Beer In Review – Alaskan Raspberry Wheat

Today – it’s hot. It’s currently 91 and only headed up from there. You have to love Texas in the summer – if only because it makes you appreciate a refreshing beer all that more.

As I sit out on the pool deck – I decided to try the Alaskan Brewing Raspberry Wheat that has been sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks. Alaskan Brewing is a fairly large craft brewery from my home state. Alaskan makes it home in the state capital of Juneau – the brewery is without a doubt set in one of the most scenic locations in America. Alaskan makes a variety of beers – the most well known of these beers is probably the Alaskan Amber – this is their “pay the bills” beer and it is distributed almost nationwide.

The Raspberry Wheat is part of the Pilot Series that Alaskan does to incubate and experiment with new styles. This experiment certainly sounds like a good one. They start with a spicy wheat beer and then add over one pound of fresh raspberries to ever gallon of beer. Holy raspberry, Batman.

The beer pours a purple amber with very little head – the little head that there is disappears almost immediately with very little lacing. Other reviews online have said that the head on this beer stays around and leaves great lacing on the glass – mine did not. This may have been because I was pouring the beer outside in the scorching heat. Your mileage may vary. The look of the beer is interesting – almost like fruit juice – but not quite.

The aroma is fairly simple. Malt and raspberries. It’s not particularly strong – but you can smell the fruit. You can smell the fruit even more as the beer warms.

The taste is not as much of a fruit bomb as I would have expected. You can really detect the spiciness of the wheat beer on the front end and then the fruit finishes up the back. Very smooth and easy to drink – slight alcohol taste as the beer warms. Nothing nearly as bad as a Dogfish Head Fort (another raspberry beer) – but you can detect the alcohol.

The mouthfeel of the beer is very light – the carbonation is refreshing and not at all overwhelming.

This is a very solid beer from a well established Alaskan brewery. It doesn’t punch your palette with the fruit – but it has enough to let you know that they are there.

Overall – 3.5/5