New Belgium La Folie

4/28/2007: Slight vinegar and sourness in the aroma. It pours a hazy amber color. The flavor is sour with lots of vinegar. It is quite acidic and intense, but in a good way. This beer is medium-bodied with a smooth and creamy texture. My notes don’t really do this beer justice as it is quite complex and it should be enjoyed slowly in a comfortable setting so that all the wonderful aromas and flavor complexities can be absorbed and enjoyed...

Sampled from a 750 mL bottle (06-394P) at DarkLord Day 2007. Rating: 7/3/8/4/16=3.8
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4/25/2009: La Folie has a very sour aroma but becomes sweeter and more of a caramel malt presence after it breathes a little. The flavor is tart and contains lots of cherry. It is sour, but seems to stike a good balance with the malt. The finish is dry. Good, if not better than I remember it from 2 years ago!

Sample from bottle (9/07 8564, 6% alc/vol) shared by cgarvieuk at Dark Lord Day 2009. Rating: 8/3/8/3/16=3.8.

02/23/08. 10th anniversary. bottled 07. bottle # 6361. Courtesy of Beerandblues2. This beer is amazing. Pours a dark reddish brown with a foamy off white head. Aroma is mostly sour fruits and caramel. Tastes of earthy wood, sour cherries, apples, figs, slight caramel sweetness. Finishes with a tart fruit taste on the palate, diminishing into a rather clean dry fruity taste. 5/23/07 Pours a unfiltered copper color with a white fizzy head. Has hints of sour fruits, spices, and oak flavor. This beer had red floaties. Finishes with a smooth sour taste. Thanks for sharing boboski.

thanx to boboski. Pours a cool looking reddish amber color with a small head that dissipates quick. Sourness on the nose.Flavor is slightly sweet and sour.Finish is sour cherries.

Huge thanks to boboski for sharing this one with all of us at the Orlando gathering.

2007 vintage. Pours a semi cloudy golden body with a small, off white head. Aromas of sour cherries, yeast, funk, spices, oak, vanilla. Fore is lightly astringent, with the sour notes coming in strongly. Finish is sour fruits, funk, wood notes. Finish is tart, but not nearly as bad as I expected. Finish is medium length and memorable. Superb brew.

Oh dear God. Can I please have this every day til I die? Dark brown and full of sour smells. I get lemon, peach and orange bursting through. So sour on the palate. I get every type of sour flavor I’ve ever had in a beer. Like beer and lemon juice combined. Tom, the trade was worth it for this beer alone. Thanks again.

750mL Bottle. Rising, acerbic, volatile aroma, loaded with strawberry reduction, balsamic must, barrel finings, oak chemicals, edges of glacial acitic acid, pear sauce, tabasco and rum. Complex, refined, enticing and amazing. Pours a nice clearish ruddied middle brown, beautiful foam of smoked ivory atop. Flavor falls behind a little bit, but works gracefull with the tart and acidic. More pale fruit sauces, spiked with drops of vinegar and sake. Crisp, clean and actually really soft. The carbonation is perfusive and cuts the edges off. Really not as searing and blinding as I expected. Even better than I had envisioned. Finishes dry, with a bit of almond sweetness and some mistings of lemon rind. Beautiful.

Rating updated from sampling out of bottles numerous times, and on tap at various locations. I remember when I first became interested in craft beer and artisanal ales, La Folie was the first sour ale I ever tried; at the original Liar’s Club while I was living in Mission Beach. I didn’t think this was the beer that would initiate a serious devotion for barrel-aged sour beers. Really, really good stuff. Hazy brown color with a one-finger head and good carbonation. Earthy and malty base character in the flavor that balances well with the citric sourness and lactic acid. Prominent oak wood notes linger on the finish. The use of champagne yeast for secondary fermentation gives it a unique mouthfeel. A mature and sophisticated beer in every sense. The 2005 Anniversary Vintage has been my favorite. Absolutely killer.

27April07. On tap @ Toronado. aroma of a freshly sliced plum. WOW, I did not know that New Belgium Brewing made a Flemish Sour Ale! Reddish-brown color. very tart. Flavors of sour fruit. very acidic. This beer makes me feel like I’m in Belgium! very unique