Ode to a Russian Shipwreck

[nikkuchan]

I bought a bottle by this name yesterday. It was brewed by Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company. It bills itself as an imperial porter stout brewed with spruce tips.

It was indeed very good, but the flavor that I was the most caught up on was something very similar to raspberry. What ingredient (beside raspberry) would impart such a flavor?

 

[giraffe]

Golden naked oats (an oat crystal malt) has a sort of berry children's breakfast cereal taste. Dark crystals 80L+ can give a sort of cooked dark fruit taste, raspberry could happen there, especially european ones, english dark, or carabohemian/caraaroma. Dark invert sugar #3 can give dark cherry like flavors.

Also, yeast strain can be a factor, 1469, 1187, wlp023, and the sam smiths strain, all have given a meledy of different fruit esters, never raspberry exactly, but with different fermentation conditions and grain bills, its not out of the realm of possibility for any of those strains.