isn't dull in shade. To taste, it has a good enough hoppy bite to ensure that it's an IPA. There's enough presence of raspberry to let you fully know it's there. But, it's not sweet and even with the added lactose, this is not a dessert beer. This is an IPA. Unfortunately, most that can be determined about the addition of milk sugar here is that it interferes with the raspberry infusion into a potentially decent IPA. Detractors of milkshake beer can likely use this one as an exhibit for their cause. Of course, there's no glass lacing.There's even just a little chalky and sticky aspect to the finish that probably comes from the lactose. Worse, the lactose doesn't add anything positive to the body, the one place it should help. It's too bad, because this probably would have worked better if it were just a modestly raspberry favored IPA, without the milk.