Beers of the Holidays: Frambozen

Frambozen, derived from the Flemish word for raspberry, is a raspberry infused brown ale from New Belgium Brewing.  Berries from the Pacific Northwest are picked, turned into pure juice and trucked in oxygen free tanker trunks to the brewery in Colorado.  Because of the amount of juice used in the brewing process, the volume of Frambozen brewed each year will vary based on the berry crop that year.  Texas was lucky to get any a few years ago when a poor crop of berries resulted in much lower volume of juice produced then normal.

This is another of my favourite beers from the holiday season.  I usually pick up a couple of sixpack each year and stash a few bottles in my cellar.  Yesterday I opened a bottle from 2005 which had aged quite well.  The raspberry flavour was still very prominent.  It seemed to be a little sweeter and stickier and the finish wasn't as dry, but still had the lingering tartness.  Its a great after dinner beer and I've paired the fresh version in the past with desserts as well as sharp cheeses.