New Belgium Lips of Faith (Pats Belgian Stout)

Formerly brewed at New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Tap at Uber in Seattle. <!-- p --> After last year’s staggeringly good Lips of Faith offering, I was excited to try this one - but I ended up badly disappointed. This beer pours a deep black with brown highlights and a cream head. The aroma is a bizarre combination of belgian yeasts and cocoa, with the flavor offering the same contradictions. This baffles the taste with those curious yeasty flavors and then hot cocoa mix coming through with some sweetness; the combination simply doesn’t work for me. An ambitious but failed experiment, I didn’t bother to finish the glass.

Poured on tap in tulip glass at Brouwer’s. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, with some fruity esters and some sweetness. Appearance is dark brown with ruby highlights, medium head. Flavor is not as complex as the aroma, mainly a mild, chocolaty flavor with some malty (malted milk ball) notes. Mouthfeel is medium-full, rich. Overall a nice, drinkable stout with some slight Belgian-style characteristics.

On tap at NBB brewhouse 2 while talking with Peter Bouckaert. Roasty aroma with belgian yeasty notes (fruity/bready). Body is less think than other stouts, but hey, look at the name of the beer. Unique beer, not a "style" (Hah) I’ve ever seen brewed before. Kind of a nice combo between 1554 and Abbey, yet stouter. Nice mouthfeel, a unique experience.

On tap at Uber Tavern. Bland...just not very exciting. Looks nice, dark red with decent head. Sweet. Ok, but nothing impressive.

Draught @ Papago. Draws a dark rich brown, with a large frothy head. Belgian yeast and ripe bananas immediately hit my nose, with the unfortunate addition of some musty grainy notes that I could have done without. Thin bodied, with mild roasty flavor, some sweetness, mild coffee and more banana. Nice try I guess.

Tap @ Papago. Mild roasted and grain aroma. Dark body with a good head. Flavor was not what I expected for a stout. Slighty watered down with some medium burnt roated taste. More like a a porter than a stout to me. Smooth and easy on the palate.

Draft at the Collins Pub in Seattle. Pours a light creay caramely brown color with an off white tannish head. The aroma has a very sweet malt nose intertwined with a Belgiany chocolate and banana hint. The flavor is fairly simply with touches on sweet malt, chocolate, banana, cherries, and a tiny bit of mild hops thrown into the mix. Very light bodied and easy drinking. Bartendar was not sure what the percent on it was. A good try, but the Troubador would shut this one down any day!

Draft. Deep caramel color with an ivory colored wisp on the surface. Very pale for a stout. Vivid aromas of bananas, chocolate and popcorn. Fruity and malty with notes of cherries, chocolate and prunes. More popcorn notes come though in the flavor as well. Somewhat sour with a banana flavor. Could it be this was brewed with a Belgian yeast? (In my defense; this beer wasn’t called "Belgian Stout" when I rated it.) A very "busy" flavor but not too weird to be enjoyable. And, as with most all NB beers, brewed flawlessly.