New Belgium La Folie

2002 bottle, shared very generously by eyedrinkale. Dark brown / red pour. Aroma is lightly tart cherries / fruit, vinegar. Flavor is lightly tart again from the fruit, oak and vinegar. Well balanced and subtle flavors make this quite nice.

10th anniversary blend shared by Sliffy at the Cleveland tasting. Poured a nice brownish red with a creamy off white head that stuck around for quite a while. A great looking flemish sour brown. Very tart and acetic aroma with some fruits, vinegar, some woodys elements. Flavor profile has a very pronounced sour cherry presence that melds nicely with an oak smoothness in the finish. Very very quality brew. Not sure if there is a big difference between the 10th ann. blend and the regular bottling of this brew...but the blended anniversary batch is top notch!

It is difficult to rate unique beers like this. I had it on tap at the brewery. The flavor was mostly sour apple, lime juice, maybe a little vinegar.

Following the pop of the champagne cork a mist of condensation rises out of the bottle. This gives the effect that I’m about to embark on a trip with a magic elixir. The head puffs up huge: 2-3 inches of a brownish creme. This falls off to a thin 2 millimeter head after about five minutes. After the pour the head is made up of micro and macro foam with big bubbles popping on the surface causing a mashed potatoes effect. The beer itself is a amberish brown. It is dark enough to not allow any light to pass through even when held up to a light. This is what a beer should look like. It’s killing me that I have to write this first before tearing into this absolutely gorgeous brew.

The aroma is a fantastic tangy sweet breath of refreshment. It smells extremely flavorful while staying light. Behind the tangy sweetness I’m catching a touch of walnut shell. Nutty almost.

The first sip is sharp and lightly cutting. But in a fantastic way. This is a very sour beer. It is very similar to kombucha tea. Or like the vinegar chugalug that grandparents in Pennsylvania drink for their health (with the exception that this beer is delicious). The taste is sharp enough to almost give the back of my throat a cold-headache-like feeling. The sour and sharpness is nicely balanced out with a sweetness that is not completely unlike fruit. Breathing out through the mouth after a swallow brings on the barest hint of smoke. Similar to peat burning in scotch production. The breath out also brings on a touch of bark in a moist forest.

The palate is very thin. The thinness adds to the refreshing effect of this beer. Like lemonade on a summer day. You can feel the tiny bubbles of the carbonation almost as a bite on the tongue and back of the throat.

Overall this is a great beer. One of my favorites. It takes beer down such a rarely traveled path and does it with style. It is hand bottled out of one of the first bottling set-ups that new belgium ever owned (only six bottles at a time). This is just one of the signs of the love and time that went into this beer.

#900 750ml Bottle #9067 Sep 07 Pours out an amber topped with almost no head. Aroma of very nice fruit. Tast it gets you in the jaw on the first tast. Dry, sour and very nice. WOW thanks a ton Indiana Red for letting me have some of this on another mile stone.

Bottle (9067) - thanks Ken! Chestnut brown pour with a smaller, dense beige head. Sweet and tart, woody sour tones. Big impact upon first taste. Lots of sour intensity. Like a magnum sweet tart. Light oaky tones. What a treat!

750ml bottle. This is the best sour beer that I’ve had to date... I said that about RR Compunction too, but La Folie has more flavor. Pours a dark brown color with ruby red highlights. Crisp offwhite head that fades quick and leaves no lace. Smells a touch sour, ripe malts and sour cherries. This is one of the most sour tasting beers that I’ve had, it’s great! Some mellow oak notes but nothing major. Lots of sour cherry flavor. Medium body, crisp, super pucker sour. Very active carbonation.

A wonderful, sour beer that finishes beautifully with the addition of champaigne bubbles.