New Belgium La Folie

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Bottle huge massive thanks to secret santa. Aroma is tart sour fruit, loads of acidity, wood and a massive lactic acid note. Taste is similar but the acid is over powering, far too much acidity, i still drank the 750 in a mtter of minutes, but trying its hardest to be rodenback but missing the mark. Carbonation is too heavy also.

I loved this beer. Sour, Tart, a great sour ale. Drinkability is unmatched and mouthfeel is like a fine champagne.

Based on all the hype, I was expecting a serious Duchess competitor for best sour red. Not so fast, as Lee Corso might say. This is a good beer. Decent aroma. Pours nice. A bit too carbonated. Fairly nice sourness. But it’s no Duchess. Still, it is absolutely the best New Belgium I’ve had. La Folie goes beyond New Belgium’s typical mediocrity. I wish my wife would like sour beers so that we could share. Alas, the bottle is mine tonight.

11/7/07 From the bottle. Aroma is fruity and tart, efevescent, with a sweet malt background and lightly alcoholic note. Appearance is a medium hazy copper with a moderate tan head. Flavor has a strong lactic acid tang that becomes much stronger in the finish, sweet, with a low resiny flavor. Mouthfeel is highly attenuated, dry, tingly and warm. Overall, this is marred by the back of the throat tingling/finish just being too strong and overpowering the rest of the flavor. Perhaps an extra 20 minutes to open up and oxidize on the next try will help the flavor.

For rate number 1,700, brewfiend was kind to share this highly rated brew. From a 750 ml bottle, pours a dark reddish amber brew with a fizzy off-white head that has some good retention. Aroma of sour dark fruit, some cherry, and some earthy herbs/spices. Taste is medium bodied, well-carbonated with flavors of tart fruit, some wood character, and some yeast funk. Finish is just as tart as its flavor, with a touch of lemon zest. I would easily put this up with some of Belgian’s top sour ales.

A: Dark amber/red body with decent white head. S: Nice sour aroma with a bit of pucker factor. Some slight wood aroma as well. T: Big pucker/tingle in my jaw effect. There is a bit of sweetness, but this is definitely on the dryer side. I love this beer, although the Le Terroir is a bit more my style. M: Medium/light bodied. It tastes heavier than it feels. D: Excellent. Can’t drink it all night, but I could put a bottle away myself.

750 ml corked bottle served in a Duvel tulip. Poured a clear reddish brown. Lots of carbonation, almost Champagne like. Fine white bubbled head. Lots of sour fruit in the aroma, cherries and apple. Light bodied. Very tart, lots of fruit flavors. Very dry. Didn’t really taste the wood. Nice version of the style, might not be everyone’s cup of tea (or beer!)

On tap @ O’Brien’s San Diego. My first sour beer in years! And it didn’t dissapoint. Big nose of sour cherries, vinegar, and earth. Medium in body with an amber hue. Mouthfeel was hard for me to come to a conclusion on. It was a damn good beer none the less.