Bullfrog Frambozen

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Sampled June 2009
The cork looks a bit amateurish in its insertion as it is put in way to far and requires a cork screw to take out. This is a bit of a gusher, but nothing that a quick pour doesn't mitigate. A solid pour starts out with a three-finger thick, lightly pink tinged, tan colored head. The beer is a hazy, dark pink tinged, red-amber color that shows a murky, bright red color when held up to the light. The aroma has an acidic, raspberry infused note to it that is noticeable as I pour this beer. A more focused look at the nose yields a raspberry seed and flesh note, that is more tart than anything, but does have a hint of fruity sweetness towards the back. The raspberry and acid is by far the most dominant note in the aroma, but the finish does see a touch of musty, earthy, lightly musky, phenolic Brettanomyces signature that becomes more noticeable now that I have recognized it. As you take a focused, multiple succession of draughts of the aroma the raspberry is noticed first, but the Brett becomes much more noticeable as it tries to banish the raspberry; it can never do this as the hit of tart, fleshy, tannic raspberry is the first thing you notice each time I come back to it.

The beer is tart up front, with perhaps just a wisp of a hint of sweetness. As it flows across the tongue the beer foams up a bit excessively, but it comes under control after venting for a bit. The finish has some spicy oak character, a touch of funky phenolics and some woody tannic astringency to it that provides a bit of sharpness as a contrast to the upfront tartness. The acidity seems to be mostly lactic in character, though the raspberry definitely contributes to some of the tartness. A touch of plastic, phenolic character spices the middle as does a peppery carbonic bite. The raspberry character is much muted compared to the expressive nose, this is definitely something I appreciate as this particular fruit can be a bit much for me; there is a nice fresh fruitiness as well as a raspberry flesh note, both of which give this beer a nice spicing, even a deep infusion, of that distinct raspberry signature note. Once the excessive carbonation has been driven off the body picks up some structure from the tannins, but still remains light and drinkable. The balance between the tart and sweet becomes a bit more equal as the beer warms up, though the tartness is still the more noticeable of the two.

I definitely like that the raspberry character is not overwhelming in this beer, I was a bit worried about that and excessive sweetness before I cracked this beer; thankfully this is quite dry and the raspberry character isn’t totally overwhelming. I could wish that a little more of the base beer was noticeable under the raspberry character, but the oak is at a nice level, enough to add a complexity and depth, but without being overly noticeable. The combination of the oak and sharp fermentation character does make the finish just a touch hot, but again, nothing overly noticeable. In the end this is pretty nice, I could certainly wish for more complexity and a sharper acidty, but this is still is quite drinkable and even tasty & it does have a great balance between the notes that are found here.