New Belgium Springboard Ale

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Another placemarker for a beer I’ve had many times but never fully rated. This is NBs replacement for Biere De Mars and is quite frankly a mistake!

Bought a 12 pack at Target since I like NBBC and I like to try new things. The first night my wife and I tried it, we did not really care for it. The next evening, we disliked it a littled less. But the 3rd time and after, we started liking it. It definitely has a unique flavor, and I don’t expect everyone to like it. But for someone willing to give it a few tries to see if they can acquire the taste, I would say it is worth it.

The ingredients listed on the Springboard label read like a shopping list of souvenirs from Marco Polo’s journal. Part of me is suspicious that the inclusion of “Chinese herbs” is nothing more than a clever marketing ploy aimed at curious beer drinkers and new age healers. But another part of me, the sympathizer, says that it’s a well intentioned reach out to the ingredients of poor, neglected Asia. Most importantly, my palate says it’s somewhere in between. The Springboard is a dandelion yellow, dusted with a lighter yellow particulate like pollen. The cap is a simple, spongy white head, familiar to New Belgium’s harbinger Fat Tire. While I expected an eccentric aroma, I couldn’t have been more surprised to find artichoke and the faint scent of bacon there. With all the medicinal sounding ingredients I had prepared myself for an herb packed aroma, but here I was with a smell sooner found at a California pizzeria then a Chinese apothecary. But the taste was truer. It packed an herby whallop with a smooth, rounded and full mouthfeel. A woody and chalky character is also eminent, giving the drink a plant quality like a fresh grass or tree shoot. Of all the vegetation flavors to choose from they couldn’t choose a vegetable. Instead the Springboard carries a flavor of indigestible cellulose. Perhaps that’s all part of the ingredient composition, but there comes a point where no matter how rich or exotic the ingredients are, nothing can compensate for good taste.

From a 12-ounce brown bottle, pours a peach-hued, dense gold color. Lasting fine white lace and head. Subdued aroma. Light body but moderate mouthfeel from mellow spiciness on the front of the tongue. Website says "oats and Chinese spices", hmmm. Reasonable flavor combination for a refreshing summer brew.

Poured a hazy gold with a thin, white head. Aroma was very papery and stale. Though it had an August pull date, it was very oxidized. Some spiciiness. Somewhat tart up front, but finishes with an inky, lingering bitterness.

Light in color and mild in the nose. Simple and gentle with spice notes and a touch of malt and hops throughout.

Bottle poured a gold color with a thin white head. Not much of an aroma and taste was almost water. A slight bitter berry flavor that dried out in the finish.

Beer pours cloudy, honey golden color with a mostly dissipating egg white colored head. Has an interesting aroma of yeast, esters, and sour tarts. Most unusual. Flavor is bitter and has wet wood. This is a somewhate refreshing beverage and would have application as a lawnmower beer. Not something I will seek out unless I am hot and thirsty.