New Glarus Unplugged Enigma 7.0% (2006)

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Sour Red/Brown
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: MAY 22, 2007 Rerate. From that same October bottling. Pours a hazy orange ruby with a one finger fading light beige head, staying strong as a thick ring and a thin film. Aroma of spicy and tart cherries, lots of caramel almost verging on butteryness, oak, and a fair amount of acidity. Big aroma. Oak is stronger in the flavor, which isn’t to say it takes away from anything else. Still lots of cherries (spicy, sweet, and sour), loads of caramel that still almost takes on a butteryness (somewhat like the Unplugged Quad, though memory might not serve correctly). Not terribly sour, but there is some tartness and acidity to keep most Flemish Sour fans happy. Oaky finish. Light carbonation with a medium body. This is my favorite special beer that I actually have some of that I can drink every couple months or so. Old Rating FollowsBaloney! I wanted to be the second rating, but oh well. Picked this up today @ the brewery--I talked to Deb Carey on Wednesday, and she told me they had bottled all of these on Monday October 2nd--so that makes this beer 5 days old. Pours a hazy orange caramel with a tiny film of light yellow fizzy head. Aroma of sour cherries, sour apples, a fair amount of oak, and yet some nondescript sugary sweetness. I just realized that I pretty much copied 1FastSTi, but I did not, and I stay by my rating thus far. Also somewhere in there I got a tinge of cinnamon. I think it smells great, my girlfriend said it smells "weird." Taste reminds me somewhat of the Unplugged Cherry Stout, with lots of oak and sour cherries. Lots of acidity and sweet caramel/toffee--very nicely balanced--to a lightly bitter, dry finish. Medium to full bodied, light-moderate carbonation. This is pretty damn good, and I’m glad I made the trip up to NG. 8-3-8-4-17--4.0

Pours to a dark, lightly hazy, garnet colored body with a thin creamy white head. A nice lacing sticks to my snifter. The aroma is full of cherries, apples, light oak, some liquid caramel sauce, and I swear there’s juniper berries. The first sip starts off as sour cherries and apples, and turns into an extremely malty cereal. Additional sips point to creamy chocolate and vanilla. Nice oak yields lots of vanilla cookies and candy. Perhaps some caramel sauce and apples? The finish has lots of lingering toffee and Ferrero Rocher candies. So, imagine hazelnuts and nutella. And sort of a crisp rice. The palate is tart yet sweet and coating. It’s hard being the second rater of this beer. It surely is an enigma as I’ve never had anything quite like this. Mighty tasty and very unique. Thanks Dan Carey!

UPDATED: MAY 3, 2006 From a Jeroboam-sized bottle at the Great Taste. Caveat emptor..it was late..Poured a thin off-white head over a coppery colored beer. Immediate smack of sour cherries. Then another smack of fruit. Apples, lemons and berries. Sourness explodes on the tongue. Woody notes of oak and nuts. An outstanding beer on a day of outstanding beers. Will we ever see this beer again?