New Belgium La Folie

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

Pours an amber red with a thick creamy light tan head. Smells, of extreme tanic sourness, and mixed in with some apples and cherries. I’ve had this one before room temperature, but this one was ice cold and it seemed way more sour this time than before. I get a lot of lemons, and tannin, some light citrus fruits as well. extremely sour but still nice.

La Folie pours a dark ruby with dark orange highlights and a dense white head. The head falls quickly into a thin layer covering the glass. Unbelievable aroma. Cherries, sour apples, a bunch of mixed berries and you can definately tell it is oak aged. Big and sour flavor profile. Sour cherries, sour apples, grapes, marachino cherries and lemon up front, the mid-palate is full of watermelon and the finish is unbelieveable and lingers on for hours. Many dry lambic qualities. If you take a big gulp of this sacred juice and swiss it around in your mouth like mouthwash, your mouth will expand like a helium balloon. The mouthfeel is full and leaves my mouth sticky and begging for more. This is truly a magnificent beer.

Pour is a cloudy orange with a small tan head. Aroma is fresh cherries with a strong and overpowering woody backbone. Very earthy and musty with lots of sourness.Very strange beer. Lots of mustyness and flavor, which is smooth.

Amber pour with a small head that leavs a bit of lace. Aroma is strongly sour, and has lots of fruit. Flavor is very tart, fruity flavors reminding me of pie cherries. Finishes bitter and tart. First try for a flemish sour and not a unpleasant one. Enjoyable and unique.

Timing is important in so many things - and beer tasting is no exception. I had this Flemish Sour style ale at the end of an afternoon of sampling many big, robust, sweet ales and stouts. So my palate wasn't quite ready for this. Nice appearance, cherry-amber color, cloudy and a small white head. Aroma of grapefruit, sour mash and hops. Flavor is sour cherries, spice and more tart fruits. Medium body with nice carbonation. I'll have to obtain some more and do a re-rate on a fresh palate.

(2002 Oak Aged) Thin head that reduced to a light foam. Color is a cloudy dark amber. Great strong aroma of wet red oak. Grew up with the smell and remember it distinctly. Complex aroma that is sweet, sour, fruity and has a touch of alcohol. Flavor is very sour. Almost vinegary. More fruit and oak in the flavor also. Finish is sour and dry and reminiscent of vinegar again. A good brew but a little overly sour.

2007 bottle. Pours deep mahogany into a wine glass. Offwhite head with medium retention recedes to skim surface. Sour pit fruit aromas. Upfront sharp oakey vinegar and sour cherries. Dry, complex finish. Also had Special Edition on tap at Falling Rock...9/4/10/4/19 = 4.6.

On tap at The Falling Rock Tap House in Denver, nice dark reddish color, with a beige head, good winey, woody, fruity sour cherry nose, with a good balsamic vinegar accent, with some tannic oakiness, tart berry accents in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a nice sweet-sour, tart cherryish character, with a fruity acidic, wet, woody, balsamic vinegar flavor, with some winey tannic accents, with a light malty sweetness, with a hint of dark chocolate, leading towards woody, oaky, fruity, sour, tart cherry finish.