New Belgium La Folie

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Sour Red/Brown
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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bottle. Brown with small head. Has to be the one of the sourest beers I’ve ever had. Bottle describes flavor as "puckering" and that’s a great adjective. Excellent flavor.

Draft. Pours dark amber brown with a short off-white that finishes as a ring. Minimal lacing. Bright, complex aroma full of lovely cinnamon spice and sour apple. Medium sour flavor. Light-medium body, oily texture, and a tart sour finish. Good balance between strong elements of sour and oak.

2008 vs 2012. 2008: Pours a deep red with thin off white head. Aromas of apples, apple cider vinegar, barnyard. Flavors of medium sourness with a light sweet backbone. The vinegar was more present in this year vs the 2012. 2012: Pours a deep red with thin off white head. Aromas of sour apples, cherries, and other sour berries. Flavor is lip puckering sour with some mild fruit notes trying to peak through. I will be the first to admit, this isn’t my favorite style. Although I really enjoy expanding my palate. Overall, these beers were different. For me, the 2008 was an easier drinking beer.

On tap at Ashley’s in Ann Arbor. Very nice, aggressively sour, but delicious. Cherry flavors.

New Belgium’s Lips Of Faith La Folie Sour Brown Ale is really something. I had the 2012 brew, and this was my first sour ale. Wow. First off, I’ll say that when they say sour, they don’t mean "kinda sour" or "hints at sourness." I did not find myself struggling to "pick up on the sourness" from this beer. I found myself struggling instead to pick my face up off the floor. This is a freight-train to the mouth kind of sour. This beer pours murky brown with very little head or lace, and the aroma is a mild malt that’s just dominated by something like sour cherry. The flavor is aggressive. I guess that’s one word for it. Honestly, all I could taste was the sourness. It’s more of a sour apple in terms of flavor, and not the sour cherry I thought I smelled in the aroma. There is a little spice, a little background richness, but this stuff starts sour, finishes sour, and leaves a sour aftertaste. This beer is not trying to cozy up and be your friend. You’ll like it on its terms or you won’t like it at all. I cannot say I really enjoyed this beer, but I can’t remember the last time something bowled me over like this did. I will eventually try this style again, but not soon. I’m overwhelmed. My rating here is an honest first reaction. If I develop a taste for this style I will change my rating as appropriate.

From bottle. I’m generally not a huge fan of sours. This one was a bit too sour for my taste. The wood didn’t really come through. I got more of a fruity and malty aroma. The pour is an unattractive brown, but it’s a brown ale, so it’s not really special in any way for the style. Taste is too overpowering on the sour, which doesn’t allow any other notes to properly come through IMO. Decent mouthfeel.

Pours a deep red with small tan head. Smells oaky, apples, cola Tastes very sour, rich, fruity, and again- sour. Nice finish. Good beer, very good sour

Doing a vertical tonight, from ’’09 - ’13. Starting with the ’09, it pours dark not really clear amber with a dark cherry hue. Aroma is great bringing sweet cherries and some light zingy malts. The flavor has a decent amount of tart and cherries blended so well together not biting the palate but going down quite smooth. The body gets a bit better with the years going on, the ’11 was better than the ’09 and ’10.

2013 vintage bomber at 50°; vibrantly classic deep auburn body flashing amber highlights beneath a 1", quickly fading, light khaki head decorating the vessel with a few dominant angled peninsulas, and random polka dots of lace; a lazy sour and sweet fog illuminated by sunny rays of cherry, plumb, and sweet tart with light candy bringing life to a deserted barn; amplified fruit and tartness flood the palate from a lightly drying slick body, resonating layers of everything the aroma promised

Bomber. Pours a dark copper and ruby color with an inch of light brown foam. Lots of apple cider, cherry, oak and vinegar in the aroma. The flavor is aggressively sour and tart at the start with a healthy serving of white grape, cranberry and strawberry rhubarb notes with a bit of malt and oak at the end. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied with moderate carbonation and an extremely dry, tart finish. Insanely sour but remarkably balanced and drinkable.