I am wondering if breweries are too close to Farmer’s Markets. Every other beer has some sort of fruit or vegetable in it. Now we have New Belgium adding to the craze with Heavy Melon Watermelon Lime Ale that has “a splash of fresh watermelon and a touch of lime…”. Sounds tasty for a smoothie but I do not know how it will translate into beer form. The new beer will be a 12 ounce bottle and can offering.
Review – Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale from New Belgium
I had not been a beaming fan of the last chocolate beer that New Belgium produced, but the imprimatur of Ben & Jerry’s and the addition of cocoa and vanilla powders to this beer was enough for me to buy it.
The ice cream beer (as I will call it) pours a medium brown color with a reddish streak to it when held up to the light. The aroma is a lovely milk chocolate. I don’t know if I would equate it with brownies, per se, but it is very nice. The mouthfeel is light but there is a swirl of both chocolate and vanilla that is redolent of a milkshake along with a toasted malt note as well. I am also catching a bit of salt intermittently too. And part of the proceeds of the beer towards combating climate change.
This practically begs to be paired with ice cream. Maybe not Ben & Jerry’s which might overwhelm it, but maybe a nice plain vanilla bean.
New Belgium at the Source but away from their Source
Most breweries grow and grow to meet demand and to meet at least a little economy of scale but once you get big, what then?
Go small again! At least that is the case with New Belgium which will open a 10-barrel pilot brewery this year.
Some explanation of the plan is in order:
The brewery will be in downtown Denver on the ground floor of the not-yet opened Source Hotel.
The Source Hotel is next door to the Source Culinary Market (where you can find Crooked Stave)
New Belgium will be making primarily small batch, barrel-aged sour offerings.
50 oak barrels will be pulled up or elevator-ed up to the top of the building to a new bar called,
Then, beers, cocktails and food will be paired together.
Tart and Bitter
It was inevitable that IPA’s would collide with the other white hot trend of sours. I have seen (and tried) a couple attempts. Both were sour and citrus-y and quite good. Both were also not quite IPA’s in my mind.
To be fair, I am still not sold on Black IPA’s either and I have tried many different versions of that style.
But since New Belgium has had a bit of success, you could say, with their sour line-up and since they have also done well in the hop category, they are well positioned to make a Hop Tart.
Take it away, Mr. Press Release…..”Hop Tart is New Belgium’s latest Hop Kitchen offering, blending Belgian Pale Malt from the Colorado Malting Company, with tart lactobacillus and fruity hops.
Hop Tart’s lactobacillus offers just the slightest hint of sour that propels bursts of passion fruit, guava and pineapple, courtesy of hefty Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy and Experimental Hop 522 dry-hopping.”
NB + B&J
Salted caramel brownie ale. Sounds too much by even Ben & Jerry standards. Maybe if it is light enough on both the salt and the base beer then the chocolate notes and the caramel will be able to play off each other in a balanced way. But New Belgium does have a way with chocolate and they have done stranger beers.
Slow Ride
Is there a song playing in your head after seeing that post title? Blame New Belgium, not me.
And yes, this is another addition to the increasingly crowded SIPA category. But I do like the Couch car on the label so maybe they can be forgiven. Depends on the hops.
Thought it Was Orange
I am going through a bit of a phase where I am in search of traditional solid examples of styles. I enjoy the creative impulse that brewers are following but it seems to be a bit aggressive at times. Maybe a plain Wit won’t sell even with the combined might of Terrapin and New Belgium but why make a Dark Wit, then add rye, then “Imperialize” it and then barrel age it? Seems over the top to me. The Rye Wit sounds better to me.
In the Tap Lines for December 2014
What was started after Thanksgiving continues as the Holiday Ale Daily Advent Calendar (HADAC) highlights Winter Warmers from all over the globe. Including the infamous Anchor Holiday Ale which I will review many years of. There will also be many Portland beers to review from my recent trip but don’t fret, there will be plenty of LA Beer news to convey.
~ E-visits to three breweries from the Dallas Design District such as Texas Ale Project, Noble Rey and Peticolas
~ Reviews of various years of the Anchor Holiday Ale including the new 2014 version
~ Heads-Up on festive Los Angeles Beer Events throughout the month
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 94 will converge bloggers onto a single topic, this month it is Your Role in the Beer Scene
Here are two events to get your December started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 5th New Belgium Sour Seminar at Library Alehouse
2) December 18th Beachwood 8 Double IPA Release
Beer PAC
Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing has a large distribution map and now they are entering into the political realm to help broadcast their beer message.
They will be forming their a New Belgium political action committee (PAC). A PAC is formed by a group looking to protect or advance a particular agenda by supporting candidates and issues via the almighty dollar.
New Belgium is looking to “keeping a finger on the pulse” of legislative efforts in Colorado, North Carolina, and within the federal government, as well.” as well as “supporting candidates and issues that are important to craft brewing.”
That means water and the environment which New Belgium has already been a big advocate for will be on their agenda along with the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act (BREW Act), which seeks to reduce excise taxes for craft brewers.
I am of two minds on this development. The Stewart/Colbert part of me thinks that PAC’s are generally the domain of the skeezy. They all seem to have vague names and even more vague donors and they seem (again in general), to demote rather than promote. By that, I mean that they use the vagueness and anonymity to besmirch the names and actions of others or to hold moderate politicians hostage by threatening to get a more radical member of their party elected. Hence the left to right gridlock that we are stuck in now. There seems to be precious little promoting a slate of candidates and issues on their merits alone.
Maybe New Belgium can be an example of a new way that PAC’s can be used. At the very least, the fact that it’s funding is in the daylight is one step. And with a narrow focus on one industry instead of all domestic and foreign policy, the lure of DC siren call to step into the quagmire should be limited. Count me as cautiously optimistic.
Tour de Fall
Fall (which we don’t seem to be getting this year in L.A.) used to be a time for Oktoberfest biers. But more and more, you start seeing hoppy fall beers. And New Belgium is adding to that sub-genre with Tour de Fall, a beer that I thought, at first, was a signature beer for their bicycle festivals Tour de Fat. The Hop Kitchen in Fort Collins must be a busy place.
