New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

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

Big thanks to moejuck!! This starts out incredible, bypasses awesome and enters into Elixer of the Gods territory. Aroma is subdued cherries, vanilla and malt. Appearance is slightly hazy red with a bit of brown. Mouthfeel is light and slightly fizzy. Flavors were just bursting with cherries and it was simply incredible. Slightly creamy, acidic, sweet, and tart. It was an excellent example of having a lot of different taste angles going on. If only more American breweries would take this excellent example and use it as a watermark. It could have been much better in the aroma and appearance but that’s nitpicky. Overall it was fantastic. Definitely worth the status.

Bottle shared generously by footbalm at the great Utah tasting. Three RB guys from Utah, what will happen next? The beer pours a dark red body with a small white head. The aroma was amazing; I am surrounded by ripe and tart cherries, wow. The taste was also dominated by the cherries, but done in such a great way. just the perfect balance between sour and sweet. There is also some vanilla and wood aspects. Just amazing; it’s smooth and so tasty, but not artificial at all, and very well balanced out, without being over the top at all. Amazing. Re-rate: had this again and it was just as good. Amazing finish.

Bottle courtesy of Philip, thanks my friend! Belgian Red pours the lighter side of crimson, with a pink two finger head. Good retention, pretty lace. Nose of cherries, raspberries, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a smidgen of barnyard funk. Flavours are sweet/tart cherry/raspberry, spices (clove, nutmeg, cinnamon), some chocolate, and funky yeast. Finishes chalky, with a punch of tart fruit and lingering spices, high carbonation. A pleasure. Thank you Phil!

Pours cloudy dark reddish/brown with decent head. Aroma is sour and tart cherries. Cherries front to back in the flavor with a slighly dry sour finish. Taste like a cherry pie. 4.2 average is not worthy enough but I can see how this beer might be overwhelming to some.

(Bottle) Pours very suspect hazy brown/orange/red, like muddy seawater. Sweet cherry aroma with some cinamon. A slight peppery/spicy feeling. A bit sour but mostly sweet flavour with white sugar. Good mouthfeel untill the sugar kicks in.

bottle. I’m always skeptical when a fruit-flavored beer is so critically acclaimed. This pours very, very red with a decent white head. The aroma is packed completely full of cherries with some cinnamon perhaps in the background. The mouth again is loaded down with cherry with a finish like frosted Pop-tarts. The mouthfeel is very fizzy but slightly sticky, mostly with sweetness. I can say that the cherry flavor is very natural. I find the use of the word "Belgian" in the title to be rather misleading. This flirts with the problem of being cloying. It’s just so fruity and sweet, not really my favorite thing in a beer. I split the 750 with my girlfriend (thank God). I don’t think I could take a whole bottle of this stuff. This would be okay in small doses as a dessert, I suppose. I find it slightly baffling this would have such universal appeal among beer lovers since it lacks an abundance of more typical beer qualities. This doesn’t make it onto my personal favorite 50 beers, anyway.
[March 30, 2009]
Big bottle. Pours red. Really red. This is cherry juice. Now, okay, it is not soda-like. It is very natural cherry flavor. However, that is all that is here. This smells exactly like pure cherries. This tastes excatly like pure cherries. The finish has a bit of breadiness that makes this taste like liquid cherry pie. There is no other flavor or aroma. This does not resemble beer in any way due to the lack of hop, yeast, or malt flavor. This is cherry extract.

Tasted in tribute to the great Michael Jackson who passed on today. He was one of my greatest heros. He rated New Glarus Belgian Red as one of the top ten beers in America in 2002: http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001726.h A great beer for a great man. Bottle from iowaherkeye in June 2007. Pours a deep cloudy red color with a hint of brown. No head, but finely carbonated with a microbubble splash eminating from the pour. Aroma is of a malted cherry cheesecake, and oak deceptively combining to allude to cinnamon. Aaah, a beer so pleasant in aroma in need not be consumed. No! It must be consumed. The taste is mild, lightly carbonated, and at the same time very flavorful. A masterfully brewed beer with high residual sweetness, so the taste of cherries is complete. Easy to drink. Perfect to pair with many foods. Aaahhh. Pleasure.

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.