Southern Tier Raspberry Porter

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Pours out in a clear reddish brown colour with a small white head. Clean, almost stale aroma of toasted malts and cherry juice. Medium to light-bodied with touches of mild cocoa-powder, cherry syrup, metal with a low hop-rate. Short finish of toasted malts, candied cherries and rasperry-gum. No thanks.

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

Bought this beer at World Market in Madison, WI. Beer pours a dark red/brown color with a small white head. Aroma of raspberries and malts. Flavor was fresh raspberries with malts and chocolate at the end. Really liked this beer.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Bottled@Konttori, Tampere. Deep amber colour, small head. Aroma is raspberry, some roast and also some slight malty notes. Flavour is artificial raspberry along with some slight papery notes as well as some strange sweetness. Too artificial flavour to really be enjoyed a lot.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

12 oz. single from a newly discovered local shop/drive-thru. Pours a rich looking amber~brown color with a frothy 1/2" tan head and good "leggy" lacing. Aroma consists of a powerful raspberry burst that is quickly followed by chocolate and roasted malt scents, smells grand. Thin on the palate, especially for a porter, finishes thin as well. The mouth feel lacks any valuable substance. Flavor falls short of the grand aroma. Fizzy/lively raspberries both sweet and tart. Hints of nuts, toast and milk chocolate. Unfortunately these porter traits never really follow through. It is an enjoyable treat, and it would work best served in small amounts in a wide mouth glass as a dessert beer. I could see this pairing great with a simple slice of chocolate cake.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

On my most recent trip to the Rochester, NY area, I stopped in to the Old Toad, a local hangout that I always make sure to visit when in town. Where I only had around 30 minutes to hang out at the bar, I had to make some good choices. Having recently enjoyed a Southern Tier pumpkin ale, I figured a good wintry follow-up was the Southern Tier Raspberry Porter. It was a fine choice!

The beer was poured out in a typical porter glass. The first thing that I noticed was the wonderful bouquet of raspberry notes overflowing from the glass. Buried beneath the raspberry was a nice bed of roasted maltiness with a slight chocolate hint to it. I really thought this was an amazing aroma and totally unexpected. The beer had a dark brown color to it with a thick, slightly off-white head. When held up to the light, there was some ruby red hues to it. The head quickly disappeared and there was virtually no lacing left behind when I drank it.

I really enjoyed the flavor on this one. The predominant flavor, as expected, was the raspberries. That is what hits your tongue right up front. After that sweet raspberry taste goes away, the traditional porter flavors really become more noticeable. Hearty roasted malts and even a hint of bittersweet chocolate are prevalent on the back end. The drink is fairly smooth and enjoyable.

Bottom line, this is an interesting mix and I think the folks at Southern Tier did a great job balancing out the maltiness of your standard porter with some sweetness of berries. I really liked this one and am curious to see how it tastes in the bottle.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Deep brown body with a little bit of copper at the edges. There is a decent light khaki colored head. The aroma has rich raspberries and pancakes. There is also some nice syrup. The taste is lightly burnt pancakes and coffee. Behind all that is a little bit of unsweet hard raspberry candy. It gets bitter very quickly and stays that way. Decent, but a little thin in body.

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

Pours a dark brown with a touch of red when held to the light. Big, foamy head. Most noticeable is the aroma--all raspberries. Tastes mostly like raspberries (hard to separate from the aroma) with a hint of roasted malts. Overall, a good dessert beer but not something I could drink more than one of.

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

A good effort by the Southern Tier people to create a good tasting porter that will satisfy a beer drinker. The beer pours brown with reddish hues, and a tan coloured head. The aroma is roasted malt with some toffee and raspberry hints thrown in. The flavour is more roasted malt with just enough raspberry to enhance the flavour rather than be a sappy fruit beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Presentation: Poured from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Appearance: It has a deep brown amber color with deep reddish highlights and a big light tan head that fades to a thin cap on top. Very little to no lacing is left on the glass as it slides down the sides of the glass. Smell: The aroma has a sweet berry scent. There is a strong raspberry aroma along with loganberry and other wild berries. Also there is a light roasted malty note under the berry aromas and an even lighter hint of hops in the background. Taste/Mouth feel: Its flavor has a big shot of raspberry syrup over a milk chocolaty cake dough malt base. The raspberry sweetness slides to the finish on a slick palate, where it is met by light leafy/herbal hops. The finish has a light bitterness from the hops and a slight tartness from the raspberry. The body is medium to full with soft carbonation. Notes: This is defiantly on the sweet side and a little unbalanced for a porter. It is quite drinkable and I like it but it seems to be more of a fruit beer than a porter.

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

A dark brown appearance with a minimal head. The aroma contains some chocolate but loads of raspberries. The flavor contains some chocolate, coffee, and raspberries which again dominate. The palate was a bit thin on this one. Overall I thought it was pretty good.