New Glarus Apple Ale

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

12 oz bottle. Crystal clear copper with a thin white head. Nose is apple juice and dough, faint toffee. Really interesting. Not quite a cider and only in the finish reminding me of a beer. Crisp but not sharp, juicy with light drying. Taste is mostly apple, some cherry, a bit of cinnamon, faint lemon pith and apple peel. I wanted to be challenged but this was still good.

12oz Bottle. Very very interesting nose that combines fresh apple cider, with the deeper husky parts of the malt, and the softer sides of apple cider vinegar. Complex and enticing. Pours a crystal clear vibrant bright orange fire, bubbling as champagne and lifting an edge of white to the corners of the glass. Flavor is high and fluffy, bringing a delicate, blossoming rich apple character to my lips. So sweetly perfumed, yet not cloying. This is awesome. The malt stiffens the backbone of the beer. Incredible elegant grace. A calvados like alcohol brims over the glass edges and adds an edge of refinement to the finish. I cannot imagine a more perfect marriage of apple and ale. Soft, light and airy. A heavenly beer.

My liquid christmas card from Kimber. Pours a clear golden with a tiny white head. Smells of stearin with a hint of apple juice. Sweet with aromas of applejuice. Medium bodied. Tiny hints of stearin. Quite high carbonation. Crispy dry finish. Reminds me of a cider with a bit more body.

In short: An apple pie in a bottle. Light and extra clean. It is what it is, a little oddity fun in small quantities.
How: Bottles, 2008 unplugged release. Bottles received from MatSciGuy, thanks a lot Levi. Consumed fresh and shared at tasting session with Montreal crew.
The look: Clear golden body with almost no head
In long: Nose of apple pie with cinnamon. Taste is really apple pie with cinnamon, crisp crust and all. An overall sensation of crumble. Medium carbonation, very light body. This is a very very clean beer, a bit too sparkling clean for my liking. This beer has very little body and the mouthfeel is rather boring. I understand it’s a 3.8% beer but New Glarus have proven they can make nourishing full body fruit beer with a similar gravity. Also while this original taste is kind of fun the first few sips it quickly gets tiresome. On one hand I admire the originality of this offering but on the other hand this is not something I could drink regularly or in large quantities. So I have mix feeling about it like a cheap fat Texan standing in front of a free all-you-can eat fruits and vegetables buffet.

Bottle courtesy of Gillard. Pours an apple juice golden color with a small off-white head. Nose is apple cider, sugar, spice, butter, and goodness. Flavor is red, green, and yellow apples with cinnamon/sugar spice, and it finishes smoothly with a wonderful Grandma’s house feeling. I can imagine this beer on a cold Wisconsin afternoon. Very nice.

Bottle courtesy of dkachur on 01/18/2009. Clear golden copper body with a medium creamy off-white head. Huge green apple aroma with lots of sugar. Big apple juice flavor with spicee and sugary notes. Medium light body with moderately high carbonation.

Unplugged bottle from Winter ’08 from Piggly Wiggly in North Kenosha. Pours amber colored/apple juice looking. Fizzy disappearing head, like a fizzy cider. Nose is fresh apple juice and some light beer notes of sweet malts. Pretty pleasant. Taste is sweet and definitely apple flavored. Beer is super effervescent. Aftertaste melds into a cider finish with malt taste. Definitely not dry, sweeter than I’d expect. Interesting, though more like an alcopop than beer, really.

Bottle in trade with noncaloric. Dark golen amber. Rich sugar apple and musty/yeast aroma. Tastes like the scent. Very apple cider-like. Big apple flavour. Sweet in a brown sugar quality. Would be hard to pick out from apple cider in a side by side. A bit of an edge to the taste musty or yeasty.