New Belgium Lips of Faith - Dark Kriek

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Serve in Flute

Bottle shared by BenC - Pours ruby red with a thin tan head. Has some dry red wine on the nose, with ripe black cherries, vanilla and light, mellow oak. Taste is more wood-forward, with big malt that’s lightly milky sour. The cherry is a bit more subdued, but still the big overripe black cherry. Smooth all the way around. Fluffy and soft--really nice.

This was low on aroma, and flavor was very meaty. Ownsh the cherry was more delicate. The beer was thicker and darker than I would have liked.

Tasted on 8/23/11 from a 650mL bomber bottle sent to me as an extra in a trade by a very generous trader. Pours clear, very dark mahogany amber with a thick beige, pink-tinted head that slowly recedes to uneven lace, leaving a bit of thin lacing along the inside of the glass. The nose is super grainy and malty with brown sugar and caramel, along with underlying aromas of tart cherry and sour lemon. The flavor is much more tart with the cherries coming through nicely with some sour flavors, and the very malty and grainy notes. The body is medium with average carbonation and a long tart cherry and very malty/grainy finish.

7/25/2009 Pours a clear dark brown with dark ruby highlights when held to light. Pours with a good sized off white head that slowly dissipates to a small ring on the top of the glass. The nose is filled with aromas of cherries with some funk on them. Slightly sweet malt aroma a bit of oak in the mix. Taste is sweet and sour. I get lots of sweet and tart from the cherries along with the funk from the brett. There’s a residual malt sweetness mixed in with some vanilla that makes it seem almost under attenuated. It’s not nearly as sour as many other lambic’s I’ve tried. Finished dry with a lingering tartness. Low carbonation, medium body, syrupy mouthfeel. Decent Kriek, but I’ve had better. I wonder if some time will add some more funk to this as its light on the funk and the acid.

Bottle:   Deep ruby hued caramel, large frothy tannish head, nice lacing.   Faint tart woodiness, unripened cherries, and some funk on the nose.   Smells pretty good.   Not as tart, woody, or cherry like on the tongue.   The nose suggests more, but its there, just fairly soft.   Body and mouthfeel are average.   Slightly dry on the finish.   I was thinking for some reason this would be in the neighborhood of La Folie, but it is not.   It actually might have a bit more fruit aspect, but much less woodiness and tartness.   Decent beer, just pretty ho-hum.

22 oz. bottle. Pours a dark reddish copper with a small beige head. The aroma is tart cherries, earthy, woody, with light caramel and a slight chemical note. The flavor is tart cherry, woody, earthy, light caramel with just a slight off note. Softer carbonation, medium bodied. This is no Belgian Red, but it’s not too bad either. The wife kind of liked it too.

Lightly sweet, caramel nose with some cherry, light hay and musty notes. Lightly sweet taste, lightly tart, lots of cherry, some toffee, cherry stones-almonds, some chocolate. Medium body is soft with light carbonation.

Nice copper color pour with ring of head. Aroma of sweet cherry pie filling and light spice. The taste is sweet malt and slightly tart cherry, with hints of spice in the back. Good, but not great.