In 1988, Jeff Lebesch was riding his bike through the villages of Belgium, most likely a little wobbly as he visited brewery after brewery in search of inspiration. When he returned to the States, with the help of his marketing-savvy wife, Kim Jordan, Lebesch launched New Belgium Brewing Company in 1991 with a beer whose name you probably already know: the Fat Tire. Five years after opening in Fort Collins, Colorado, former Rodenbach brewer Peter Bouckaert was brought on to launch New Belgium’s sour program. Since then, New Belgium has continued to expand its sour beer production, including the new cork and cage Wood Cellar Reserve series. Peaks and Pints pops open a couple Wood Cellar Reserve sours for our today’s beer flight, Craft Beer Crosscut 12.11.17: A Flight of New Belgium Brewing.
New Belgium Single Foeder Oscar No. 65
8.5% ABV
New Belgium’s suspended its popular Lips of Faith series for its new cork and cage Wood Cellar Reserve series, which includes Single Foeder Oscar No. 65 aged in the only American oak foeder in the brewery’s forest of French oak foeders — the 65th foeder, named Stars and Strikes, which was won in a game of bowling. Aged for 12 months in 100 percent Missouri white oak, hand-bottled, conditioned for months, and 100 percent naturally carbonated, Single Foeder Oscar No. 65 pours reddish, burnt orange with a thin, oily head. It carries a huge oak and red wine notes, cherry tart with soft berry.
New Belgium Felix Aged in Apple Whiskey Barrels
8.8% ABV
Felix, the base sour used as a base blend for classics such as La Folie, Transatlantique Kriek, Le Terroir and other New Belgium sours, finally receive its due notoriety with its own releases. Felix Aged in Apple Whiskey Barrels is a single-foeder golden sour ale aged in apple-flavored whiskey barrels from Leopold Bros. Distillery 14 months in Foeder No. 33. It tastes like a whiskey apple pie with moderate barrel notes and tartness. Delicious.
New Belgium 1554 Black Lager
5.6% ABV, 21 IBU
In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed New Belgium’s original 1554 black lager recipe. Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert and his beer researcher Phil Benstein went Indiana Jones on Belgium, combing antiquated script searching for the unique style lost to the ages. Mission accomplished. New Belgium’s 1554 is brewed with a lager yeast, but at an ale temperature making it dark and mysterious. Due to the lager yeast ferm at high temps and the chocolate and black malt, this beer starts and finishes dry yet the middle is round and malt rich. Aroma of sweet caramel, dark fruits and milk chocolate puts porter on the brain. Taste is of moderately sweet caramel, dark fruits and subtle hints of roasted malts — all with low bitterness.
New Belgium Trippel
8.5% ABV, 43 IBU
What started as a homebrew recipe more than 27 years ago then tweaked two years ago to parallel new developments in hop and malt manufacturing New Belgium’s flagship Trippel opens with a bold blast of spicy Noble hops, courtesy of Saaz and Hallertau Mittlefruh, and gives way to the fruity aromas thanks to traditional Belgian yeast. Brewed with Pilsner and Munich malts, Trippel hits the nose with honey, caramelized white sugar, lemon, floral, orange and barnyard before delivering candied sugar, honey, banana, clove, candied citrus peels and white pepper deliciousness.
New Belgium Accumulation White IPA
6.2% ABV, 55 IBU
Designed for a light bodied beer for colder weather is New Belgium Accumulation White IPA. It’s a style that offers the hoppy bitterness of an India pale ale and the body, color, spices and citrus qualities of a Belgian witbier, or white beer. The witbier itself is a style that dates back more than 400 years. Witbiers are commonly unfiltered, and because they are made with a high percentage of wheat, are a cloudy pale straw color with a smoother, creamier mouthfeel. Accumulation follows the style with four bold hop varieties giving it a tropical flavor with a nice, bitter balance. Nugget and Centennial hops along with a dry-hopping of Mosaic and Amarillo hops all accumulate for a delicious white IPA.
