If you’ve never had a raspberry-lime rickey, you sure are missing out. A mixture of club soda, lime, and raspberry (in varying degrees of fresh fruit and syrup), it is one of the most refreshing warm weather drinks out there. It’s also an excellent candidate for becoming an adult beverage. One of our summertime traditions at work is to get rickies to go from the diner downstairs and mix in vodka back at the office. Knowing how tasty that is, I was curious to see how the drink would translate into a beer.
Beer Name: Rickey Weiss
Brewery: Night Shift Brewing Company (Everett, MA)
Style: Sour Ale
ABV: 4.7%
Description: Per the notes available at the brewery, this is a mixed fermentation sour ale aged with raspberries and limes. Not available on draft, they were offering bottle pours at $6 for 12 oz.
Appearance: A bold reddish pink body with a fizzly white/pink layer of foam across the top.
Smell: Light hints of tart fruit and a little bit of funk.
Taste: Started out with a burst of tart lime before the raspberries came on and sweetened things up a little bit. The finish was tangy and mixed in a subtle sweetness and just a little bit of funk. Overall though, I would say that lime was the primary flavor in this one. Very light and refreshing.
Mouthfeel: Light and bubbly, this felt very similar to the drink that inspired it. A tingling of bubbles on the end mostly negated the syrupy feeling I tend to get from this style of beer.
Hype: I really wanted to try this out from the moment I saw it released last month. Tons of potential here as the Night Shift weiss series tends to be very well done.
Overall: I liked this and think the brewers did an excellent job capturing the essence of a raspberry-lime rickey. Since I got to try it on particularly warm day I really appreciated how light and refreshing it was. That said I don’t think it really compares to our work concoction, though it is admittedly hard to compete with that on account of the fresh fruit and ice. Definitely would recommend breaking this out on a warm day though.
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