New Holland Blue Sunday

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

Bottle I shared with Shawn: Brownish hue with a fluffy head and constant lace. The aroma has lots of phenols and alcohol, cherry pits, lacto, band-aid medicinal vapour, some nutty and bready tones and starts to show some oxidization has it warms. The taste starts with pitty sourness countered by caramel and toasty malts. Some walnut and chocolate undertones too. Earthy and flowery finish, Tastes far better than it smells. Aggressive and lively mouth feel, refreshing. Not too shabby once you get past the plastic and band-aid nose which luckily does not go to the palate.

Bottle shared by ryan on 7/10/08: Pours a transparent dark copper with orange hues and a large fizzy clingy-lacing light tan head. Aroma of mild caramel sweetness with a touch of sour cherries and woody oak. Starts effervescent and earthy semi-sweet with a nice balance of dry tartness and fresh oak before a drier crisp finish. A decent sour ale.

POured a murky brown. Notes of over ripe fruit, mild sourness, some malt sweetness and yeast. Flavor is bready, funk, watered down tartness. Pretty transparent flavor, not much complexity.

This is past its prime. I wonder if it was ever really good to start with. Brown pour. Aroma is yeasty, old cherries and wet wood. Flavor is watery and barely even there. Tastes like a flavorless cherry. Not so good.

750ml caged and corked. Bottled 07/08. A gentle pour yields a dark brown beer with a huge, fizzy dark-eggshell white head. The appearance of the head gives the suggestion of quite lively carbonation. There are some deeper amber hues when held up to the light, but this is a rather dark wild ale. The beer smells almost like an over-aged (slightly) sour brown ale. A small touch of acetic acid... very light apple cider vinegar. There is a small toasty malt presence. Maybe some lingonberry or tart cranberry notes. Very mild wood tannin... at least on the nose. Flavor is fairly bland and utterly disappointing. little to no acetic acid. Light toasted bready malt. Watery tobacco, wet wood, wet earth... I’m really reaching here to pick up flavors. Tastes like a slightly sour club soda. Overbearing carbonation (as the fast rising head predicted). Mostly watery body with a very weak vinegary finish. Oh well... Thanks Kier!

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.

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.