New Belgium La Folie

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

Rating # 1000. Pours a clear burgundy color with a thick diminishing offwhite head. Very seductive aroma of sour cherries and wood with some vinegar notes. With the first sip the first thing that hits me is the very strong, mouthpuckering sourness, but after a couple sips I can discover a very refined flavor of cherries ,maple, vanilla,wood and vinegar, I think I’m in love. The body is full with an oily texture and the carbonation level is moderate. What an amazing Flemish Sour, it’s even better than Rodenbach Grand Cru, which is a huge achievement.

This is an absolutly BEAUTIFUL beer, it’s dark pinkish-amber color; a sustained bead; a toffee-like start; then apple and passion fruit notes. IT is very sour very complex and wonderfully balanced. La Folie is reminiscent of Belgium’s Rodenbach Flemish Red Ale, which just happens to be produced by the brewery where the NBB brew master, Peter Bouckaert, hails from. The quantities are limited, but some just arrived in St Louis!!!!

Bottle brought home from the Brewery: Let me start by saying WOW. This is a great beer. This is not a beer your going to want to drink everyday, but for a special occasion, this one takes the cake. I shared this with my buddy Mike who is a Sour fiend and he concurs, this beer Rocked. It poured a brown color with lots of thin head and carbonation. The aroma is dark fruits, sugary sweet, oak, sour, tart, raspberry, wood, wonderful. The flavor was very sour and very tart but a clean finish. This beer has made me want more. I’ve searched high and low all around home and cannot find it anywhere. I’ve been having dreams about this one. It’s a must try and an awesome beer. This beer qualifies as my first 5.0 beer.

I loved this beer. Sour, Tart, a great sour ale. Drinkability is unmatched and mouthfeel is like a fine champagne.

A wonderful, sour beer that finishes beautifully with the addition of champaigne bubbles.

Triumphant citric intensity displaying its sour marvels onto the sagacious wood…Eminent fruity (cherry, cranberry) caramel balances out this intensive and passionate balsamic tartness and achieves perfection in the flavor department…A massive body shows confidence and nourishment and propels this to, for me, the quintessence of a Flemish Sour sipper, surpassing the great Rodenbach Grand Cru in my tastes…Far from folly or craziness, the patient wisdom and brilliant strength of its intricacies can only be equalled by the ocean magnificent…

Recently, I had the incident idea to mix a sip of La Folie with a bite of vanilla ice cream...Oh my...May I please have the luxury one day to have enough La Folie for myself to attempt a Folie float...Amen.

The yeast addition in the second half of the bottle seems to embolden the raspberry aspect of the fruitiness and adds an earthiness to the flavor profile. A dirtier second glass which doesn’t shine quite as much as the cleaner first one, but which might offer even more flavor. Having a bottle all to yourself is a sin. I am proud to call myself a sinner.

The 10th Anniversary Falling Rock edition was in the same tooth-licking good category, while not displaying the same full body and harmonious mélange. Its cherry-like balsamic vinegar notes and long sourness were still amazing though...A cinnamon candy-like character was quite intriguing too...

if I could give the aroma an 11 I would. This thing is packed with aromas and flavors. The smell...a biting floral scent, strong with yeasy and redolent of unripened apple cider vinegar. Some light sour apple notes, some corn, and orange peel. A very strong and sweet boquet. There is a nice bitter initial flavor, with a deep flavoring of orange, and lemon, fall leaves, corn, apples or wheat or vegtables, and corriander, quite a bit of spicing. overall an excellent beer, but too strong for frequent consumption.

I really need to re-rate this beer. I upped my score based on my past 2 experiences whereas my notes are from first taste. I like this beer so much that at RBSG 04 I sat down at the end of the night (for me at least) and finished the last half of hte bottle that no one else wanted and one imbecil was trying to dump down the drain! Old Notes needs to be updated. Please send bottle to me so that I am may update the rating properly.Tart apple aroma. Hints of yeastiness also. Murky brown with an off-white head. Tastes sour. Very cheese like in an odd way. Additional flavors include acetic acid and a slight acidic tinge. Medium bodied and very dry. Very long finish with hints of wood (possibly from aging it in wood barrels). A unique beer.