Wednesday, June 20, 2012

New Belgium Tart Lychee


New Belgium Lips of Faith Tart Lychee. 56% ale aged in oak. 44% ale brewed with lychee and cinnamon. Alc 7.5% ABV.

Thoroughly clouded pale amber/ straw, under milk white foam.

Aromatics: heavy sour, crazy funk, with plenty of wild fruit. I have to admit that I'm not that familiar with lychee, in any of it's incarnations. Cinnamon is here, laying below the fruit and the funk.

Taste: Boomshakalakka! Big, fat blast of sour/wild/funk, with fruit below, among the wood, and sweetness slipping in. It continues like this in a fabulous fandango. Tart and sweet, sour and fruit, cha cha cha. Little bit of bitterness. lots of malt and yeast. Very refreshing and flavorful.

Full-bodied, long, bitter/sour/sweet finish, a unique and complex creation. On the other hand, I can't say how many of these I could enjoy without being exhausted from the effort or needing some diversion from the experience. Oak meets fruit and spice. I like it…to a point.

Let's see what they say about it: "To sweet and sour! In celebration of one of the greatest combinations ever, lychee fruit brings tropical sweetness to the party, hosted by felix, our golden wood-aged sour beer. . Cinnamon sticks were invited to spice things up and so are you! Get in on the tasty revelry that is tart lychee!"

They've got to get a new writer on these things.

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