Lindemans Framboise Lambic

Pros: It's a beautiful-looking beer
Cons: Nowhere near as complex as it should be

You've got to hand it to those Belgians. When it comes to brewing beer in a wide range of weird and wonderful styles, there's no other country come close. One of the styles that's peculiar to Belgium, and in fact is only made in one valley near ...

Pros: Sweet and bubbly if that's what you like, nice complexity
Cons: Too sweet for a serious beer drinker. 2.5% ABV

The Lindemans' Framboise was launched in 1980 as an addition to the family's already popular Lambic fruit beers. Even though the brewery is close to two centuries old, they have really have only been in the mass Lambic market for a little over a decade. ...

Pros: Deep fresh raspberry aroma and flavor
Cons: Complex intensity and tartness of real lambic is lacking

Last night I joined a few colleagues for happy hour at a local bar called the Ginger Man. The Ginger Man is famous among beer drinkers throughout the country because the place specializes in beer. Not just any beer, but draft versions of the world's best...

Pros: really fantastic if you like raspberries
Cons: a tad too sweet

People who drink a lot of different beers will likely have strong opinions on the value of fruit beers. There are many who completely dismiss the value of adding fruit into a beer. They will cite many gimmicky and cloying beers that are not ...

Pros: Great dessert beverage. Interesting and flavorful. Perfect for hot summer afternoons.
Cons: Some may consider this one too sweet; some consider this frizzly foo.

Well, now that summer has started its too darn hot to drink an afternoon coffee. And it's really too hot to be drinking beers heavy in alcohol. So my beer of choice this afternoon: a bottle of Lindemans Framboise Lambic. Yep. A raspberry beer....

Pros: Delicious
Cons: Expensive

I've always said I don't like the taste of beer...but after my first trip to Monk's Cafe in Philly a few years ago, I've changed my tune. A friend, knowing my dislike of beer, asked the bartender to get something for my "taste". He came out with ...

Pros: raspberries not cooked, raspberry flavor unsurpassed
Cons: expensive

The first time I tasted this ale, it was a sample on tap at a pub. I was not impressed. Raspberry flavor was weak and it was rather like drinking water.

I could buy a can of Knudsen's Raspberry fruit soda for a LOT cheaper price and have...

Pros: The most romantic beer ever. For Casanovas, berry fans, naturists, Tolkien buffs, beer geeks.
Cons: Unusual (for beer), expensive. Insufficiently sour, dry, and funky tasting for Lambic style purists.

Caveat Emptor: Before we start I should say LINDEMAN'S Framboise comes in two very different versions. One is the tap/draft version that they serve at the Ginger Man, which is mild and boring in flavor. The alcohol content is also rather low- ...

Pros: Raspberry flavor. Refreshing. Very accessible Lambic.
Cons: Price. Not an accurate representation of the style

I still remember when American craft breweries started coming out with fruit-flavored beers--Pyramid Apricot, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, and the millions of Raspberry beers. I tried countless numbers of them and went away disappointed. Why?

I...

Pros: An excellent beer style, truly unique.
Cons: Not your every day, all night brew.

What? you may ask. There are a couple of things I should clarify first of all. Lambic beers are brewed mostly in Payottenland, southwest of Brussels in the River Zenne valley. They are neither classed as ales nor lagers (although at a push you’d call...

Pros: Red raspberries through and through
Cons: None

Lindemans Framboise Lambic was an astonishing find for me about 8 years ago at the Brickskeller's in downtown Washington D.C. I had not had a lambic before this beer, nor had I ever had a beer with any sort of fruit flavor in it before, so I was a bit...

Pros: Out of the ordinary, can convert non-beer drinkers with it, exotic in a non-pretentious sort of way, it's red!
Cons: Expensive (but aren't all of us that are worth it?), hard to find in certain areas.

Life changed when I hit 23 years of age. I was no longer really in love with rock stars, suddenly I needed sleep, coffee was no longer a putrid potation, I began using salt, my Mom was bearable for more than five minutes at a time and I tasted...

Pros: Sweet, fruity, strong raspberry taste. Delicious!
Cons: Expensive.

Lindeman's Framboise is the beer that I tell people to try when they say to me that they "don't like beer". Lambics are unlike any other style of beer in the world, and Lindeman's Frambois is a delicious example of the style. This beer pours a bright ...

Pros: Sweetness of Fruit
Cons: Maybe too light for regular beer drinkers

I discovered this beer in a small restaurant in Ithaca. "Just a taste" is a trendy yet non-elitist Wine and Tapas restaurant located in the downtown Ithaca area off of the collegetown of Cornell University. Since then I have found it served...

Pros: Great dessert beer.
Cons: Expensive for beer, cheap for wine.

Brewed mainly in Payottenland, in the River Zenne valley, Lambics are the pearl in the clam that is Belgium. Lambics are brewed with neither ale nor lager yeasts. They are brewed with up to 70 strains of wild yeast, earning it the moniker "wild beer."...