New Belgium Tart Lychee

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

On tap at Naja’s. Murky orange brown with a small off-white head, fading to nothing before long. Nose is dominant of lacto and lemon, oak, and light leather. There is also some light nondescript sweet malt. Flavor follows suit with some sour strawberries and acidity peaking at a 5. Semi-dry with some wheat showing up as well. Very light, yet prickly carbonation with a light to medium body. Very tasty, but I prefer Le Terroir and La Folie.

Had midway through a tasting flight of 9 beers at Brouwer’s Big Wood event. This is for me the beer that stood out the most. It was not the best tasting or most complex beer there. However, it had captured the essense of Lychee in it’s aroma and flavor. Balanced around the sour-sweetness of the beer and a cleansing, astringent finish. It brought up memories of Japan and it reminded me of the time my sister smuggled me in fresh Lychees over the border from Canada. A personal favorite.

Draft at Brouwer’s Big Wood ’09. Poured a hazy amber orange with no head. Very uncarbonated. This one surprised me a lot since I didn’t have high expectations for it. Has a distinct lychee aroma with lemony sourness and some funk. Flavor is more juicy, sweet lychee, lemon and vinegar sourness, bretty funk, a slight astringency, and dry, tannic oak on the finish. The flavors all balance out well and it’s only moderately sour. While the lack of carbonation looks off-putting, the mouthfeel is full and rich like a good apple cider. A nice, tasty surprise that was very easy to drink as sour ales go.

Draft at Bigwood 09. Pours a super thick/murky golden with zero head and just a trace of bubbles around the edges, but not much. It really looks like fresh pressed apple cider. Nice tart, earthy slightly fruity nose. Tart green apples, light peach, woodsey cider vinegar, with a ’creamy’ feel to it. Mouth feel is actually much better than you would think from looking at it. The flavor is a great tart fruit flavor with great earthy wood notes that play well in the background.

Opaque, diahriah orange mud with no head. Nose is sour, funky, and juicy. Super sour chunky lychee flavors...in fact, the lychee is quite vivid. Lots of citrus/orange mimosa characteristics as well..plump sweet citrus flesh and unrelentless sourness underneath. Mouthfeel is thick and tremenously juicy...carbonation is prickly...a little funky underneath as well, reminding you that this is wild beer and not a mimosa. Nothing wrong with this stuff...the huge amount of juicy flavors may make it seem a little less refined than some top tier sour ales, and the appearance is anything but inviting, but other than that...this shit is off the hook.

FoBAB. Pour is cloudy orange with small white head. Aroma is sour, funky, sweet, lychee, and lemon. The flavor of this one is notably more sweet initially than most sours I have had. The lychee dominates early but is outlasted by the vinegary tartness of the base beer. Finish is crisp with just a lingering hint of lychee. Solid.

Opaque cloudy light orange, no head. Nose is sweet candy and tart fruits, light funk, fairly underwhelming. Taste is all up front with sour tartness, apples, pears, cider, hints of lactic sourness and berries/lychee in the middle, finishes with mouth puckering tartness. Medium body, high carbonation. Overall a spritzy and tart sour ale with hints of lychee and similar fruits, quaffable for a sour.

Sampled at FoBAB 09. Murky orange beer with some head. Funky, sour aroma. Flavor is sharply sour with fruit and some discernible spice. Nice peach, cherry, and lemon notes. Almost grapefruit like. Nice mouthfeel. Basically, absolutely delicious.