Is there a more beautiful image in all the land? Caleb's review.
So Jason and I have accomplished what few of you nonbelievers thought we could do. Namely, show some actual follow through and move on to our second day of breweries. I received my first gushing review about how awesome our blog is last night from a lovely young woman I know named Jill. As thanks, she gets her first named mentioned in the blog. If she wants her full name included, the payment is a bit more steep, amIright? We also met some lovely women while at the brewery that seemed honestly interested in what we were doing. Were they also somewhat drunk? Perhaps, but you take it where you can get it. I have a section ripped out of my notebook on which I wrote down the blog address for them. So random ladies, here is your shoutout if you actually are reading and did not throw away the paper as soon as you got it. These ladies were also nice enough to give us a few of their tasters that they did not like, so today will be a long one (that's what she never said).
The brewery
Website: www.newbelgium.com
As many of you already know, I loves me some New Belgium. I was curious to see how the brewery would fare now that they are no longer just giving their beer away for free. A bit of history on that. When I first went to New Belgium, they used to have these place mats that had a picture and description of every beer they made at the time. They would give this to you and then give you a sample of every beer totally for free. This was an amazing setup and if one went with a friend who was not a beer fan (blasphemy) one could get pretty tipsy quite easily for free. Naturally this did not last. If you got a free sample of all the beers they make now, it might kill you. They then moved to a period where they still gave you beer for free, but you had to be sitting at a table or the bar and you only got 4 samples. This was their worst idea ever in that it was crowded like a strip club on nickle lap dance night and there were not that many places to sit. If you have not seen the lengths that people will go to for free beer, it is quite the study of human interaction. People would stalk tables and hover over the people drinking there like vultures over a fresh kill. All the while, gazing out over the other stalkers to try and sense a moment of weakness or distraction so they could pounce on the table and claim it as their own. Every third sip would spark a cry of "You guys leaving soon?" or "Can we have that table now?". This lasted a disturbingly long time before they went to their system of giving you three tokens and just letting you fight your way to the bar and try to flag down one of the employees so you could exchange the tokens for beer. After all that, I was surprised that people were angry that New Belgium was going to start charging for their beer. I felt it would cut down on the people and you could drink as much as you wanted. I was half right.
New Belgium 2/18/12
Walking into the brewery reminded me of the overcrowded raves I used to go to. Just a mad bunch of people and noise, only there were far less people offering me ecstasy. Jason and I actually got lucky though and right as we got to the bar, stepping over the remains of the weak along the way, two bar stools opened up. Right next to the taps no less. Truly a New Belgium miracle. The new tasting rules are you can get as many small tasters as you want. Price is $1.50 for the regular beers and $2.00 for the Lips Of Faith or other small batch beers. You can also now buy the beer by the pint, prices vary depending on the beer. Another miracle was that our server was really cool and did not mind answering our questions. If I ever had a complaint about New Belgium, it was that their employees knew they had the coolest job ever and most of them were so far up their own asses about it, they could not communicate with the "lesser people". Not our guy though, probably not been there long enough. I got 4 samplers to start with and then got some for free from the slightly drunk ladies and then I bought a La Folie to finish.
бирата! (The Beers! in Bulgarian)
Fat Tire 5.2% ABV
My, and most others, introduction to New Belgium. I will tell you a story about Fat Tire that goes a long way toward explaining it's reach as a beer and how much I like it. Around the turn of the century, Jason, his brother, and I traveled from here to Seattle by car in order to catch a cruise boat that took us up to Alaska. On the way there, we stopped in Eugene Oregon which is a lovely town. We met some friends there and went out to a local bar. When asked what I wanted, I told the bartender to give me something he liked that I had not had before. His response was "Oh man, we just got this stuff in that you have to try. It's called Fat Tire and it's from Colorado". I loved that I had been in a car with two other sweaty fat guys for 15 hours and the first thing I get offered was a beer made famous in the town I had departed from. That's all the review I will give. A fucking great Ale.
Rating 9/10
1554 5.6% ABV
My favorite beer in all the land. It is black as my soul but has an amazing light and clean flavor. A very subtle coffee flavor balances the flavor nicely. This is the beer to which I will compare all others. Surely this was brewed in the heavens and handed down as a gift to us mortal men. Best. Beer. Ever. (though in small amounts it was beaten by another, read on!)
Rating 10/10
Sunshine Wheat 4.8%ABV
I made a point of ripping on a wheat beer earlier because it was filtered. Normally I hold that to be true of all wheat beers. If it is not a bit murky, I feel you loose much of the flavor. This is not true with Sunshine. It has tons of flavor and has a floral and fruity aroma that wakes up those flavors. Very clean and crisp beer. I stand by J in saying that this beer in a can is the best summertime afternoon drinkin beer ever.
Rating 9/10
Coco Mole 9%ABV (yep, you read that right, 9%)
This is one of their newer offerings. An interesting beer in that I find a lot of micro brews are not amazing at first but as you figure out the flavors, you like it more and more. This was the complete opposite. It smells like you are holding a bag of cocoa powder and the first drink tastes like liquid cocoa. There is a slight cinnamon taste to the finish that originally I liked. Then I took a second drink, then a third. The flavor starts to overwhelm everything you have had before and you begin cursing whoever made it and wondering how much the cocoa industry is paying New Belgium to make this beer. By the 4th or 5th drink, I had gone from really enjoying it to cursing the blasted cinnamon and chocolate taste in my mouth.
Rating on the first few drinks 8/10 Rating by the 5th drink 3/10
Average Rating 5.5/10
The next two are the beers our female friends did not care for and J and I sampled. Possible herpes contraction be damned!
Valentines Ale
This looked like a valentines beer. It was slightly pink in color and it smelled of raspberries. I was shocked that the girls did not like it in that it was perhaps the girliest beer I have ever encountered. It was very fruity and had an almost sparkling wine feel to it. Strong raspberry flavor and a very clean finish. I actually enjoyed this beer, but I would have to hand over my testicles if I ever ordered it at a bar. J summed it up perfectly with the following "If it had a little umbrella on it and you had lipstick on, you would be alright drinking it."
Rating 7/10
Prickly Passion Saison
This was the only beer of the lot at New Belgium that I did not enjoy at all. It was malty and had a very acrid aftertaste. The first little taste was ok, but it was a confusing mess after. I'm not sure what this beer was going for.
Rating 5/10
As I always do, whenever they have it, I finish with a La Folie.
La Folie 6% ABV
They actually did not have this on tap but were nice enough to open up a bottle for people and give them samples out of that. Generous of them in that it cost more than diamond studded gold bars coated in endangered leopard skin per ounce if you buy it at liquor stores. For those that have not had it, it is a very sour beer that is aged in wine casks. This is truly a love it or hate it beer and I know people on both sides. I love this beer. If it were a bit more easy to drink in large quantities, it would replace 1554 as my favorite. The best finishing beer ever because you will taste it a good while after you are done drinking. Best beer in small tastings that they make and as far as tasting only, is my favorite beer I have had so far.
Rating 10/10
So that does it for New Belgium. This is my standard that others have to try and match. I doubt it will be possible. We went to Ft. Collins second most popular brewery, O'Dells after and I will put that blog up next week. As always, thanks for reading. This one got away a bit, but hopefully you will forgive me for expounding on my favorite place. If anyone else wants to either join us for a tasting or give us glowing reviews, a mention in the blog is out there for the taking.
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