Beer Review: Dark Horse Brewing Raspberry Ale

 I recently tried the Raspberry Ale by Dark Horse Brewing Co. I found it at Crunchy's of East Lansing, and I ordered it in a mug (25 oz.) Clocking in at only 5%, this was a refreshing drink and I wasn't hammered when I was finished.
As described by Dark Horse Brewing Co. "This is a light bodied easy drinking ale. We only use real raspberries so the flavor is very mild fruit and balanced, not what you would expect from a "fruit" beer. The way we see it is we're brewers so lets make good beer, not some fruity carbonated malt beverage. Oh yeah, our motto..."beer first, fruit second"."
At first look of this beer, it's a light orange-yellow color, and made me think of summer. The head was creamy but still light. (What little head was left. The waitress slopped our beers all over the table.) At the first taste, I had some trouble tasting the raspberry. What this is, is a really solid, light and refreshing wheat ale. Where in a lot of brewers add citrus notes to their ale, Dark Horse has added raspberry. That subtle hint of raspberry, where it's least expected, makes this beer a stand-out in the ale category. And true to its claim, it tastes like real, fresh, raspberries -- this is NOT a "fruity carbonated malt beverage" which is so common with purported fruit beers. (Sam Adams fruit beers come to mind.)
The bitter hops flavor is really subtle and well-balanced as well. What the subtleties add up to is a really great ale that you can drink all night, with just about anything to eat along side.