New Belgium Lips of Faith (Dark Kriek)

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Clear brick red pour with small tan head. Nose of sour cherry. Flavor is much the same with hints of toasted nut. Medium body with good carbination, alcohol is not even noticed. It sneaks up fast on this one.

22 oz bottle via Hagen. Pours a semi clear reddish brown with a small beige head. Nose is sour fruit, obviously cherries. Taste starts with the sour cherries and other fruit...even green grapes i think. Then some sweetness, sort of a nice balanced sweet n sour tart thing going on, but the sour definately wins. I think i get some hazlnut and even some mild chocolate and vanilla underneath. Perhaps some wood as well. Body is medium, carbonation is full. I actually quite like this. It is unique and not so sour that the sourness is overwhelming. Balanced quite nicely, this is a winner. ABV is well well hidden, this is chuggable stuff, gotta be careful here lol!

Pours a mostly clear ruby, with a slight ring of lace - a healthy dose of earthy cherry in the aroma, skin tannins and all - a decent amount of oak in the nose as well, and a wee bit of funk - the flavor is a little salty, oaky, and sour up front, but this is quickly covered up by a higher sweetness than I expected, some dark, chocolaty maltiness, sweet cherry flavors - a little bit of that oak comes back late, as does some acidity - however, the malt character clashes with the more sour and earthy qualities - dry finish - tastes like they brewed a crappy cherry beer and decided to mix some La Folie in to try to improve it, with mixed results.

This really grabs the cherry flavors and presents them in every aspect of the beer. Aroma is predominately cherry with a bit of wild yeast in the background. Flavor is most noticeably bursting with cherry fruit flavors. Drinking this reminded me very much of a tannic red wine. That almost gritty texture and mouth feel was very familiar. After the cherry there is not a lot else happening here. The sourness or yeast is very understated. Not that that is bad, just noticeable.

Cherry. Sour. A nice apple tartness that sticks out. Very close to La Folie in taste. I’m pleasantly surprised.

22 oz. bottle - clear, dark red; nice fruity, cherry nose; slightly acidic and thin bodied; fruity, zesty, raw and decent overall; a little too much like fruit juice though

Pours a very dark copper/ruby red color with dark mahogany edges when held to a light source and a one finger frothy off white head that immediately fades into a thin ring. Slightly sour aroma with lactic notes and earthy oak presence. Just a hint of vanilla with a healthy dose of dark cherries and artificial syrupy cherry juice. Slightly puckering but not nearly tart enough with a medium dry mouthfeell and lots of artificial syrupy sweetness. Slightly earthy from oak aging and a touch of vanilla. The flavor is actually more sour/funky than the aroma would lead youto believe but still =very mild and nowhere near sour/puckering enough. Oak and vanilla notes acoompany the lactic sourness up front but they are quickly overpowered by the cloyingly sweet cherry and syrupy sweet artificial juice flavors. Slightly dry finish.

Bottled, Aroma of sour cherries with oak notes, tart citrus with malt character with finishing sour, good overall almost too sour compared to the malt character