New Belgium Love - Felix

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

FoBAB 09. Pours a hazed orange with a soapy white head. Barnyard nose with ashy wood that seems to fade after a couple minutes. What remains is interesting, odd, and the best parts of barnyard notes. Funky earthy, doughy bread malts with citrus, and oak. Full rich and tart. Citrus earthy leathery fruits. The citrus funk and oak are really interesting. Reminds me of LaFolie but with more punch. The blending of LaFolie certainly mellows some of these funky fruity flavors. Awesome, I love this beer.

Poured at Falling Rock after GABF at DrBill’s tasting, 3 different blends of the same brew poured by the brewer herself. The first one was by far the most lactic and acetic, but the other two held nice funky notes to balance out the restrained tart notes. Aroma overall was a huge tart lemon, some nice funky barnyard notes with some grape, red fruit, toffee notes as well. Taste was a big mouth puckering lactic sour with some nice funky barnyard notes to balance the sour, some sweet grape and red fruit also balance, but the sour comes back and keeps your mouth puckered. Awesome stuff.

On tap at Falling Rock, served by Lauren Salazar after the last session of GABF. Pours with a murky amber brown body with minimal head. All of the samples were of similar color. All showed red wine and oak notes with good acidity. Number 1 was by far the most acetic of the 3 overall. Aromas were funkier, a bit cheesy. Flavors showed some strong fruity notes, most notably cherry. Huge acetic acid overall. Quite sour, but lacked the balance and finesse of Number 3.
Earlier Rating: 10/3/2011 Total Score: 3.9
On tap at Falling Rock, served by Lauren Salazar after the last session of GABF. Pours with a murky amber brown body with minimal head. All of the samples were of similar color. All showed red wine and oak notes with good acidity. Number 2 was much cleaner than the other two samples. Strong and somewhat clean lactic aroma with good oak notes. Flavors were oaky and vinous with a much cleaner lactic character than the other two. Much less acetic acid, and a bit less funk. Clean, but with less character than the other two.
Earlier Rating: 10/3/2011 Total Score: 4.1
On tap at Falling Rock, served by Lauren Salazar after the last session of GABF. Pours with a murky amber brown body with minimal head. All of the samples were of similar color. All showed red wine and oak notes with good acidity. Number 3 was probably my favorite followed by number 1. Number 3 showed a soft cherry notes with some good fruit and maltiness on the aroma. Quite a bit rougher on the acid (mostly acetic) than #2, but had more character overall (in both funk, acidity and fruitiness). Low carbonation. Dry, acidic finish.
Earlier Rating: 7/19/2010 Total Score: 3.8
On tap at Sourfest. I guess I will go against the grain. Pours with a hazy orange body and an off-white head. Aroma was orange, very herbal and spicy hops masking some acidity. Taste was sour, bitter and herbal. No where near as nice of a combination as I remember Terrior to be. Lively bubbles with a dry mouthfeel.
3.4
Earlier Rating: 7/21/2009 Total Score: 3.8
Barrel # 3 at the Stone Sourfest. Pours with a very small head over a hazy golden body. Aroma of pineapple, leather, brett, lacto and oak. Taste is sour, vinegar, brett, acid, pineapple citric-sour. Medium to high carbonation. Lots of stomach acid here...very nice.

On tap at Churchill’s pub. Golden orange color with a nice white head. Very silky smooth in your mouth. Tart sour punch right up front. Plenty of lemon, grapefruit and pineapple notes. Pleasant lactic qualities. Pretty long finish. Really liked this sour.

My favorite beer at Brewgrass 2011 this was poured at 1pm and i was front and center for it. Pours orange and nose is of fruity sourness. Tastes of tart cherries, oak, earth, plenty of soury goodness. Really frigging good

A: The pour is a hazed orange/amber color with a minimal off-white/khaki colored head. S: I know this beer was dry-hopped, but the amount of hop aroma is quite surprising. Lots of nice citrus from the hops along with some other fruits and acidity from the beer itself. T: The hops (or at least the citrus character) seemed to translate well to the palate as well. A very juicy fruit character along with a solid bite of sourness and some dry oaky tannins. M: The body is medium with a fair level of carbonation. D: One of the best beers at the festival. Really easy to drink, refreshing, and interesting with the dry-hopping treatment.

On tap at Toronado in San Fran - under Foedre 3 name. Barnhouse funk and green apple aroma. Tastes are green grape and apple, brett, dough, cherry, and lemon citrus. Sweet tart candy vibe. Light vinegar. Earthy vanilla. Long sour finish. Great - even compared to all of the amazing russian rivers we just tried.

Straight from the Foeder at New Belgium poured a hazy gold with no head. Aromas of straw, citrus, oak, light barnyard and light leather. Plate was light bodied and smooth with a dry tart finish. Flavors of straw, lemon, Barnyard funk, oak and light leather with a smooth dry tart lingering funky finish.

Direct from Foeder at New Belgium with Carla, Andrew, Natasha and Mark. Pours a lightly hazy light gold with plenty of white foam. Smells sour with hints of wheat. Tastes sour, crisp and relatively simple.