Waldorf Beer Club on 2/21/2012

We are doing fruit beers tonight.  Actually looking forward to this one.  The line up should be pretty interesting. I'll try to remember to comment on them after the tasting.

Sam Smith's Organic Raspberry 5.1% ABV
Floris Framboise 3.6% ABV
DFH Noble Rot 9.0% ABV
DFH Tweason'Ale 6.0% ABV
Shipyard Applehead 4.5% ABV
Lost Coast Tangerine 5.0% ABV
400 lb Monkey 6.8% ABV<==not sure how this fits in with fruit beer, but whatever...lol.

All excellent beers except for the Tweason'Ale (technically not beer).  The Tweason'Ale was a gluten free offering with sorghum used as the primary fermentable instead of base malts.  This coupled with the honey gave this brew a pretty odd flavor.  The strawberries didn't really come through on this one, sadly.  Perhaps it was the lack of grains in this one that just caught me unprepared.  I am also not sure what to make of the Noble Rot yet so will not comment just yet on it.  I have a bottle in the fridge, so I will have to partake in another tasting of this one.

The Samuel Smith's Organic Raspberry was awesome.  This was a total surprise since I had written off Sam Smith's years ago as a mediocre English brewery.  This beer was bursting with raspberry notes all over the place.  It was a little on the sweet side, similar to Lindeman's but with more body and a little heavier mouthfeel.

The Shipyard reminded me of their Pumpkinhead but with apples instead of pumpkins.  It had a similar spice profile.  I got more cinnamon on the initial taste but a sort of cidery apple flavor came in on the finish.  Overall not a bad offering.

The Floris Framboise was a little disappointing since I was hoping for a lambic.  Nice raspberry flavor though.  This was lighter than the Sam Smith's Raspberry just a little drier and not quite as sweet.  Not too bad really, just not earth shatteringly good either.

The real surprise of the night has to be the Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat Ale.  I don't even really like tangerines.  But this beer was bursting with tangerine flavor.  I kind of expected something that tasted like Miller Lite but with tangerine flavor and it was NOTHING like that.  The wheat beer base was really quite subtle which really allowed the tangerine to shine.  I was totally pleasantly surprised with this one.

Overall, another very nice night at the Waldorf Beer Club.  Well done to all involved!  Cheers!