New Belgium Mountain Mantra

Formerly brewed at New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

A very generous sharing from Alaskanwarren’s half growler. It survived very nicely, with beautiful layer of creamy white head on a copper body. First sniff, I’m getting some of the aroma of loft. A spicy yeast aroma, and a pleasant tang. But man, this stuff has some layers! Delicate citrus, cinnamon, sweaty/cedar. A nice level of bitterness, almost more citrus yeast sour than hoppy though. Clean and delicate on the palate. A wonderful, innovative beer! I would be happier if it weren’t listed as an IPA. It ain’t IPA. But then again...what do you call something like this? Great. I guess you call it great.

Light orange gold color. Small to medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is floral and fruity. Awesome aroma in this one. A medium to full bodied “IPA”. Malts are fruity and sweet. Hops are floral and a touch grapefruity. Lots of spices in this one as well, coriander, kefir lime and lemon peel. Lots of floral flavors, with big bright yeasts, but it still has a nice malt backbone and lots of hops. Spicy and slightly strange. Hoppy without being bitter. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Draught at Brouwer’s Cafe during HopFest 2005: Coppery golden, moderate foamy white head, very nice lacing, strong carbonation.   Sweet hoppy aroma, yet somewhat sweet, somewhat bready along with belgian candy sugar factor.   Very clean hop bitterness from start to finish, lingers well after the finish.   Seems to be a touch of pine (odd), and semi-sweet.   Wonderfull body and mouthfeel.   Finishes with moreso a breadiness akin to a double, along with the hop bite of an IPA.   Very interesting beer, that I find very palatable and enjoyable.   Well done New Belgium!

Pours with an amber-red body topped by a thin to medium thick head with some lacing. It’s sweet and spicy with a nice malt note and a touch of hops. Nice! Medium to full bodied, smooth yet slightly warming.

Appeared today on draught @ the brewery. I presume this will replace the saison as this is again referred to as an experimental, "pilgramage" type beer. It’s a very strange, extremely hoppy beer, spiced with kaffir lime leaf and lemon peel, as well as Sterling, Goldings, Liberty, Saaz and two other varieties. The strange thing is that it is fermented with Belgian yeast; the same yeast used to ferment Abbey. It leads to a clear orange color, a minty, lemon and lime infused aroma (from both the spices and the hops) with a touch of fruit and Belgian yeast. Light and airy on the palate with a tremendous diversity of hop flavor and underlying notes of caramel and the attributes of Belgian Yeast. They didn’t call this beer an India Pale Ale but unfortunately, this is definately one of those beers that doesn’t even come close to being stylistic. It’s hoppy and weird. Going by what is in the glass, I say IPA but if there would have been an IPA/Belgian Ale/Saison/Spiced Beer/XX Bitterish option, I would have chosen that. It will be interesting to see what Belgian beer enthusiasts say about this beer, because it is a straight hop bomb. I enjoyed it, but I also love hops.

Orange-amber in color, with a white head. Aromas of pine, and yeasty esters. First you taste some piney hops that fades away as you drink the beer, then you taste bubblegum and spices. Avery interesting and complex beer. It didnt have near the hops I was expecting.

Great version if a IPA. This is by far the hoppiest beer to ever come out of New Belgium. Deep Copper color with hints of bananna and clove on the nose, with a nice finishing warmth. If you can find it you should definately give it a try.

Wow, this is interesting, good, tasty, mysterious. Appearance is an orange-mahagony, and aroma is a spicy, tangy, hop, with plenty of pine. I was surprised to find out they dont use simcoe nor chinook in their six-hop mix. Flavor is more of that spicy hop concoction with plenty of malt. It felt balanced, but I don’t know that I could drink a ton of it. It was pretty rich. Not that that’s a bad thing, in fact I enjoyed every drop of my taster. I did buy a half-growler at the brewery so we’ll see how things go. It just feels more like a sippin’ brew than a gulpin’ brew. Body is medium-to-full and finish is spicey pine.