New Glarus Belgian Red

Bottle thanks to bgramer. Thanks! Pours dark ruby amber with a big pinkish white head that fades and leaves some lacing. Smell is huge candied cherries and a slight earthy tartness. Taste is similar with a musty candied cherry flavor and a slight tartness. Really delicious fruit beer. Smooth on the palate and easy drinking.

Bottle (Thanks kosko20!) Pours a murky ruby red color topped by a fading pink film. The aroma has an extremely pungent cherry presence. Sweet candied cherries, almond paste sweetness, marzipan, subtle pastry notes, and more cherry skin character as it warms. The body is slick and creamy, yet lively. It has such a natural fruit presence in the flavor! It’s both sweet and tart simultaneously, with notes of candied cherries, sweet notes with almond-like character of marzipan. The later cherry flavors lean toward earthier notes of skin-tannins, along with a very subtle cinnamon-like spiciness when it warms, and the slightest touch of graham cracker towards the clean finish. This stuff conjures up the experience of eating freshly baked cherry pie. Rich, yet so drinkable. A fruit beer that is truly fruit-filled; complex and delicious.

So, this is the infamous Belgian Red! I’m impressed, although I knew what to expect. Very strong, sour, funky aromas and a sweet, juicy cherry flavour. Syrupy, delicious, tastes "happy" according to one of my friends. And I don’t mean as in the Wisconsin pronunciation of "hoppy" -- there’s very little of that to be found, although they’re detectable. Kind of a single-note beer, but still well done for the style.

Amazing fresh Cherry smell and taste. When you are looking for something different, this is it. Good sweetness but just enough tart to balance it out.

this smells like cherries. it looks like cherry juice. guess what? it tastes like carbonated cherry juice. hops? hmmm....cant find em. malt? uh, no. what exactly makes this a beer? maybe if it had more alcohol i could at least be reminded that i was drinking something ’beer-like’. but thats not there either. according to this website, which i practically live by, this is one of the best beers IN THE WORLD. this doesnt taste bad, but this doesnt satisfy my palate. this is not challenging. this is not nuanced. this is so far from actual beer i wonder should it get a .5? maybe there should be an option to rate ’n/a’. i have drank fruit beers that were very strongly flavored but they at least looked like beer, and there was always something in there that reminded me of yeast/hops/malt. there are a pound of cherries in this bottle. i am not trying to go against the grain or rebel. i am not trying to be a punk rock beer rater. i want to like this beer. i do like other new glarus beers and it seems they do know what they are doing. this stuff however seems to be only enjoyable by people that dont like beer. the difference between this and premium cherry juice is very small. this is not overly sweet to be honest, but i dont find that it is very balanced by much sourness either. what exactly makes this belgian? i dont detect any belgian spice, belgian yeast or belgian funkiness. maybe my palate is retarded, if those things are in fact present for someone else they are at best very subtle. this is one dimensional. most of all, this is disappointing.