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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What a Beauty!! I’m buying this one everywhere I find it before it runs out!! Pours a darker brown with a good head. A classic wild ale look. HUGE complex vanilla and cherry nose. Wonderfully sour cherries and vanilla palate. Think you know good sour beer? Not if you havent tried this!

RATING 100!!!! I chose this one for my 100th because it’s my favorite style from my favorite brewery (at least on this continent). Aromas, of oak. cherries, musty basment, & roses. Pours a beautiful hazy reddish brownwith a nice carbonation but a quickly diminishing head, that leaves nothing on top of the beer. The taste is delightfuly sour, however the sour notes are fantasicly complimented with notes of cherry, oak, lightly toasted malt, light red wine, apple, and yes... I do detect the smoke. Palate is very sharp and slightly thin.

12oz bottle, courtesy of Sloth. Thanks man! Pours a thick, muddy brown-red color. Wow. I’ve haven’t sampled much of the New Glarus line but this beer has me eager to do so. Thick, meady, sweet cherry aroma. The taste is full and rich, a perfect merging between cherry and malt. Incredibly drinkable for 7%. Oaky vanilla complexities in there as well. Wild yeast flavors are well balanced out. This is one of the best Cherry/Sour beers I’ve ever had.

Bottle graciously shared by iowaherkeye at the Grand Tasting 2009. Pours a thick deep red which is hazy at first and quickly settles. Nose is tart cherries - like supplication but more straight-at-you. Flavor is that wonderful tart fruit, only slight wood, faint roast, and a distinct Flemish quality only much better - more edgy and unpolished. Very, very good.

Opaque red with a slight head, even after a moderately rough pour. Outstanding aroma of cherries, vanilla, maybe a touch of oak. This explodes in your mouth. Sourness dominates the flavor but not overwhelmingly so. Balanced by a big amount of malt. Cherries, vanilla, & nutmeg... Quite full-bodied. This might be a bit too full-bodied and sweet for sour beer aficionados but I think it’s outstanding. I just wish I could get more!

I REALLY liked this beer. Huge mix of flavors and aroma, and simply giving a laundry list of them won’t do it justice, but suffice to say that cherry and oak are big players, and red wine, too. It’s very spritzy, and that’s what kkeps it interesting. Never heavy or cloying, its a fruit beer that doesn’t wear out its welcome. Awesome stuff. Thanks to Buckybeer for the trade!

Bottle. Wonderful aroma. Barrel aged. Some sour notes. Murky, reddish brown. Slightly off-white head. Head almost fully disappears. No lace. Sour brown. Really good. Very similar but, better than the NG Unplugged Sour Brown of a couple of years ago. This one’s more drinkable and less sour per my recollection. The best sour beer I can recall.

TITW Part Deux - and one of my favorites of the night. Dark peachy amber colored ale, off white/pinkish head. Nose was just crazy complex. Intense notes of sour cherry, funk, oak, and caramel coated apples sprinkled with cinnamon. Damn near ditto on the flavor with all the above nose characterisitcs present. Comes through nicely tart from start to finish. Medium bodied and oily, soft carbonation, lightly spiced cherry finish. All I can say is wow...

Got this in a trade with badbeer - thanks, man! - it certainly does take a little while for this beautiful beer to breath - the flavor after the initial pour was quite acidic and metallic, but after ten minutes or so, it was a totally different beer (what a strange experience) - quite a cloudy amber, with a thin ring of foam - aroma of cherry (of course), vanilla, oak, caramel, some wintery spices - moderately sweet and mildly acidic up front, with the cherries making their presence felt early - these qualities quickly take a back seat, as a big oak and vanilla presence settles in, followed by some light caramel and chocolate - a very subtle hint of smoke, nutmeg, and whiskey comes in before the finish returns flavors of cherry, slight acidity, and an enjoyable, dry sourness - no one makes fruit beers better than New Glarus, and this is one of their best.

This Flemish Sour ale pours a hazy amber brown color from a 12oz bottle. Medium sized whitish foamy head, quickly dissipating, with decent lacing. Aroma is malts, sour cherries, some wood and some brett. A full-bodied Flemish Sour. The malts are fruity and sweet, lots of cheery flavors. There is some tartness at the finish. There is some oak, and some funk and some vinegar tartness that is so characteristic of the wild yeasts. The intense cherry flavors sort of linger and slowly fade away in you mouth. Very smooth taste. Nice balance. It is incredibly full on the palate. This beer is right up there with the Belgian Red. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet with a touch of tartness.