Strange food (and drink)
I had the privilege recently to tour the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado and taste a very unique type of beer (unless you’re from Belgium), a beer that is aged for up to three years in giant oak casks. The result is a very tart tasty beer, similar to a Flanders Red Ale, called La Folie. La Folie is french for “the folly”, because it is New Belgium’s folly that they brew the beer, not because they think it will sell well. They brew it because they want to. And I bet because they like the pucker-look on the faces of the people on the tour when they take their first sip. I bought a 750 ml bottle for about $20, and my family thought I was crazy for thinking it tasted good.
After some introspection, I came to the solid conclusion that I love sour flavors. When I was a kid I liked to eat lemons. And I really like the grape flavored Kombucha by gts, which is mostly sour with a little grape flavor.
I am not (yet) a beer connoisseur, so I can’t tell you precisely why this beer is so fantastically delicious, but I do know that it is incredibly sour on the first sip, not a quick drinking beer. It does have a distinctly earthy and dark-beer aftertaste, which is very pleasant and certainly unusual for other sour drinks.
There are several reviews of this beer, most of them say it’s a very good beer, so I’m in the majority among beer snobs:
RateBeer gave it a 99 out of 100. One reviewer says:
Wow! Even better than my lofty expectations. Pours a hazy, dark auburn to chestnut brown color with a foamy, eggshell colored head. Nice, sticky, honeycomb lacing marks the glass. The nose is nothing short of divine, with layer upon layer of succulently sour fruits, primarily cherries and apples, with notes of balsamic vinegar, toasted French oak, and lactic creaminess. There is a light, earthy, mustiness to the yeast profile. Flavors are equally impressive. Tart, nay, sour cherries and apples are calmed by lactose and caramelized sugars. Oak is the glue that binds everything together, its toasty, musty, vanilla profile drawing the sour fruits and lightly sweet malts into a beautifully integrated, satisfying sipping beer. Effervescent yet silky, the palate achieves perfect balance between substance and drinkability. This is just an excellent beer from start to finish. Masterful.
Yes, I definitely agree (with less beer authority). Mmmm yum...sour beer...
Bridgeport (closer to home) also makes a seasonal called Stumptown Tart, which is a little tart, it’s true, but isn’t even close to La Folie. Don’t get me wrong, Bridgeport is a fine brewery, they just don’t have an awesomely unusual and delicious beer like La Folie.
Wood-Aged Sour Beer: It's Belgian
Saturday, July 12, 2008
