New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

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

<i>Thanks to fantomas23 for the bottle!</i>
Opaque tan-red with a moderate off-white head, lots of lacing. Nose is very dessert-like, a spicy cherry and apple pie, a little tart. I could see this going well as a holiday punch for the lazy. Flavor improves, incorporating cherry, apple cider, cinnamon. Pale malt noticeable with warmth. Refreshing palate that’s well carbonated but full bodied and lush, playing right into the rich, sweet flavor. Significantly better than the one dimensional Raspberry Tart but still sweet enough to be candy for adults.

Had this beer many a time before thanks to a friend who used to travel around the midwest quite a bit. My favorite fruit beer when fresh, but this particular bottle is aged a year. Not sure what the aging protocol is for fruit beers. Pours a burgundy red with a minimal head. Aroma is somewhat sour and sweet at the same time, with loads of cherries (pretty much the same as when fresh). Flavor is cherry pie in a glass, and is amazingly more crisp tasting than when fresh. You’d be hard pressed to find a better beer of the kriek variety.

I waited a long time to try this one and it was worth the wait. Just an awesome unique beer. I was worried that this would be an over-sweetened lambic-esque beer, but it was not. Incredibly balanced, but still allowed that gorgeous cherry flavor to shine through. Poured a deep reddish light brown and a small white head. Aroma was cherries and a little smoky, barrel-aged tinge. Sweet and sour cherry flavor is balanced out with some light malt and yeast flavors. Delicious. Perfect to enjoy with Thanksgiving dinner. Loved it.

750ml bottle. Pours deep dark red with small white head. Aroma is cherries, yeast, oak and a little citrus. Flavor starts out sweet with cherries, oak, a little yeast and touch of citrus. Finishes with sour cherries. Perfect mouthfeel and carbonation for a fruit beer. Cannot drink a lot of it but this is about unique and perfet as a fruit beer can get.

Pours a dark red color with a small white head. Head lasts for most of the beer. Heavy carbonation. Aroma is of cherries, yeast, citrus, and oak. The aroma is hugely sweet, and does not smell artificial. Taste is huge on cherry, with a nice nice oaky tartness. If you like cherries, this is the beer for you.

Bottle courtesy of Tony at Oldsmar Tap House (Tampa, FL). Pours a dark reddish amber color with no head. Aroma is cherry, spice, some bready notes. Flavor is overwhelmingly cherry and ripe tart fruit, some spice, maybe just a hint of acidity. Medium body with a syrupy mouthfeel and lingering sweet finish.

Brewed with Montmorency Cherries (purportedly a pound of whole cherries per bottle), locally grown wheat, and Hallertau hops, the beer is then left to mature in 12 ft. tall oak tanks. Okay, great, let’s get to it. Murky ruby-hue capped by a flamingo-pink head appearance and harbors an aroma reeking of unabashed cherrynicity, there’s nothing fake or artificial about this beer. With a taste reminiscent of fruit leather, the flavor is certainly aggressive in it’s sheer determination to cram that pound of cherries down your damn throat. It deftly walks the fine line between sweet and tart and carries with it a jolt of juicy, cheek-pinching acidity. The malted wheat and hops definitely take a backseat to the deep, strong cherry fruitiness. God, I hope you like cherries. The high level of carbonation in the beer does well to bring a much-needed levity to what otherwise would be a thick, syrupy body. You do like cherries, right? Overall, a deliciously unique beverage, though I suspect some may be left angrily shouting the catchphrase "Where’s the Beer?"

Poured a ruby red color with thin head. Smelled like cherry pie. Tasted like fresh cherry pie and cider. A well crafted beer and not fake tasting lik many other fruit brews. Greatf or desert !!