New Belgium Love

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Draft at Sheffield’s. Pours a hazy bright glowing light golden/orange, unclear, fine fizzy head. Aroma is good but has some weird off-notes, bright and sweet, lactic, very sour, sweet and crisp, dusty gueuze like. Flavor is great, light and very sour, lactic, crisp, very clean, grapefruity, not super sweet, well attenuated, clean and refreshing. Lighter bodied, very sharp fine carbonation, crisp, quick finish.

draft at Sheffield’s in chicago. pours hazy orange-amber with white head. the nose is loaded with a wonderful buggy oak barrel with vanilla and peach. flavors have lots of oak with a nice funk to it, tart peaces, mild cherry, white wine notes with a lively carbonation and a thin body. wow this is awesome, great funk and oak notes with lively carbonation and nice sourness to it. this is easily one of the best beers i’ve had this year.

FoBAB. Pour is golden color with small white head. Aroma is wood, funk, citrus, and peach. Flavor is soft and velvety. Wood, acid, light funk, lots of sour, and a bit of lemon. This beer is so luscious. It has such a velvety mouthfeel and the flavor is so round and pure. New Belgium makes a lot of good sours, and now I know why. It would be hard to go wrong with this as the base. I liked it better than some of the aged ones for sure.

Sampled at FoBAB 2009. Please New Belgium start bottling more of this sour stuff. Golden pour with some head. Great woody, barnyard aroma. Tart, leathery flavor with great notes of citrus and funk. Get a bit of armpit in there too but in a good way. Very balanced and smooth, a sour that those new to the style and those in love with it can both appreciate.

Draft at Sheffield’s. Pours a hazy gold with film of white bubbles. Nose is very nice. Funky and clean at the same time. Rich Lacto notes with apricot and cherry as well. On taste, I’m glad this wasn’t mixed. Excellent sourness that isn’t compromised by bitterness. Minimal grain notes. A step up from Le Terroir for me. Absolutely fantastic.

Full snifter pour at Sheffields (Chicago, IL). Pours a nice glowing orange gold, fiery, a small white head dies to the corners and clings, highly hazy. Aromas are wet wood, brettanomyces, hay and barnyard funk are dominant, with a light maltiness, faint tartness. Raw, grainy. Initial is a nice light tartness that glides on the palate, brett funk less dominant, grainy cereal, light tartness. A bit light bodied, but still sticks to the palate. Nice, lighter, I can see why NB uses this as their BA base beer. Tartness comes on a little further in, stronger, a better coat, citrus acidity, light wet woodish type notes? This was good, albeit fairly light overall. Still, I’d drink this a lot. Cheers.

FOBAB- 2009- pours ahazy dark orange with a small white head. notes of tart sour lemons, earth, grapefruit, and oak. really nice tartness and is quite good. nice dryness. coats the mouth. AWesome

FoBAB 09. Pours a hazed orange with a soapy white head. Barnyard nose with ashy wood that seems to fade after a couple minutes. What remains is interesting, odd, and the best parts of barnyard notes. Funky earthy, doughy bread malts with citrus, and oak. Full rich and tart. Citrus earthy leathery fruits. The citrus funk and oak are really interesting. Reminds me of LaFolie but with more punch. The blending of LaFolie certainly mellows some of these funky fruity flavors. Awesome, I love this beer.