New Belgium Love

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

This beer is friggin’ delicious. Just tart, not super sour. Resplendent with fruits and super drinkable.

On draft at Toronado SF. Appearance is bright orange amber hue, thin white layer of head, sticky lacing on the glass. Smell is subtle tartness, light fruits, honey, floral and grassy hops, not much going on here. Taste is initially dominated by tartness and sweetness, light fruits and funk, some earthy hops and bread malts, sourness is quite subtle. Palate is medium-bodied, smooth texture, biting carbonation. Overall a balanced and moderately sour beer, long-lasting finish of biting carbonation and tartness lingers, moderate level of complexity and flavor.
Earlier Rating: 8/12/2008 Total Score: 3.8
Foedre #3 on draft at Toronado SF, described as "a base beer for Le Terroir, kegged personally by Dave Keene". Appearance is a dense amber/orange hue, thin white head dissipates mostly, moderate lacing. Smell is super tart and funk, light fruits, sweet sugary candy, absolutely delicious. Taste is mouth-puckering tartness that dominates from start to finish, vinegar is present, transitions partly to light fruits (pears, apples, peaches) near the end. Palate is medium-bodied, smooth moderate texture, highly carbonated. Overall, the solid tart flavors dominate with a biting carbonation presence.

At Toronado, pours attractive golden amber. Interesting color with no head. The nose is tart and fruity with some wood. The flavor matches the nose closely, with a lot of sour apricots and a hint of raspberries and cherries. The finish is tannic and woody. The entire time, an acidic influence persists that, along with the wood, completely dries the mouth.

Draft at Toronado 21st Anniv. Amber, clearish with a small ring of white head. Aroma is lightly tart, but also apricots / bandaids. I guess I wasn’t sure, but it seemed a little infected. Flavor is sweet and sour, somewhat like vinegar, creamy and thick palate, and again it tastes a little infected.

Draft. Rich amber beer with a nice off-white head. Nice acetic aroma. Sour acetic/vinegry flavor with some cherry and wood. Medium body. Lingering sourness with musty cherry and acetic notes.

On tap @ Brouwer’s. As much as I thought I would flip a lid over this one, I would prefer a Terrior over this simply because it lacks a small amount of bodied comparitively. That being said, the flavor on the brew is still incredible, with many different sour and funk notes. Lemons and sour pears come out in the fruit world, with lots of bittering hops to feast on throughout the finish. Good stuff.

This was a tasty brew that is sad to see is no longer. Melony aromas with bready, sourdough, yeasty qualities and some phelolics. Deep, unclear orange. No head. SOUR. MMM. Tasty. A nice New Belgium product I wish I could find again.

[Dr. Bill’s tasting @ Falling Rock, GABF 2004] An unclear orange beer with no head. The aroma is lovely sour from wild fermentation, and the flavor is an extremely sour wild fermented one with notes of grapefruit. Lovley.