New Belgium Frambrozen

I picked up a bottle of New Belgium Frambozen from Bruisin’ Ales in Asheville. The beer pours a red-tinted amber color with a frothy pink-cream colored head that leaves a thin lacing on the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of raspberry, toasted malts, caramel, and toffee. The taste is lightly tart with raspberries built upon a toasted malt, caramel, and toffee base. The finish has a fruity extract flavor and leaves behind a grassy dryness. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. The tartness took me by surprise in this beer, and I can’t say that I was too overly impressed with the overall flavor. I think it started off nicely with the raspberry, but the brown ale left me wanting more.

East End Brewing First

While at the new East End Brewing Company location, I picked up a growler of First, the first beer brewed at the new location. The beer pours a cloudy dark amber color with a lofty and frothy cream colored that leaves behind some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of toasted malts, caramel, pine, pepper, and hints of smoke. The taste is smooth and dry at the same time with plenty of toasted toffee, caramel, light smoke, and lemon. The finish brings out a peppery spice in the back of the throat and some pine as well. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. This was a rather bitter and hoppy amber ale, and I loved the light touches of smoke. I’d highly recommend that East End make this a regular in their lineup.

Indigo Imp Brewery Jester

Somebody gave me a bottle of Indigo Imp Brewery Jester (I can’t recall who), but I found it in my fridge and decided to open it. The beer pours a golden color with a lofty and frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, grass, and a strong scent of cardboard. The taste is dull and very bland with some caramel, grass, and lemon flavors on the front end. The finish comes out with wet cardboard and is also very watery. It leaves behind an unwelcome dry and musky hop flavor. The alcohol content is not available online, but I would estimate it to be about 5.5% ABV. This was not a good beer, as the flavors that it gave off were just dank and musty, with a slight tartness that should not be present in a Belgian Pale Ale.

New Belgium-Brewery Vivant Lips of Faith Biere de Garde

I picked up a bottle of the New Belgium-Brewery Vivant collaboration Biere de Garde, part of the Lips of Faith series. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of lemon, orange peel, caramel, grass, and Belgian yeast. The taste is light bodied and refreshing with lots of lemon and orange peel flavors right on the front end. Hints of banana and caramel make up the background, and there is a light funk on the finish with some hay. A bit of grass and a biscuity after taste that lingers for quite a while. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. This was a nice drinking Biere de Garde with lots of biscuity flavor in the backbone, but it is still refreshing with lemon and orange peel mixed in there as well.