Whitstable Brewery - Raspberry Wheat

If you brew, bottle and then sell a beer a raspberry wheat beer then you are inviting the comparison between what you have made and Belgian brewing dynasties like Liefmans, Timmermans, Bachus and Delirium... You are ALWAYS going to fall short. So Whitstable Brewery fall short, sure, but they don't fall short by much, their Raspberry Wheat has charm and flavour in abundance, it's even cheeky enough to smell like a good Belgian Framboise. So why does it fall short if it's got all the characteristics of the Belgian bunch? I'll tell you why, it doesn't have the excitement, it doesn't have that initial WOW factor, it doesn't possess a complexity that can keep my attention to probe deeper just to see what's going on. On the surface it tastes a bit like beer and raspberries and then beneath the surface it still tastes a bit more like beer and raspberries... Which is nice, it's just that it was EXACTLY what I expected.

There's a lot to be said for the element of surprise in beer, which is why I'm much more likely to give a good review to a beer with a completely unintelligible name. When I crack open a beer in the evening, precisely what I don't want are any spoilers... It's fine for there to be a description on the back because I don't have to read that and it's fine for the beer to be named "Stout," "Porter," or "India Pale Ale" because there is such a vast spectrum of textures and flavours associated with each of those but telling me, straight up, that I'm about to drink a raspberry flavoured wheat beer somewhat ruins it for me. Imagine drinking a beer called "Hi! I'm a stout and I taste a bit like coffee."

I like Raspberry Wheat, it's a competent beer made by people who obviously love what they do. I just wish they'd quit it with the spoilers.

I bought this beer from my local Waitrose for a discounted price because it's being discontinued from the range... Meaning that others share my grievances. However it can still be found in specialist beer shops and off licenses around Kent, especially in Whitstable.

Food suggestion: Goats cheese and fig salad, this needs something light and subtle.

Drink this if you like: Belgian fruit beers but can't find any.