Frambozen Quadruppel
Wynkoop Brewing Company

 

 

not my favorite, but its back on upstairs at the koop. pours into a snifter a flat looking cloudy redish brown, really unappetizing. smell is sour at first with a touch of brettanomyces, also tart raspberries and cocoa in the nose. flavor is true to the smell, sour at first, but fading to rather sweet as it moves through a fresh raspberry flavor into a deserty chocolate and toffee finish without much sweetness. this is a very strange glass of beer. its listed at 9.2%, and it felt like all of that easy, maybe bigger. feel was mediocre at best, sharp flavors but no carbonation, maybe this was an old keg? overall kind of off putting, has some good qualities, but it just doesnt come together.

On the menu at Rackhouse.

A - no head when this arrived, but a wonderful reddish purple colored body.

S - Tart cherries and a little apple.

T - starts with barrel flavor and you can tell there is some age on this thing. Back end has the sour grapefruit flavors. Quite tasty but maybe a little past its age.

M - Very well done with nice carbonation even though there was no head.

O - A little past its prime, but a nice beer. The up front barrel aging flavor brings this down a notch but I would recommend a special trip for this one.

On tap at Rackhouse Pub this was listed at 12% and I have to believe it based on taste and smell. The publican told me a batch of railyard went bad so they threw it in a barrel with raspberries for 16 months and this is what came out. Dark burgundy color with zero head, still looks good. Aroma was raspberry, wood, and high alcohol but still nice. The flavor was kind of sweet, raspberries and a touch of wood. This sort or reminded me of friek but better.

On tap at the Falling Rock yesterday. This was supposedly the last keg in existence, having been squirreled away since release in 2006

Clear brilliant raspberry with dense white head that falls off to a ring rather quick. The nose consists of a rich, ripe raspberry character with a bright vinegar character. A little vanilla is noticeable too, but this mostly smells like a bright raspberry vinaigrette. The palate, however, isn't as good as the nose would let on. Opening with a rather strong raspberry character along with a strong acetic character, this fizzles out rather quickly, revealing a watery mid-palate with a definite lack of complexity. Not funky in the least, this beer is dominated by the two notes I've described. While enjoyable in its own right, this is very far from a top notch American sour.Light in body and with great carbonation, the finish is mostly acetic and rather flummoxingly watery at the same time. Decent stuff.

I've had a few of these over the last 2 weeks, so I might as well post a review.
Comes a bright fruity red color. It's not quite as dark and cloudy as some, but it's CLEARLY a fruit beer at first glance. Typically served in either a wine glass or snifter, as I've gotten both.
Smell is of raspberries and then comes through with a little bit of a neutral ale smell. I say neutral because it's definitely not the spicy/sour yeast you'd get from a lambic. It's more like a blonde ale...but not quite so "blah." Reminds me a little of the winsconsin fruit beers, which isn't really a bad thing.
Taste is sweet up-front, then like a real raspberry, the sourness hits. There's a little bit of lambic-like yeast there, but it's not that strong. Again, it reminds me of a really good fruit beer. I don't mean those that smell like cherries and taste like a bland ale, though. This beer tastes like fruit and the beer is more of a compliment to it. At the same time, it's quite good. The main thing is that there's a LOT of fruit flavor and the beer takes a bit of a back seat.
Mouthfeel's thick, possibly because of the fruite juice/puree. Definitely a sipper or solid dessert drink.
I doubt I could drink a lot of this, but I don't think it's really designed to be a session brew. For me it's made a nice after dinner drink.
It's not really much of a lambic necessarily, but it's a good fruit beer.