Lips Of Faith - Blackberry Barley Wine
New Belgium Brewing Company

Lips Of Faith - Blackberry Barley WineLips Of Faith - Blackberry Barley Wine
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From:
New Belgium Brewing Company
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
English Barleywine
ABV:
10%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.68 | pDev: 11.96%
Reviews:
67
Ratings:
247
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 13, 2020
Added:
Jun 13, 2015
Wants:
  12
Gots:
  66
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Mongrel:
Photo of Mongrel
Reviewed by Mongrel from Maryland

4/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Thick and sweet for sure, but balanced by some nice tartness and a relatively dry finish. A true berry flavor emerges from the general sweetness, along with citrus rind, as the beer warms. There's a slightly off-putting coppery bitterness, but overall this is a pleasant sipper. Somewhat light and bright for a barleywine. Smells nice and jammy and even a little lemony.

Give it a shot! It's probably worth the price of admission.
Dec 17, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.5 by RiceOwls27 from Texas

Apr 13, 2020
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4.36/5  rDev +18.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Man, I suddenly became inspired to run through some of my Barleywine backlog & while it may have been ill-advised, it has become rather pleasant. When does NBS start? I have other things to accomplish once it does!

From the Bottle; "

I now realize that I need an armchair & a fireplace to really tie my living room together! Inna meantime, I Pop!ped the cap & started a slow, gentle C-Line pour. I was enthused by the way that it foamed up of its own volition to form two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with excellent retention, refusing to step aside as I was ready for my first sip.

I took the opportunity to raise a toast to my late shipmate, Kenny, who resides in my kitchen as I imbibe. I see him less & less, which worries me. Has he moved on? Am I becoming more sober?

Color was Deep-Amber/Light-Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity & deep-amber highlights. Nose was very sweet & perfume-y, like blackberry perfume. Mmm.

After a dry, leathery onslaught, this was a welcome change of pace. It also held a pleasant breadiness that made me think of berry bread, in total. At the end of the growing season, my grandmothers & some of my aunts & I would scour their gardens for any remaining viable berries for pies, preserves & my favorite, bread! We would spend the weekend in their kitchens cooking & baking, but the mixed fruit bread with butter or toasted plain was my fave. The smell wafting from the oven was much like this.

Mouthfeel was medium, but kind of solid, beyond creamy, just still & solid. Wow. The taste was totes blackberry, not sweet like its raspberry counterparts, but berry-like with a distinct slight tartness. Blackberries are for preserves & jams, not for individual consumption, unless you like a puckering tartness at the end of the day. Even in pies, they need some added sweetness. These are the bad boys of the berry world. Blackberry wine? Check! Blackberry brandy? Oh, hellz, yes! Just don't expect any sweetness.

Same here. The blackberry was subtle, not in-your-face tart, but conversely, this made it all the more dangerous. Talk about drinkability - this was so drinkable that I began to lose track, which was not optimal! Ever had blackberry syrup? It is an acquired taste since it tends far away from sweet. Want a really unique taste experience? Douse buckwheat pancakes in blackberry syrup! My late maternal grandfather turned me onto this as a kid & while it will never be my first choice, it remains something in which I will occasionally indulge. IHOP used to offer them, but I have not been to one in a while. 8=(

Finish had a slightly tart, cough syrup-like quality. Man, there was no question but that this had been deeply infused with blackberries. Mmm. I gotta cut back on this kinda thing! Yummy. YMMV.
Oct 13, 2019
Photo of jmasher85
Reviewed by jmasher85 from Maryland

2.01/5  rDev -45.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.75
I didn't pour it down the drain. I sampled the bottle before I opened it and decided it needed time. So I waited a year, and then for good measure another year, and then forgot about it for a 3rd year. Now here we are, it's had plenty of time to sit in the corner and think about what it's done. Has learned its lesson? Has it righted it's wrongs? Aged gracefully? No, it has learned no lessons in its time in the cool darkness of my cellar, watching its friends pass it by one by one, but it wasn't smart enough, didn't have the intellectual capacity to truly improve itself.

So we're stuck with a overly sweet, overly strong mess of a beer that is good enough to drink about 4 or 5 times more of it then I had a few years ago when it was fresh. Unfortunately, all that means is that I had 4 or 5 sips instead of one. But like I said, I didn't pour it out. I poured it into a pond, boiled with some sugar and pectin, and made a delicious jam goes great on bread with peanut butter cream cheese. In fact, it would probably pair well with a much better beer.
Feb 15, 2019
 
Rated: 3.75 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

Dec 12, 2018
Photo of Parmesan
Reviewed by Parmesan from Colorado

3.5/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
L: Pours a slightly muddy raspberry blackberry red, with a small white head and a very bits of lacing on the glass.

S: Strong notes of blackberry, caramel and molasses, mixed with some other stone fruits. Fairly typical smelling barley wine.

T: Strong notes of blackberry and dark stone fruits, mixed with caramel and molasses, fairly standard barley wine.

F: Fuller body with a higher carbonation.

O: Fairly typical barley wine.
Oct 23, 2018
 
Rated: 4.07 by TheHopsman from Nebraska

Apr 27, 2018
 
Rated: 3 by 1971bernat from Virginia

Jan 02, 2018
 
Rated: 3.93 by Jcarriglio from Florida

Nov 12, 2017
Photo of Pegasus
Reviewed by Pegasus from Texas

3.81/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: Clear, reddish copper in color, with a small, but persistent, coarse white head, and modest, slow-rising carbonation.

Aroma: Very pronounced note of blackberries and sweet, vinous alcohol. There is a note of molasses, also. overall, the bouquet is very sweet, with no hints of hops.

Taste: Opens with profound flavors of blackberry and caramel, soon after, molasses and sweet alcohol present. Malt is present in the bready notes early in the taste. The alcohol is mildly warming, Finishes with a long, lingering note of blackberry.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, rich, and quite full, very soft to the touch.

Drinkability/notes: Overall, somewhat like a blackberry cordial, very pleasing.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twenty-two ounce enameled brown glass bomber, sealed with a pry-off crown, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.
Oct 29, 2017
Photo of chinchill
Reviewed by chinchill from South Carolina

4.17/5  rDev +13.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
On tap the brewery taproom in Asheville.
Clear orange-copper colored body with a semi-durable off-white head that's rather bubbly.
Inviting aroma with suggestions of berry jam and candied fruit.
Lovely flavor with good dynamics. I?t starts sweet but finished lightly bitter and mildly tart. Fine, lingering flavor of blackberries and toasted grains.
Medium body; Fairly well hidden alcohol.
Aug 27, 2017
 
Rated: 4.64 by SeymourDunn from Wisconsin

Aug 27, 2017
 
Rated: 3.82 by weareallfalafel from Virginia

Aug 09, 2017
 
Rated: 4.72 by MadeInOregon from California

Jun 01, 2017
Photo of ShoeIn-BrewWin
Reviewed by ShoeIn-BrewWin from England

4.77/5  rDev +29.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Look: Pours a cloudy amber

Smell: Deceivingly light on the nose without any great hints of particular notes. I consider this a plus since it's a 10.% barleywine and I can't even notice the alcohol on the nose

Taste: The purely delectable, slightly sour blackberries pop through with a fresh molasses and nectar. Caramel smooths out the finish to mask all hints of the high alcohol content

Feel: This airy brew is finely and deceptively drinkable

Overall: The balance and the hidden alcohol make this one of the best barleywines I have ever had. Plus, I'm partial to blackberries.
May 21, 2017
Photo of neurobot01
Reviewed by neurobot01 from California

4.04/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Bomber into a Teku at cellar temp. Didn't try fresh, either because I intuited it would be cloying or read reviews to that effect, I no longer recall.

Look: distinctly burgundy-tinged brown, with a tiny ring of white foam.

Smell: tart/jammy fruit notes, with some slightly sickly-sweet molasses in the background.

Taste: unsurprisingly, very fruity. Fairly sweet, but not intolerably so. A bit of a chemical/artificial taste lingers. The requisite toffee, caramel, etc are there, but well in the background.

Feel: medium bodied yet somehow a bit syrupy.

Overall: this reminds me a bit of BCBBW, which I also found to be a very fruit-forward barleywine (granted, that was barrel aged and not brewed with fruit). Tasty for maybe 4oz, but a bit of a chore to get through the remaining 18.
Apr 29, 2017
Photo of gobuccos
Reviewed by gobuccos from Ohio

4.31/5  rDev +17.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Sat on this one for a year. Pours with very little head. Nose has blackberry on it. Taste has less sweetness than fresh. Actually getting the barleywine backbone now that sweetness has subsided. Anyone else who is sitting on one, I would suggest trying now. Definitely better with age.
Apr 16, 2017
 
Rated: 3.26 by TylerJ from Iowa

Apr 15, 2017
 
Rated: 3.9 by Treyscottthomas from Indiana

Mar 07, 2017
 
Rated: 3.57 by Wrigfen from South Carolina

Feb 23, 2017
Lips Of Faith - Blackberry Barley Wine from New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 247 ratings