940. Urban South/Illuminated Brew Works – Two Levees Raspberry Tart

940. Urban South/Illuminated Brew Works - Two Levees Raspberry TartIt’s Sunday evening and we had a great afternoon bicycling with friends to Keg Grove Brewery here in town. I realized I haven’t reviewed many beers lately, although if you follow me on Untappd (1KBeers), you’d see I’ve had a chance to visit several breweries and have many new beers the last few months. One of the breweries we visited a couple weeks ago was Urban South Brewery in New Orleans. As it turns out, a couple months ago, our friend Liz – who is helping to establish the Chicago Brewseum – sent us this collaboration beer between Urban South and Illuminated Brew Works that was brewed “in honor of the Bicentennial of Illinois and the Tricentennial of New Orleans… our breweries have collaborated with the Chicago Brewseum and the Southern Food and Beverage Museum to create a beer rooted in the shared history and culture of Chicago and New Orleans.”

Location: Poured into a TEKU pint glass from the can at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 5% ABV, 20 IBUs, ~160 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s ruby-pink in color and it’s fairly hazy with only a thin line of bubbles around the edge of the glass. It’s effervescent, but the head disappeared with a couple of seconds. It has a very fruity raspberry aroma.

Taste & Feel: The body is thin and the mouthfeel is quite crisp from all of the carbonation in it. The sweet raspberry flavor emerges from the crispness that initially hits the tongue. The raspberry sweetness grows with a deeper/darker raspberry flavor in the middle, with a little bit of tartness underneath. The raspberry tartness grows in the crisp, slightly dry finish. The raspberry tartness is what lasts for a minute or so in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer is all raspberry – both sweet and tart – and I think I’d pair it with something chocolate as both a complementary and contrasting flavor. This is a dessert beer, and I love raspberry and chocolate flavors together, so I’d try to find a piece of chocolate cake if I had another one of these.

Overall Impression: I like raspberry, and this beer had plenty of it – both sweet and tart. I enjoyed it, but when I think of beers like New Glarus Raspberry Tart and Founders Rübæus, it doesn’t have the malty depth that those have. It’s not necessarily one-dimensional, but those other beers have a dark fruitiness and malty depth that this one doesn’t. It’s still a good beer, and if you find it, buy it and support the Chicago Brewseum.

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Your rating:

Author: kkozlen

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