Beer Review – New Glarus – Raspberry Tart (2014 edition)

Well here we are, my first blog post, and my first official beer review. I hope that through these words I can share a little bit of my love of beer with you and hopefully peak your interest in expanding your outlook on beer.  But enough about me, let’s talk about some awesome beer!

Summertime is nearly upon us and you know what that means! Time for the crisp, refreshing sour beer goodness! New Glarus Raspberry Tart is a fruited sour that is the perfect beer to sip on while sitting poolside. Whether you like it sweet or sour, this beer hits all the right spots.

Appearance: The beer pours clear with a rusty ruby red color. Very colorful and absolutely gorgeous. Poured into a tulip, the beer has an inch of white head that quickly dissipates.  The residual head sticks to the side of the glass letting you know it has tons of sugars from the fruit in it.

Aroma: Holy Fucking Shit! Upon opening the bottle you are immediately smacked in the face with all of the raspberries in the world. YES. ALL. OF. THE. RASPBERRIES. Its a rare treat to find a beer that smells this good. Getting a closer smell from the glass, you get one note, pure raspberry. I don’t think I’ve ever had a beer before that got me so excited to try it just by smelling it.

Taste: Well what do you expect from a raspberry tart beer? Raspberries!…and this delivers on every note! From the second it hits your lips you’re overtaken by the sweet, jamminess of raspberries. It’s like someone made raspberry jam but instead of putting on toast, they somehow figured out how stuff all of that flavor into this decadent beer. While there is a subtle tartness at end of your first taste, it is overpowered by the sweetness of the beer. Considering my love of sour beers, I wish this delivered more on the tart side but overall I’m extremely impress on how much fruit they were able to put in here.

Mouthfeel: As it swirls in your mouth you can’t help but think you just popped a handful of fresh berries. It hits every part of your palate with an insane burst of flavor. The flavor coats your tongue long after your last sip, leaving you wishing for more. This one is definitely firing on all cylinders.

Overall: Clocking in at just 4% ABV, this summer sipper is a refreshing, jammy, fruit beer that is perfect for a hot summer day. While I do wish Raspberry Tart was well, more tart, it does do many other things right so I can look past it only being slightly sour. New Glarus has something very special on their hands with this beer and I truly hope I can get my hands on another bottle.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Beers – Poppin Bottles Yo!

 

Have you had this beer before? If so, what did you think of it?