Eric's Ale
New Belgium Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Slightly foggy yet bubbly light amber with a large off-white foam settling to a thin film and fuzzy blanket leaving camo lace all over.

Smell is toast and a little metallic of cherry and peach.

Taste isn't much different, starting a little bready, then going into that metalic cherry-peach, with an almost wine oak swallow but not quite. There's only a slight amount of wood, which does help dry out the finish. The body is otherwise crisp and medium-thin. Again it's more like fresh cherry than peach, with a slightly tart sourness.

 

 

2015 Bottle

A: Moderately light peach aroma, light funk, with moderately light tartness and wood.

A: Light orange color, hazy, with a thinnish white head that has decent retention.

T: Moderately light peach flavor, light funk with a moderately light tartness on the finish.

M: Medium bodied with moderately light carbonation, with a soft mouthfeel.

O: Tasty; luckily this bottle was stored at a pretty cold continuous temperature, so the fruit aroma and flavor was still prominent. Always have loved Eric’s Ale on draft and it was good to see the beer back in bottles. The beer has a great balance between fruit, funk and light sourness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a very cloudy golden color with some floaters. Finger width foamy head. Retention is decent. Lacing is good. Has a tart, peachy aroma. Not very strong. Some Belgian yeast up front with a nice tart taste and a big peachy aftertaste. I am not normally a fan of peach/apricot sours, but this one is much better. Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

4.0 3.5 4.25 4.25 4.25

 

A - Pours a golden orange with a one finger fizzy white head. The head fades fast leaving amount of sticky lacing.

S - Aroma is peach, lemon peel and oak.

T - The taste is sweet and tart peaches with oak and some light vanilla notes.

M - Light body with medium/high carbonation. Very crisp mouthfeel with a dry finish.

O - This is a very nice beer. The flavors are crisp and refreshing. This would be a nice introduction to people looking to get into sour ales.

 

 

Look: 1 finger white head, light orange body.

Smell: Juicy peach, mild oak and vanilla, light grains (probably the pilsener malt), a hint of lime or lemon.

Taste: Same as above. The peach surfaces at times like peach ring gummies or fresh peach.

Feel: Medium body and carbonation, medium sour. Sour lingers on the finish.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from bomber bottle into a taller tulip glass.

Appearance: Nice semi-transparent golden color. Very little head on the pour, and almost none remaining in glass. Very cloudy with larger particulates sticking to glass (peach particulates or yeast?).

Smell: Amazing peach aroma. Can smell a hint of the sour notes coming in if I look for them, but peach smell dominates the nose.

Taste: Great balance between tart sour flavor and the fruitiness of the peach. Not to sweet and fruity, but not too sour either. Fairly acidic. The wood character is there, and adds an nice complexity to the beer.

Mouthfeel: Fairly astringent, but pretty much what I would expect from a sour fruit beer.

Overall: Delicious beer. Would be perfect for a warm summer day. Great balance between sweet and sour. Fruit constitutes so much of the character of the beer without making it seem like a wine cooler. Wood aged sours are one of my new favorite styles, and this beer rivals the best of the ones I've had.

A-

 

 

 

 

Hits that peach color somewhere in between orange and yellow with a half inch of white head on it, this looks like a pretty beer, something New Belgium has never had a problem with in my experience.

Aroma hit with faint peach, nice, but mellow, not quite understated, but far from a peach bomb.

Relatively lower level of sourness, like around a 3.5/4 on a 10 scale, allows for more peach to come through. The taste is definitely good, but you can think of saying just give me more of what it is would make it even better. Wonder if this was blended with a percentage of non sour beer. Dry, at times I wondered if there was some brett to it. The price and availability are decent when it comes around, so I have made it a repeat purchase, but its not as good as le terroir.