New Belgium La Folie

I love this beer. First time I had it, I hated it. Second time I had it, it was a nice change of pace from all the IIPA’s I had been drinking. Now I’m rating it, and it’s amazing. Pour is amber with a red hue, nice off-white head. Aroma is unbearably complex, sour, with woodiness, sweetness, hard to even describe in words. Flavor is amazing. Sour, complex, again, words do no justice. You either love this or hate this. Had one bottle, my dad had one sip, hated it. My grandpa had two sips, hated it. I graciously drank the rest.

Bottle - Hand Bottled # 05-2583. I am very eager to try this especially since everyone seems to be willing to trade for this beer. My first Flemish Sour Ale. New Belgium recommends to let La Folie breathe after uncorking it. Pours a reddish amber color with a thick white head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is cherry, wood, vinegar, and malt. Flavor is definitely sour. The first sip made my eyes water, definitely wasn’t expecting that kind of sourness. Predominately a sour cherry taste through and through. The mouthfeel is somewhat tingly like seltzer. This is a beer you definitely can only have so much of and certainly cannot taste any other kind of beer afterwards. Like drinking liquid Sour Patch Kids! A very interesting and complex beer. This beer makes me want to venture into the more obscure styles.

Bottle 98 from 2002. Aroma of bretty barnyard, sour cherries, wood, caramel malt. Fruity, bright and very nice. Ruby-amber-brown in color with a thin, off-white head. Flavor is acidic and sour upfront wit ha well balanced caramel and brown sugar mid-palate. Sweet and sour, but then the acid kicks in. Wow is this stuff acidic. It hurts my throat! Thanks to tjthresh for the bottle, one of my very first trades over a year ago.

shared by Glenn at the final heavyweight open house. hazy light copper color. sour/tart aroma, flavor is very tart and a little dry like a fine white vinegar. Dec ’03 bottle. very nice, I will have to re-rate when I open my bottle!

Bottle #806, bottled 06-04: This one pours a hazy, slightly reddish amber color. There was a bit of a frothy off-white head on it, but it died off rather quickly. The aroma is excellent. Sour cherries prevail, with an oakiness to it also. The taste has a dryness to it. The oakiness is definitely there also, much like a good dry wine. There is a mellow taste of tart cherries. An excellent beer!

Bottle 98, 2002 vintage, shared by hezron.
Hazed and scarlet-caramel in color with a beady, off-white wrung for the head. Sweet kernels severed at the seed impart intense vinaigrette wafts along with cherry expletives, which tartly sour the aroma to astronomical proportions. Chartreuse rose petals meet a floral-like lavender tone that is aromatically cranking at 100 percent. Holy palate. Seers tartly, licking the oak and reaping the sour tannins from the barrel. Balanced indeed, with cherry tertiary traits meandering amidst vine twines to kernely vinaigrette. Warming wraps around the tongue, sourly and tanicly, while reveling in the ultimate sour complexion. Medium-bodied, sticky, souring and invigorating as the tonsil’s cleaver. Twanging palate chomps elicit unconceivable souring flavors that you can still taste the morning after. Thanks for sharing, Nathan!

Pre-Great Taste sampling at 1FastSti’s house


Thanks to hezron for popping this one open late in the night. It made a fitting nightcap to a night of excellent, amazing beers. It also made a great finish because after this one, I couldn’t taste a thing for the next four hours. This definitely puts the Sour in Flemish Sour. The one opened at the tasting was bottle 98 of the 2002 batch.

Aroma / Appearance - Sour, funky cherries, sweaty socks and musty old books are the hallmark scents of this aroma. I almost imagined a cedar note hiding in there as well. The huge head settled down to a half-finger and then soon to nothing. Eventually all that was left was a murky cinnamon colored liquid.

Flavor / Palate - There is only one way to describe this beer. Sour. You either love it or you hate it but you can’t miss it. The first sip was not bad, the second intense and by the third it felt like I’d come down with either a serious case of strep or just consumed four pounds of Sour Patch Kids. If there was anything live in your throat beforehand, it is dead now. I fall in the camp of those who love it for that intensity. A very one of a kind beer as far as I know, it is worth experiencing at least once.

Bottle. Hazy orange brown with a light tan head. Smells of sourness, bacteria and wood (cedar?) The taste is way to much for me, maybe in a decade or two my palate will evolve into such complexities. Its lactobacilus, sour milk, lots of wood in the background. Too sour with no malts or cervesae yeasts to be found anywhere, kind of tastes like the aftertaste of when you vomit. Strong stomach acids churning the throat and tounge. Its a strong lambic with very strong bacteria overtaking the regular yeasts. Finishes very dry with a bandaid, bacteria sting in the mouth. A tad salty too. This is not what i was expecting at all.. where are you guys finding the fruits in this one?