New Belgium Old Cherry Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Old Cherry
Style: Fruit Beer | ABV: 6.5% | IBUs: ~15
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

Old Cherry was originally brewed back in 1995 as one of New Belgium's original beers. It ended up being discontinued in 1998, but demand for another cherry-themed beer was strong enough that a new, lighter beer named Two Cherry was introduced as a fall seasonal. Eventually, that beer too was retired.

However, New Belgium brought back the original Old Cherry for an appearance in "Folly Packs" a few years back. While it has once again fallen into hiatus status, I figured it was about time to get around to posting the notes I took back in early 2009.

Old Cherry is essentially an Amber Ale brewed with the juice of dark Montmorency cherries from Washington state. It has a more potent malt backbone than the Two Cherry version, but is not wildly different. New Belgium describe the finished product as having "a rich cherry aroma and a delicate balance of cherry tartness and barley malt sweetness."

It may be gone (for now), but Old Cherry is not forgotten. Here are my notes.

Appearance: A hazy orange-red body with a finger and a half of off-white head that leaves chunky lacing.

Aroma: Nicely malty with tart berry and other fruit notes. There's no distinct cherry to speak of.

Taste: Tart and slightly sour with subtle cherry notes in the aftertaste. You really have to look for the cherry flavor here. A lot maltier than I was expecting, but more dry than sweet. Overall, much like a lighter version of their Frambozen.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and somewhat chewy at times. Low carbonation and a dry finish.

Drinkability: Just about average; you can put down a few easily, but probably won't be chugging it all night.

Verdict: A nice enough malt-forward fruit beer. Certainly a much better attempt at a cherry themed beer than Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat, but nothing earth-shaking. If you like New Belgium's Frambozen, you should enjoy this as well.

Grade: B-

Note: While this review is being posted in 2010, the tasting notes contained within were taken when the beer was fresh in early 2009.

New Belgium Giddy Up Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Giddy Up
Style: American Amber Ale | ABV: 6.0% | IBUs: ~25
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

Today, we're taking a look back at a short-lived brew from New Belgium that showed up in their mixed folly packs. Apparently it wasn't a hit, as it was retired just a few short months after its debut.

Designed with no particular style in mind and brewed with lemon peel and sustainable espresso from Brazil, Giddy Up was a strange brew. We're going with American Amber Ale, which seems the closest fit.

Here's how New Belgian describe the finished product:

First whiff is full of sweeet caramel, toffee, latte. Then, a hint of lemon scone flavor from the addition of lemon peel. Body is creamy, resonant of espresso, yet the finish is bright, even a bit frisky. An ale to git along with.

I have to say, it's all very intriguing.

Appearance: A clear and deep rust-colored body with a solid finger of eggshell head. Decent chunky lacing.

Aroma: Roasted malt body with lots of medium-roasted coffee. Not much as far as hops or lemon coming through, but the coffee is brilliant. In a blind smell test, there's an outside chance I'd peg this as coffee, not beer.

Taste: It's still very much all about the coffee in the flavor profile as well. The profile is of mildly bitter coffee flavors firmly in the medium-roasted coffee territory, so don't be expecting a dark-roasted espresso. The backbone is somewhat reminiscent of 1554 (although much weaker) and nicely sweet. There might be a splash of citrus in there, but it's hard to pin down.

Mouthfeel: A smooth, medium body with average carbonation.

Drinkability: Moderate drinkability. The coffee might get somewhat tiring after a while.

Verdict: Giddy Up is somewhat one-dimensional beer, but it does what it does perfectly, having the best recreation of coffee flavors I've ever experienced in a beer. If you're looking for medium-roasted coffee flavors in a beer, you can't go wrong here. It works perfectly as part of a mix-pack, but I'm not convinced I'd be picking up a lot of six-packs.

Grade: B-

Note: While this review is being published in 2010, the tasting notes contained within were taken when the beer was fresh in early 2009.

New Belgium Hoptober Golden Ale Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Hoptober Golden Ale
Style: American Blonde Ale | ABV: 6.0% | IBUs:40
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

New Belgium introduced a new fall seasonal this year, Hoptober Golden Ale. It is pitched as "a veritable cornucopia of the earth," which is rather fitting given the season. As the name implies, the beer is a more hop-focused effort than the average fall seasonal, and what New Belgium usually produces.

Spokesman for the brewery Bryan Simpson put it this way: “This beer is a Hop Lover’s dream within the Belgian idiom. [It] is hop-forward but very well-balanced with generous mouthfeel.”

Golden Ale is not an official style, but is generally interchangeable with the American Blonde Ale style, so I've listed it as such )even though it doesn't exactly seem like the best match). As for its construction, the backbone is a mix of pale malt, wheat, rye, and oats, while Centennial, Cascade, Sterling, Willamette, and Glacier hop varieties are employed.

Sounds like a wonderful mix for a fall evening such as this, so let's dig in, shall we?

Appearance: A crystal-clear, golden-amber body capped by a little over a finger of near-white head that features good retention and lacing.

Aroma: Citrusy and tropical-fruity hops over a biscuity malt body. If you'd presented this to me as an India Pale Ale, I wouldn't have thought twice based on the aroma.

Taste: Moderately bitter, green, and citrusy hops up front. Underneath, a toasty, biscuity, and caramel-like malt body keeps everything nicely balanced. The aftertaste is citrusy, a little leafy, and biscuity with a nice bitter kick. In the flavor department it ends up resembling a Pale Ale, rather than an IPA.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and slightly creamy with good carbonation. A dry finish.

Drinkability: A very quaffable brew that would be make for a great session choice.

Verdict: It's always nice to see New Belgium playing on the hoppier side of the spectrum, and Hoptober ends up being a tasty, easily drinkable, and cheerful little beer.

Grade: A-

Note: While this review is being published in November, the tasting notes contained within were taken when the beer was fresh this past September.

New Belgium Mothership Wit Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Mothership Wit
Style: Witbier | ABV: 4.8% | IBUs: 12
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

Sustainability is a matter near and dear to my heart, so I always like hearing about brewers thinking about the future. Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing has always had a reputation for being one of the greenest breweries, so the fact that they produced the first organic beer I've ever tried is not surprising. Their first USDA certified organic beer is a Witbier named Mothersip Wit.

This is also my first time reviewing a Witbier on PintLog, so let me take a minute to explain the style. Witbier, or White Beer, is a Belgian style wheat beer usually spiced with coriander, orange peel, and various other spices. Also usually slightly sour, due to the presence of lactic acid. They are very pale in color and hazy in appearance (due to being unfiltered). Known for their refreshing qualities, these are a summertime favorite.

According to the brewer, Mothership is brewed with "wheat and barley malt, as well as coriander and orange peel spicing resulting in a balance of citrus and sour flavors held in suspension by a bright burst of carbonation." That sounds just about perfect for the style, so this should be a good starting point.

Appearance: Hazy and amazingly pale lemon-drop yellow body. This almost looks like lemonade as it pours out of the bottle. Nice finger and a half of white head that recedes quickly and leaves decent lacing. Great presentation.

Aroma: Intense. Tangy wheat, lemony citrus, and lots of spicy coriander and cloves. With the lemon, wheat, and spices this almost reminds me of a lemon meringue pie in a weird (and good) way.

Taste: Zesty lemon, coriander, and cloves still dominate over a wheat/pale malt base. Thin even for this style, I'd like to see just a little more intensity in the backbone. Not particularly bitter or sweet, Mothership is pleasantly mellow.

Mouthfeel: As you'd imagine as you watch it pour, this is very much light-bodied. Good carbonation and a clean finish.

Drinkability: Suburb drinkability, would quench nicely on a hot Summer day.

Verdict: Although a little thin, Mothership Wit is so smooth, drinkable, and very mellow that it works. With a nice mesh of flavors and brilliant quenching potential, Mothership is another solid New Belgium brew. The fact that it's organic is just icing on the cake.

Grade: B

New Belgium 1554 Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: 1554
Style: Belgian Dark Ale | ABV: 5.5%
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

In 1997, a flood at a Colorado library wiped out a recipe for a Belgian Dark Ale that New Belgium was interested in brewing. Instead of just forgetting about it or faking the recipe, New Belgium sent their brewmaster and the researcher that had originally found the recipe off to Belgium to track the original down. After much deciphering of ancient script, converting obscure measurements into something usable, and a lot of trial and error back at the brewery, 1554 was what they ended up with.

New Belgium describe 1554 as "a highly quaffable dark beer with a moderate body and mouthfeel." They list it as an "Enlightened" Black Ale, but as that's not a recognized style, I'm going with Belgian Dark Ale. Apparently, it uses "a light lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark beer can be." An ale with lager yeast, what will they think of next?

Appearance: Dark reddish-brown body with ruby highlights. The head is a couple of fingers high, tan colored, tightly-packed, and sticky. Lacing is good.

Aroma: Dark roasted malt, cocoa powder, and fresh coffee with a slight bitterness. In the nose, this beer reminds me of a Porter.

Taste: Very much the same as the aroma: dark malt, dark fruit, and cocoa powder tempered with a decent amount of malt acidity and hop bitterness. There's a little bit of spice mixed in, giving the beer a little Belgian flair. Despite only clocking in at 5.5% ABV, every now and then you get a pop of booze. Aftertaste is of roasty cereal and cocoa (but not Cocoa Puffs...).

Mouthfeel: Silky and creamy medium-body with moderate carbonation.

Drinkability: This is a somewhat slower beer, but is still light enough to allow you to run through a six-pack in an evening if you set your mind to it.

Verdict: Another complex and interesting offering from New Belgium, 1554 is a roasted-malt delight with that little Belgian twist New Belgium is so famous for. If you haven't sampled 1554 yet, put it on your list of beers to try.

Grade: B+

New Belgium Frambozen Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Frambozen
Style: Framboise | ABV: 6.5%
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into globe glass

One of New Belgium's Winter seasonals (along with 2° Below), Frambozen is New Belgium's take on the Framboise style. According to the late beer scholar, Michael Jackson, the Framboise style is a "[r]aspberry beer, usually based on Lambic." This particular example is constructed by mixing fresh red raspberries into a Brown Ale. Regarding the berries, according to the brewery: "Every year, New Belgium sends a delegate to the Pacific Northwest to oversee the process of turning freshly picked berries into a pure juice to be added in fermentation."

Apparently, the Serbian raspberry crop failed this year. As it's the world's largest, raspberry prices are up across the board. Accordingly, you might find that this year's Frambozen six-pack commands a dollar or so premium over last year's. But, with the hop shortage driving beer prices up everywhere, you probably wouldn't have noticed the difference anyway.

Appearance: A thick, dark burnt-umber body with ruby highlights. A huge, bubbly, off-white head with a rose tinge sits on top and leaves good lacing.

Aroma: There's certainly no doubt that this beer is infused with fruit. It reminds me of a good crisp grape juice with a bit of Ribena blackcurrant mixed in. Not much as far as hops or malt come through. This is intriguing, to say the least.

Taste: Tart, gushy berries mixed with a somewhat subdued roasted malt. If you go looking for the malt and alcohol, you can certainly find them underneath the fruit, but I'm not really picking up any hops here. Grape makes a bit or a return and, in a bizarre way, makes the beer remind me of red wine at times. You might think all of these flavors wouldn't mesh, but they actually come together pretty well. This tastes like an adventurous homebrew, not that that's a bad thing. The aftertaste cranks the malt up a notch or two and loses most of the raspberry.

Mouthfeel: Light-to-medium body with lots of carbonation and a nice dryish finish.

Drinkability: While it goes down easily enough, and only clocks in at 6.5% ABV, I still probably wouldn't want to be drinking these all night. Interesting and pleasant enough, but more fitting for a glass or two than a full session.

Verdict: Frambozen is a solid and unique fruit beer; nothing more, nothing less. A nice change of pace as far as holiday seasonals go, there's a good chance that I'll be picking up another six-pack of this next winter.

Grade: A-

New Belgium Fat Tire Review

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing | Beer: Fat Tire
Style: American Amber Ale | ABV: 5.2%
Serving Method: 12 oz. bottle poured into pint glass

Fat Tire, an American Amber Ale, is the flagship brew of Colorado's New Belgium Brewery. New Belgium's founder, Jeff Lebesch, took a bicycle trip through Belgium back in 1989. As he made his way through the villages, he fell in love with the Belgian style of brewing. Upon arriving home to Fort Collins, be took to the basement and came up with two beers: Fat Tire and Abbey Belgian Ale. Fat Tire was named after his steed during the bicycle trip, and became his new brewery's best-known creation.

One of New Belgium's key philosophies is making their beer as sustainable as possible. The company used green design ideas while designing the brewery, treats their own waste-water on-site, is powered exclusively by either methane derived from waste-water treatment or wind power, and donates one percent of its revenues to help fund environmental non-profits. These guys really walk-the-walk when it comes to being green and they should be congratulated for it. If only more breweries and companies were as committed to the future as New Belgium, the world would be a better place.

In the interest of full disclosure, I feel it fair to inform you that Fat Tire was one of the biggest "gateway beers" during my journey into the world of craft-brewing and I have quite a soft spot for it. On a somewhat less relevant note, my absolute favorite neon beer sign of all time is the classic Fat Tire bicycle. I was lucky enough to be able to buy one from a local swap meet when I graduated from college way back in 2007. All of that being said, I'm confident that I can deliver a fair assessment of the beer. I hope.

Appearance: Clear, copper-orange body with a two-finger, off-white head that easily rises above the edge of the glass. Lacing is brilliant and really lasts.

Aroma: Fat Tire has always been a bit thin on the nose. What you can detect is sweet, biscuity malt and a whiff of citrus.

Taste: Lightly-roasted, sweet, biscuity malt is the center-piece of Fat tire. A subdued, earthly hop-bitterness helps to balance the malt. Occasional shades of booze at the finish. The biscuity malt endures in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, somewhat creamy, and medium-bodied. Carbonation is moderate, in keeping with the style.

Drinkability: I know for a fact that one can drink a twelve pack in the course of an evening. I guess that says it all really.

Verdict: Fat tire is a nicely balanced, biscuity Amber Ale. Securely above average, but certainly not the most exciting beer in the New Belgium stable. A terrific "gateway beer," If there's ever been one. I owe this beer a lot.

Grade: A-