Rock Me Imadaeus

Rock Me Imadaeus by Peter B’s Brewpub is being evaluated as a Fruit Beer (Category 29A) from the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines.

Rock Me Imadaeus pours a deep copper with a reddish hue, with a thick and creamy off white head that lasts a long time. The aroma is prominent ripe raspberries and raspberry candy, with moderate bready, grainy malt following as the berries fade slightly. There is also a light tartness in the nose. No hop aroma or fermentation esters emerge under the raspberries. In the flavor, moderate raspberry seeds and skins develop right before a light grainy maltiness and medium hop bitterness emerge. The hop bitterness lingers through medium sweet finish into the aftertaste and tends to steal the balance. The medium-light tartness is likely from the raspberry additions and adds a pleasant dimension to the beer.

The aroma is quite inviting with the fresh raspberries, but the berries become muddled in the flavor with more seeds and skins rather than fruit. A touch less hop bitterness would also help push the balance more toward the raspberries. The acidic tartness creates an impression of dryness, but the beer needs to attenuate a touch more to create a drier finish and allow the fruit to pop.