The Bar Towel

I picked up a few bottles of Liefmans Frambozenbier over the weekend from the LCBO (Spadina). And just for comparison I also picked up a few bottles of Amsterdam Framboise from their brewery store.

The Liefmans was actually really nice - very smooth tasting with a raspberry flavour that isn’t overpowering or artificial. Alcohol content is a bit low at 4.5% (compared to 6.5% for the Amsterdam).
At $4.95 a bottle (375 ml) I was actually expecting something a bit stronger.

Interesting thing is the Frambozenbier is supposed to be based on Goudenband which has an 8% alcohol content. Could they actually have added that much raspberry to dilute the alcohol content that much ?

It also comes in those funky unlabelled bottles with the paper wrapping. A bit silly, but if you want to use the bottle for something else later, at least it’s convenient. The corks used are shorter than the ones used for Goudenband – they pull out pretty easily by hand.

The Amsterdam Framboise didn’t taste as smooth. The first bottle was actually kind of unpleasant with a kind of harsh overly obvious raspberry taste, but after that it seemed to get better. I’m not sure if I was starting to like it, or if it was just the effect of the alcohol.

I really proffered the Liefmans overall, though it could be better (ie stronger).

Haven't yet tried the new Liefman's I picked up, whoah, but I suspect we're comparing two MUCH different beers here!!

Amsterdam has a rather fresh kick of tartness, perhaps because it is brewed with whole berries and not extracts (KLB Raspberry Wheat is made with extracts & has a more rounded off flavor if you want to try it.) Style-wise I think of Amsterdam as a North American style Strong Ale (clean & simple yet in this case pretty solid) whereas Liefmans is based on the funky, idiosyncratic and very Belgian Flemish Sour - not even the same league.

I, too was shocked at the ABV disparity b/w Liefman's Framboise and the Goudenband, but it makes me more than a little skeptical about reviewing its contents (and about the LCBO automatically slapping the same $4.95 price tag on the Framboise when it is clearly a MUCH different product, because the ABV usually does steer the pricing to some degree, hmm... must be some good fruit in there!)

I found it to sit nicely between Mort Subite and Amsterdam. Not too sweet and not too tart.

I agree about the Mort Subite – it was a couple months ago that I last tried it, but the Liefmans really does seem to have more of a balance between the raspberry and beery flavors. I’ve not actually tried any other framboise type beers – maybe the KLB will be worthwhile.

I still wish the Liefmans had a bit more of an alcohol kick to it (as I recall, the abv is about on par with the Mort Subite).

I actually like all three, it just depends on what I feel like having at the time.

I found it far superior to the KLB wheat, and while comparable to Amsterdam, a much more satisfying beer.

It's based on a Belgian sour ale, which puts it in a different category altogether. Definitely one of the best brews the LC has imported in some time.

Had the liefman's tonight.

Not as complex as I would like, but it works, for the time being, as a good summer beer. I would like a lot more tartness. Actually, I prefer an almost undrinkable amount of tartness, so this beer doesn't do it for me.


I'm putting a few away to see what time does to them.

I enjoy the Liefman's Goudenband, and I like Amsterdam's Framboise very much.

The Liefman's Frambozienbier was okay, fine, but I guess I prefer a more tart Raspberry beer - this was a little on the round, sweet side, and for the price I'd love to see more of the serious Flemish Brown complexity - the unusual cellary, funky character of Goudenband.

Nothing wrong with Frambozienbier, good easy-going summer drink, just not super interesting for my taste, at 4.95 a bottle. Dollars per unit volume puts this easy-drinker right in affordable-wine territory, and I do like that "grape beer" stuff very much as well! (Gonna try those Pedro Des Montes wines next.)

Could I cellar this beer? It's pretty low alcohol, there's not particularly a lot of hops, but I would like to mature it for a spell.

I'm not sure my cellar is quite dank enough to protect this particular brew for time immemorial. Do you suppose keeping it in the fridge for a year or so would be prudent, or just a waste of space?

The cork looks extremely short (not that I have 'cork size' issues )

shintriad wrote:Could I cellar this beer? It's pretty low alcohol, there's not particularly a lot of hops, but I would like to mature it for a spell.

Don't know about their Framboise, but I recently pulled out a Kriek from 1998 and compared it to one I purchased earlier this year in Gatineau. I found the 1998 was much better - the newer one seemed much less integrated and more brash.

I'd suggest putting a couple aside to see what happens. I believe the Framboise is readily available in Quebec so you can pick up a new one in a couple of years and compare.

The shelf life of the Liefmans Frambozenbier, Kriek as well as the Goudenband is 10 years. All of their beers will definately mature with age as the base of the beers is indeed the Goudenband which only gets better with time. Hope this helps.

Tried the Liefmans Frambozenbier last night and I found it a tad sweet...would have enjoyed it better if they hadn't added so much sugar...it only acted to supress the musty earthy flavors of the sour ale. The fresh berry aromas and taste was pleasant but almost at the point where it was overpowering....would cellaring bring up the ale tastes and settle the sweet and fruit tastes? Has anyone aged this ale?

pootz wrote:Tried the Liefmans Frambozenbier last night and I found it a tad sweet...would have enjoyed it better if they hadn't added so much sugar...

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe any extra sugar is added to this beer aside from what is derived from the raspberries. The brewery website says that it's "prepared based on a coulis of raspberries, added to Liefmans Goudenband" - this suggests that the respberries have been reduced, which would increase the realtive sweetness of the mixture. But I'm pretty sure that all the flavour, sweetness and otherwise, comes from the respberries themselves.

GregClow wrote: The brewery website says that it's "prepared based on a coulis of raspberries, added to Liefmans Goudenband" .

Yeah I noticed that too and wondered about it...in my experience raspberries are not normally overly sweet and less so when reduced thus most coulis contain small amounts of refined suger or liquers....much as coulis of other acidic berries do.....made me wonder where the sweetness came from....with no ingredients on the labeling we may never know....regardless, it was a pleasant mix of tart natural fruit and sour ale but the sweetness was at the tolerance level for my tastes in these fruit ales. However, I was intrigued enough to want to try their Kriek.