New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

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

If this beer were a candle, I’d totally buy it. Well-crafted, too sweet for me to drink more than a sample, but it sure as hell makes a difference when you use real fruit, don’t it?

Pours a cloudy red dark reddish brown. A bit of a cider like appearance. Aroma says "drink me". It is of ripened cherries freshly crushed. Taste is of sweetened maraschinos cherries. This is a beer that gives you exactly what you expect when you first pop the cork. A bit of oak tannins add to the complexity. This beer is very unique and deserves a high rating, however, it is a bit too sweet for my tastes. I can see how that would play well with a mass audience.

Bottle courtesy of mgumby10 - thanks! Pours a murky red with a small head. Cherry nose, mild tartness, cookie dough, light spices. Highly carbonated texture borders on prickly.

I’m initially taken aback by how sweet the beer is. It’s very much a fruit juice, enormous powerful cherry flavor, some sweet ’n sour ketchup. I certainly see the cherry pie comparison that everyone is making. We’ve got the sweet acidity of pie cherries with every bit of their flavor jammed into the beer, the light pie spices, even the flaky, slightly buttery, gently sweet crust. Definitely all of that going on. What is not going on is any sense of beer. There is nothing here that tells me this is a beer, no funk, no wildness, no dry tannic flavors, no musty interest. As a result I’m left disappointed by what is ultimately a very tasty soda pop.

Sampled at Hellbilly’s tasting, courtesy of Hellbilly! Pours a deep red with a pink fizzy head. Intense cherry aroma, with a hint of maltiness. Flavor is all cherry. Seemingly very tart at first and then smoothing out. I love cherries, so this is a fantastic fruit brew.

Wham! How did they get so much cherry flavor into this?! I half-expected to find some pits at the bottom of this 750 bottle. Sweet and tasty.

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser courtesy of Hellbilly via Bockyhorsey!!! "I can not tell a lie," this was like George Washington placing his right hand on the trunk and left hand on the branches of a cherry tree...and ringing it out like a towel just above my glass. INCREDIBLE!!! Pours a soft red with small rose foam. Washington cherry blossoms and freshly baked pie tease the nose. The flavor combines buttery flaky crust, sweet ripened fruit, and cherry tartness. This beer is distinguished, legendary, and should be celebrated!!!

Sampled at the Hellbilly’s Hellraiser Phoenix tasting (4/13/08). Bottle courtesy of Hellbilly. The second fruit beer sampled on the night and one of my top 2 beers sampled overall. Pours a rich cloudy purplish maroon color with a pinkish head. Nose is cherry pie filling, maraschino cherries and cherry syrup for making snow cones. Palate is incredible. Sour cherry juice upfront, but gets sweeter like a cherry jolly rancher before it finishes nice and dry. Much more complex than its brother Raspberry Tart. Incredible beer and now one of my favorites.

Bottle- Ruby red, pink fluffy head, what an aroma!!! Calpol- sweet cherry, over fermented porridge *my wifes note* mmmm some spice there too, wow. Flavour: Wonderful spicey cherry flavour, very unique, very individual. Tart, sweet-sour, brilliant. A perfect summer drink, heck a perfect drink for any time of year!! Incredible