New Belgium Biere De Mars

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Bière de Garde
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Bomber from the Sam’s in Downers Grove, Illinois: It poured a slightly hazed orange/amber body with an ecru film in lieu of a head. It had an aroma of lemon, soft caramel, warm spices, and a touch of funk. Very socft mouthfeel - perhaps too soft. The flavor added a touch of tropical fruit and a mild citrus rind bitterness. The finish was dry and mildly bitter. Pretty decent.

22oz Lips of Faith bomber 9/3/09 (Sam’s Wine & Spirits-Downers Grove)-Pours a hazy amberish orange with a small white head. Aroma of yeast, sugars, citrus, spices, malt, and caramel. Taste of the same with the yeast, caramel, spices, and a bit of pepper coming through a bit more prominent. A nice tasting medium bodied brew. Good job.

22oz bomber served in a tulip. Hazy golden orange pour with a layer of thin beige film for a head. Minimal, spotty lace. The aroma consisted of caramel, honey, lemon zest, pineapple, and some light spicing. The flavor had some more upfront spice notes, lightly sour lemon, caramel, stone fruit, and some bready yeast. Medium-bodied. Lightly carbonated. The yeast seemed to be a little bland and lacking in character. Just okay.

Pours a slightly hay golden copper color with ripe banana yelloe hues when held to a light source. 1.5 finger frothy off-white head that quickly fades into a lasting ring and cap. Slightly funky earthy aroma with citrus fruit notes, mostly lemon peel, and spicy nose. Subtle hops accompany citrus notes with hints of corriander, cinnamon, pepper, wheat and yeast. Slight caramel malt backbone. Medium bodied with a pretty prominent yeasty/bread flavor with a spicy cinnamon presence and hints of corriander, pepper, light crisp fruit, subtle hops and a slight touch of brett proving a refreshing dry finish.

Lips of faith bomber from OTM. Pours orange with a high carbonation count and a bright white head. Nose is nicely spiced, not ovelry spiced either. Taste is sweet, a little too peppery and overall refreshing.

Lips of Faith bottling in a bomber. Poured into a pint glass. Pours a hazy amber gold color with a creamy, thick, light beige head. Very nice lacing. Aroma is obviously lemony and although I’ve never had lemon verbena I imagine that’s what it’s from. Comes off less acidic and more like lemon sorbet though. Also some sweet grainy character in the smell. Honey, graham, some lemon tartness, a smidgeon of bretty funk in the form of phenols, sweet bread, light earthiness. Rather complex for a NB beer but all the notes are on the sweet side which limits the drinkability a bit. Mouthfeel is solid with a nice heft on the palate and a good but not quite Belgian fineness of carbonation. Better than I expected.

Wet dough and felt pepper nose with some funk. Golden amber with a frothy large head. Honey wheat crackers, funky bitter balance--nice combination, Big carbonation, medium body, syrupy orange peel finish. Great combination of bready sweetness and earthy funky spiciness. Very enjoyable.

I liked this brew quite a bit for reasons I can’t exactly explain when it first came out; this is my first run at the re-release. It seems slightly re-tooled since the original, a bit more crisp and less sweet, but why on earth is it now $8 for a bomber as opposed to $8 for a 6 pack? Either way I still dig it. It’s a dirty, spicy, intriguing brew, one of the best New Belgiums for sure (which generally I don’t like that much). The smell in particular is a wild mish-mash of filthy and delicious. You can get thousands of better brews for the price, but that’s not what we’re grading on, is it...