It’s been a disappointing summer for this fruit beer lover. After trying a lousy Dark Horse Raspberry Ale and a somewhat better peach wheat from O’Fallon, the only decent fruit beer I’ve had to drink this summer has come from the West Coast. Come on, Midwest! Are you going to stand for that?

Apparently Mishawaka Brewing Company isn’t. Their Raspberry Wheat Ale is a really fine offering in this style.

Made by adding raspberries to a wheat beer made with 2-row Pilsner malt, white wheat malt and Sterling hops, this beer packs a punch of full fruit flavor. You can see this flavor on the pour when a bright pink beer fills your glass. At first I was worried that this was a juice effect, but no, this is pure fruit at work.

You smell the raspberries on the nose, and then the taste hits you right away on the mouth and explodes. The tart flavor stays on your tongue long after the beer has disappeared into your stomach. Although that could be a turnoff, the good thing is that it’s not one of these cloying tastes where you wish you could scrape the flavor off your tongue.

The malt/hops part of this beer is pretty decent. The maltiness is a light flavor but the hops have a slightly bitter twinge in the back of your mouth. The balance of sweetness and tartness of the raspberries and bitterness of the beer actually work well together and produce a nice overall flavor.

My only complaint is that this offering could be slightly less fruity. Although I think this is a great addition to the fruit category, sometimes the fruit flavor is a little too overbearing to the overall taste of the beverage.

Reviewed by Jill Jaracz on August 19, 2008.

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