New Belgium La Folie

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

Thanks to STLWill for sending an 07 and 09 of this tastiness!!! The 09’ pours surprisingly darker than the 07’. The nose on the 09’ is of tart cherries, berries, melon, Chardonay, buttercream, vanilla and oak. It’s surprisingly mellow in sourness department, but the flavour is still complex and full of brett charater. The nose on the 07’ is more subdued and has stronger impressions of melon/honeydew and much less acetic acid coming through. The flavour though...is more acetic and tart than the 09’. The buttercream character is completely diminished in the 07’. Both are amazing. The carbonation is spritzy and soft in both, but more effervescent in the 07’.

Much thanks to the RB crew in Queens! Pours a vibrant red with a brown tint, almost the shade of raspberry iced tea, headless. Awesome funky aroma of sherry, balsamic vinegar, sour cherry, raspberry. Flavor of wonderfully tart red fruits with a lemony quality and loads of funk. Definitely acetic. Lovely sour stickiness with a red wine vinegar finish. A phenomenal brew.

1 pt. 6 oz. bottle served in tumbler- a sour brown ale? Really? Well let’s crack this puppy open- poured a non transparent very dark brown with heavy tints of black- when held to a light source. Medium carbonation, no head. Aroma of more funk than James Brown and Stevie Wonder in their respective heydays combined, white vinegar, soft green apples, hardened cherries, and-malt. Hits the mouth with a high-medium body, malt is there but HARD sourness makes it very easy to mistake it, middle is ho-hum, finish is a vinegar/sour bomb. Frankly (why do I feel like Gordon Ramsey?)- this is crap. Absolute crap. For the cash I spent on this, I could have bought a case of macrobrew, added some white vinegar, and I would have recieved the same effect-and would have a much better time!!! I do enjoy a good sour de temps en temps, but F*(&ING B*(&H PLEASE, this one was a waste. The nipple twisters love it becuase it’s rested in old French wine barrels (quality?) but I got one word everyone- avoid.

This one has been eluding me for a while. Since I began trading, for some reason it fell into the category of never important enough to seek out specifically, but too important to ever be a throw in for a trade. Finally tonight, i get to try this one, and expectations are high. The scent meets those expectations with a blast of sour cherry and tarty goodness. A hint of apples there as well. Appearance doesn’t fare quite as well as in spite of my attempts to create some, there is not much in the way of head retention. Otherewise a very dark red liquid, looks like a glass of wine. Taste is very good. I have had quite a few in the flanders category and what is great is how different they can be. This one first hits with the wood, then the sour love. A sour lover’s sour, but I wouldn’t recommend breaking in a sour novice on this one. Just an excellent beer. Palate is perfect for the style, a relatively thin and relatively high carbonated brew. Amazing, and I will specifically seek out more of this.

On tap at brewery. Pours a hazy purplish deep brown color with a one finger off white head. The head recedes into a wispy layer on top leaving just a little lacing. Smells of tart cherries, fruity vinegar, mild oak, and mild funk that becomes more apparent as the beer warms. The taste has a moderately intense sourness that hits the sides of the palate, giving way to flavors of bready, slightly sweet malts and oak barrel. The finish is dry and leaves a nice woody flavor lingering on the back of the tongue. Overall, a fantastic beer. A perfect representation of the style.

Bottle @ SDBF’09 thanks to {puzzl?; not sure who picked this up} for sharing. Brown pour with sour aroma. Flavor is full of cherry esters, malt, and dominated by sour flavor. Nice sour thoroughly enjoyed it.

(750ml corked and caged bottle) Pours a red amber, nice head and lacing. Nose of sour and funky cherries and oak. Taste of sour patch kids, sour fruit. Great linger and complex all around. Some vinous tastes here too. A great woody, oaky sour beer with tons of flavor.

Reddish/brown witha good amount of off white head. sour cherry vinegar makes your mouth water. oaky flavor is all tart cherry and sour lemons wood flavor in the finish