New Belgium Springboard Ale

New Belgium was my portal to the world of craft beer, and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. I’ve always thought of New Belgium as an honest brewery, a virtue too often lost when production reaches such large scale. New Belgium’s expansion has inevitably led to a line of dampened, disciplined brews, a sense of unfortunate uniformity. Yet truth be told, even the colloquial Fat Tire leaps far above the set of taps standardized across America. New Belgium entertains a rare balance of authority and quality which can only be respected in a market overflowing with vapidity. Springboard is one of those lures, inspiredly named because its aim is just that: to be a springboard towards more involved efforts such as Abbey; a hope that some day, like I have, the common drinker will evolve to appreciate their chef d’oeuvre, La Folie. With Springboard, I took the reverse route, out of curiosity more than anything. The extravagant list of ingredients betrays our poorly masked stratagem, flagrantly developed in the marketing rooms rather than the brewhouse. Nonetheless, I appreciate New Belgium’s let’s-get-this-over-with attitude which seems resolved to avoid the potential multiplicity of novelty brews.

I’ve soliloquized more than I thought I would, so let’s get to it. Ghostly in it’s pale gold robes, the cloudy liquid gives rise to a very thick sudsy foam. Noble hops are prominent, crisp, light with a slightly chalky and grainy undertone. The subtle sweetness of pineapple and peach add surprising layers of complexity which also lead to mystifying hints of barnyard funk and stinky hop. The flavor begins at the tip of the tongue with a spicy zing of coriander and moves on to a creamy mid-palate. An awkward bitterness takes over at this point, portrayed by more funky hops. The flavor is certainly unique, almost like an herbal variant of the witbier. The mouthfeel is enjoyably creamy but finishes with a dry, lingering bitter aftertaste. Overall, this isn’t a bad brew, but despite the colorful description it feels rather spiritless.

Pours yellowish with a lasting big head. Smell is wheat and spices and somewhat witbier like. Taste is light malty, wheaty and mild with unique earthy spices. Not bad, really, but just decent.

(Bottle) Pours golden with with head. The flavor is citrus with a malt-y undertone. There is a pleasant thickness and a medium amount of carbonation. This is a easy drinking beer with better than average complexity.

Surprisingly thick (two fingers) and very long lasting head. Plenty of lacing. Light aroma of malts and citrus. Pours a golden yellow with moderate carbonation. Very nice complex flavor that doesn’t overwhelm. Hints of clove and citrus. Dry, slightly woody aftertaste. Not fantastic, but a good solid spring beer.

Tap @ Porter’s Pub @ UCSD. Pours yellow gold with no head. Nose is spicy. Taste is bitter and overall blech.

On tap at Rockies/Cubs spring training game in Tucson. Hazy straw color with white head. Aroma of spice and herbs. A nice efferevesance and flavor is light malt and spice. Nice to enjoy during a ball game. Decent brew.

Poured from bottle a light yellow with a bright white medium sized foam head that was lasting. Flavor of grainy malt and nutty toast. No noticible hoppiness or herbalness I could gather. There was a very creamy malt smoothness throughout and at the end. Dry but not bitter. This beer is very mellow but not a lot of flavor.

This puppy had a very strong citrus and orange aroma with the taste only amplifying the aroma. There was a slight bit of belgian spice and yeasty flavors to the beer but not too much. Good beer but probably not worth buying a 6 pack of again.