New Holland Blue Sunday

Formerly brewed at New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Holland, Michigan USA

I had to take a double take upon looking at the overall.. What’s wrong with you people! This beer is phenomenal. It opens with a bouquet reminiscent of a fine chardonnay, the flavor follows suit with lots of grape and subtle raisin and licorice notes. I picked up this 750, and was informed that what was on display was all they had left. Amazing brew from a proven brewery. I’m definitely a customer for life.

2009 bottle shared by Jacob on a brewery tour. Nice iced tea colored pour with a loose off-white head. There’s lots of sour berries backed by sweet but not cloying caramel. Medium body with lots of carbonation. I really liked the added sweetness to balance the sour notes in this beer.

750 ML Belgian bottle, poured into a Snifter. Pours black with a huge off white fizzy head that after a while shrinks away to a nice white foam on top of the beer leaving excellent lacing. The aroma is of a white wine followed by a sourness. Taking a drink the first thing I notice is a white wine character. Followed by a fruity grape, pear and apple. The finish is a slight sourness and acidic. The sourness and acidity linger for a while. The body is light to medium with a dry and watery texture and fizzy carbonation.

Cork and caged bottle from the brewery. This is their 11th anniversary beer. Poured a reddish brown out of the glass. Funky oak on the nose. Taste was more funk, sour cherry, wood on the end. This is the first sour I have tasted from New Holland, but this was nice. Didn’t quite compare with the supplication I drank an hour later, but this is a solid sour, and definitely worth a try.

BCTC. Pours a ruby brown with a touch of haze and a thin white head. Oak, vanilla, and toast on the nose. Spicy and zesty with a touch of sweetness. Finishes oaky and very dry.

750mL corked and caged/ Pours a very dark orangey brown with big notes of sour cherries and apples in the aroma on an oaky background. Big fluffy tan head, although I did drop the bottle when the damn cork broke in half. Rather sour cherry flavor... a bit of charred wood, and a slight whiskey flavor with a hint of Bandaid funk. Not the best sour Ive ever had, but nonetheless its a good sour. Somewhat dry finish.

Bottle with thanks to coyotehunter. So I’ve been saving this for a while for this particular "blue Sunday." Call it the end of summer, the beginning of new things that are good and bad, call it what you will, but today is the end of a few good things, so a little depressed, this is my condolence beer for the evening. (Although I should add that blue on the label refers more to blue laws than sad things.) We’re off to a great start as the F*$&(#*&@’ing cork breaks and then won’t come out in spite of all the strength of a sad and slowly angering man. As I stand the bottle pinned between my knees and pull up with all my might, I think, "Maybe New Holland should work on their system a little." I fear the cork will suddenly come loose and allow myself the pleasure of punching myself in the face with a corkscrew, but I manage to avoid disaster. Finally. Pour is a dark reddish brown with a massive head. Aromas of cola, sour cherries, malt vinegar, oak and musty basement. There’s a little bit of a rubbing alcohol edge to the aromas. First sip reveals a pretty good sour... it has an odd dusty mouthfeel and is a little over-carbonated, but it’s still got a nice mix of sour cherries and oak. The alcohol from the aroma shows up (to the detriment of the palate) and wreaks a bit of havoc with the blending of flavors (is this a pretty high ABV sour? It seems so.) Anyhow, I’m back with an update. As this warms and breathes, it gets much better. The astringency seems to burn off and the only drawback is that the oak is a little too dominant and gives a bit of a biting woodsy bitterness.

Reddish brown with a thin light tan head, thinning over time. Fruit malty sort of sweetness in a light grape nose. Lower body but reasonable carbonation makes it creamy enough. Sweeter malt. Alcohol. Lacto, perhaps. Light grape. Astringent. Light vanilla. Some acidity. I was told by others in attendance that this was better than they remembered, so perhaps time was kind to it?