Hard Rass
Modestman Brewing

Nucleated Tulip
Look: Hazy dark-pink, pouring a 1 finger pastel light-pink head which dissipated to only light lacing. Had a tiny yeast chunks pour out of the can into the drink as well

Smell: Fresh raspberries upfront. With a little digging you get a touch of yeast, and some doughy wheat malt. Medium strength head. Smells good, just very one dimensional and simple

Taste: Med-high tartness here. Right away taste like you ate some raspberries and washed them down with lemon juice. This slowly fades to a really gentle lightly-toasted wheat malt note. Yet again more simple, but very sour and raspberry is front and center. No alcohol presence in the taste

Feel: Light-med body. Crisp finish. Moderate carbonation

Overall: Well a imperial raspberry Berliner right on the money. Very sour, lots of raspberry, and the wheat malt is there, though in the background. and you would think this beer is 4% abv, not 8% due to how well its hidden

 

Poured from an undated can into a Teku glass. Deep purplish/red color, translucent. Virtually no head or lacing. Some effervescence. Rich raspberry juice and Hawaiian Punch (ohh yeah!) on the nose. Strong flavors of jammy raspberry preserves, kind of that fruit punch aftertaste. Can't believe this one is 8% ABV. This was my first beer from Modestman that wasn't an NEIPA, but all of the other ones I tried were great so figured I'd try something in a different category. I have to say that I'm impressed. If I had to be picky, I'd say I could do with a slightly lower ABV, but this was an excellent Berliner and I've had some good ones from a few Boston-area breweries that focus on the style.

 

From a 16oz can, undated. Served in a tulip with a paper umbrella and a maraschino cherry impaled on a plastic sword. OK, kidding - just ‘served in a tulip.’

Pours a cloudy pink punch with maybe a quarter-finger of bubbly suds. Retention is about what you’d expect i.e. pretty much zippo, leaving a fizzy collar and the odd dot of slippery lacing.

Aroma is straight-up raspberry. Indistinguishable from the jar of Trappist seedless raspberry jam I have in the fridge and I know that because I actually compared them.

Taste is sweet and tart more than it's sour - like a raspberry or, better yet, raspberry-lemonade. Further along in the sip a minor savory aspect develops, tasting tamarind and curry spices, almost a chutney character. But, yeah, mainly it’s raspberry.

Feel is slick and slippery, medium bodied with ample, fine carbonation.

Overall, it’s hard to accept that this is even real beer - it looks like a cocktail you’d get at the bar in a Chinese restaurant and, like a cocktail you’d get at the bar in a Chinese restaurant, you don’t realize how potent it is until you’re flat on your ass in the parking lot and you can’t even remember how or when your friends took your car keys away from you. Still, for what it is, it’s the real deal - albeit at two or three hundred percent the conventional alcohol content - and I’m obliged to rate the overall accordingly.

 

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass not sure when it was canned. Pours a very attractive pinkish red with a 2 plus finger pink head with solid retention and leaves a few bubbles of lace. 4.25

Aroma is pretty strait forward raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla. 4

Taste follows really all about the raspberry, with hints of strawberry and vanilla, with a little alcohol detected. 4

Mouthfeel is medium, plenty of carbonation, maybe a little dry, and at 8% ABV is goes rather easy. 4

Overall this is what you would expect, nothing earth shattering but a nice big sour from Modestman Brewing. 4

Can from the Packie.
Lightly hazy red pink color with a good sized short lived bubbly white head with a slight pink tinge. Raspberry nose and flavor with bits of lemony tartness. Mostly raspberry, sweet tasty.