Lips Of Faith - Jessica's Ale
New Belgium Brewing Company

A - Dark brown with ruby highlights, a lasting tan head, and good clarity.
S - Chocolate malt aromas accompanied by a host of spices, very complex.
T - Starts with a chocolate porter like flavor that fades quickly to reveal licorice root and other spices on the back of the palate. Lightly hopped focusing mostly on the spice character.
M - Good body and carbonation, very smooth.

This beer is pretty good, it is definitely balanced toward the spices. The licorice root gives it a sweetness at the end that mingles well with the malt character.

6.8% By Volume
98% Ale Brewed with spices, 2% Ale (what ever that means)

appearance: Pours a deep reddish brown. Not much head and just a ring after it settles down. Not much lacing either.

smell: Light roasted coffee ( similar to my favorite city+ roasts) and some smoke. Tiny bit of fruitiness emerges with some warmth. Reminds me of Worcestershire.

taste: Crazy blend of sweet malts, smoke, hops. Spices are on the finish with a good nutty aftertaste. aftertaste is the best part, really enjoyed just letting it sit and roll off.

mouthfeel: silky carbonation. Medium mouth feel. Alcohol warmth sneaks in a bit but does not numb.

drinkability: This has winter warmer written all over it. A bit to complex and unusual to session but makes a good "sip and ponder".

Served on tap in a pint glass (Loose Lips party at Falling Rock).

Appearance - pours very dark with a one finger beige colored head, when held up the light color is very dark red

Smell - some coffee aroma, was served too cold to get a lot of aroma

Taste - malty, caramel, some hop bitterness, clean, nice after taste, almost a nutty flavor, spicing is well balanced

Mouthfeel - medium body, chewy, a little low on carbonation but not bad

Drinkability - lots of flavor, definitely drinkable but not a summer beer, they should release another batch for ski season.

I went to the NBB for a growler. Mental note: never go on a Friday afternoon. At least not while CSU is in session. The place was mobbed with college kids getting their free samples before going to the Drunken Monkey.

I noticed this new lips of faith and asked for a taste before deciding on a growler. Glad I did...

Although it was very busy, the bartender was nice enough to explain it with a bit more description than the other reviewer before me had. He said that Jessica (from accounting/financing/somethingmathmatical) was responsible for this unique porter.

It's a baltic porter brewed with ginger and a certain type of cinnamon with a funky name.

It has a nice deep brown color and good head but little retention. The aroma is rich with malt and cinnamon but not much hop.

A little higher in alcohol and slightly sweet, it has a pleasant spicy taste to it that went great with the left-over smoked BBQ ribs I had back home.

I think they should revisit this style in December. It reminded me of some great "christmas" beers I have had in the past like Deschutes Jubelale and Great Lakes Christmas Ale.

Way to go Jessica!

This is the new beer from the Lips of Faith series. It was described very briefly as a porter brewed with lager yeast. There were some other differences as well, but our helper didn't really explain much more than that.

Sampler at the brewery.

A: Poured a very dark brown, not quite as dark as the 1554 on the table, but almost there, almost no head at all.

S: Could pick out a few malt smells, cinnamon, and some nutty flavor.

T: Very heavy on the pale malts, very little to no dark malt taste, funky cinnamon aftertaste, hints of nutmeg as well. I can't detect any hops in this one. Something isn't quite right. I think it may need to age a little bit.

M: Nicely carbonated, interesting, pretty thin though.

D: The sampler at New Belgium was enough for me, it wasn't offensive, but just not quite right. I think in a few months after it has settled a bit more, it'll be a lot better.