New Belgium La Folie

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

Oak aged barrel on tap at Belmont Station’s Pucker Fest. Nice, chestnut hue with a nose of candy and fruits but more oaky than other tastes I’ve had in the past. Authentic Belgian sour flavor with a sour patch kids finish. Great beer, though my tummy burned a little afterward.

Bottle 07-3215. Unfortunately my state’s antiquated laws on alcohol means I don’t always get to try some of the better beers. But luckily I was able to get a hold of this. I mainly got it because I’d never had a barrel aged beer but had always wanted to try one. Then I realized it was a Oud Bruin style. I’ve always been a big fan of lambics, in particular geueze. So I was pleasantly surprised with this beer. I can see that the tartness might be a bit much for some. But I really enjoy the tartness. One of my favorite wines is a tart raspy white wine called vihno verde. Very complex in taste, a nice sweetness mixed in with the very strong tartness, with an interesting woody finish.

Bottle CS 2532 from my first trade with Kevin. Thanks! Pours a beautiful garnet red with a thin dissipating off beige head. Aroma is quite nice- sourness, apple, cherries, oak. Ultra fine and lively carbonation. Medium bodied with a dry texture. Initial flavor is sweet with notes of cherry, vanilla, and plum. You immediately get whacked with a huge mouth puckering tartness, followed by dry oak. This has just the right amount of sweetness. The oak carries through to an somewhat overly acidic finish, creating a dry and peppery bite that lingers. The beer was very well done, but way too acidic and tart for my personal tastes. I am going to struggle finishing this 750, as this is too much beer for one person to drink.

Poured a garnet red when held up to the light. Large, but soft, foamy head resting on top that quickly dissolved to a spotted film. Nose is very sour and I love sour. I can’t quite place what the baseness of the sourness is without a taste but I know I like it. Flavor is a wallop full of sourness. Just a bucket full of sour cherries. I love ripe cherries but never really liked cherry flavored food stuffs but I am really digging this beer. Getting some tannins from wood too. Mouthfeel is full and vinuous. Puckeringly sour. The sourness actually creates a bit of deception and makes this beer feel lighter than it realy is. I would suggest serving it cold and drinking slowly to allow additonal cherry flavors come out as the beer warms.

On tap at the 2006 Portland International Beer Festival. I liked it so much, it was just about the only beer I drank at the festival. I haven’t done that since the 1993 Rogue Brewery festival in Newport where the only beer I drank was the first keg of Sierra Nevada Celebration available outside the brewery! I was disappointed that La Folie wasn’t at the 2007 PIB.

Draft, Stumblin Munk. Brown ruby, nice off white head. Aroma is sour cherries, oak, caramel. Has a very sweet taste, cherry, alcohol, sour, very oaky. Interesting for beer.

Pretty intense here and while I can appreciate a good Flemish Sour, this was a touch too acidic for me. I prefer to see the acidity as an accent piece to the tapestry of flavours that are usually present in these styles. I did like the barrel-aging component as well as fruit complexity which adds another dimension. Malt flavours and acidity are out of whack, but peering through the layers there was a nice job and alot of thought put into creating a complimentary malt backbone. Good design and attempt, but the final execution was off with the acidity.

Aroma: fruity, yeasty, oaky; notes of cherries and hay; initially intensely sour, bubble-gum and balsamic vinegar, and orange rind flavors, some Smarty™ fruit flavors and tartness; a little too sour, but very good