New Belgium Bottleworks 10th Anniversary Wild Ale

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

Draft at Brouwer’s Big Wood 2009. Creamy, bubbly head. Wild nose of tart yeasts. Ruby-amber, touch hazy. Rising explosion of flavor, incredibly rich sour, malt explosion. As flavorful as they come. Refinement trails at end, which finishes a bit strong and muddled. Undistinguished nose, body of fig, walnut, quince and some oak.

Draught @ Brouwer’s Café:   Deep hazy amber, a little dank and dark, musty, large frothy white head, lacing that sticks, with moderate carbonation.   Wow, that’s a sour nose.   Very funky, basement and barnyard.   Really musty.   Fairly assertive nose.   Strong on first sip.   Vinegar is the biggest thing I get out of this.   Very dry and sour.   Big up front, but does fall off quickly.   Lingering tartness.   Sucks the moisture right out of your mouth.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate to full.   Comparing to the Deviation I think this one falls in behind it.   Good, a little more brash up front but thankfully It doesn’t kill you on the backside.   Its an assault to the taste buds tho.   Fairly good, in small doses.   Has a bit of lingering unripened fruit skin.   Reminds me of green gooseberries for some reason.   Woth seeking out simply based on its rarity.   Enjoyable, but a little one sided.

Bottle. Pours hazed light red white head. aroma of vanilla, oak, vinegar, and sour cherries. Flavor has cheesey acidic notes, sour cherries, slight medicinal quality. Long cheesy finish. Body is a bit thin. Tasty sour.

25 oz bottle, via 5000. Pours a clear reddish copper body with a very fleeting very fizzy off-white head that completely vanished. The nose is almost Gueuze-like with a dry powdered-sugar, oak, and bretty cobweb funk mixture. Some light cherry skins, balsamic vinegar, and caramel as well. Very acidic and biting on the first taste. Some cherry and caramel sweetness towards the middle, then the brett and oak round things out and linger forever. This is very funky and almost Gueuze-like. Very dry and acetic with lots of fizzy effervescent carbonation. A bit of an oak tannin bite on the finish. Pretty good, but as it warmed there’s a bit of a cereal grain note that I don’t especially care for that came out.

Bottle @ the HotD dock sale... Poured golden/amber with a huge white head. Spiced, yeast aroma. Dry and sour with malts grains and a light fruits. Overall a top notch sour.

POured a hazy red brown. Nose is vinegar, red wine, sweet sugars, dark fruits, grapes and raisin. Flavor is a nice blend of sugary sweet malts and fruits mixed with sour red wine and apple cider vinegar.

Extremely sour and astringent, tastes like a cleaning product. Flavor is not disagreeable, tho, but not smooth either. peppery and fruity esters. Bottle from Ryan Blanksi’s Sourfest- Hollywood, Florida.

Dr. Bill’s ’09. Cloudy dark brown with a thin tan head. Certainly on of the better tasting and smelling beers from New Belgium. Their characteristic stinky yeast strain is still present here, but less so, and mediated by a multitude of other sour fermentation flavors ranging from green apples, to dried flowers, to peppery spice. The body had a ery nice dimension on the palate. Certainly aninteresting beer to try.