Natural Selections 6-Pack, Volume 2--Raven Cream Ale

Raven Cream Ale is born at the R & B Brewing Company in Vancouver, British Columbia. It comes in a 341mL bottle with a very bust, but pretty cool label. It's a tad understrength at 4.8% and pours a muddy, bloody brown. It was much darker and murkier than I expected for a cream ale. It also features a luscious head that doesn't last long.

Raven has a rounded, malt nose with notes of toffee and fruitcake, though neither comes through in an over-sweet fashion. The flavour debuts with raisin notes atop a malty platform and eventually leads to a slightly hoppy finish that contains a barely tangy fruit element alongside still more malt.

I haven't had much experience with cream ales, other than a number of prominent macros, both out of Canada and the UK, and a couple of nice local micros. This beer amounted to a sizable departure from my previous cream ale forays, and I really liked it. Though it didn't taste anemic, the 4.8% could probably be improved upon.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.