U.K. Spring Break (Blender Project 017)
New Belgium Brewing Company

Described as La Folie with red currants and Earl Grey tea, I went into this beer with low expectations. Having had blends with a La Folie base before, any additives are usually overwhelmed by that powerful base beer and the resulting flavors tend to be muted, at best.

This beer was not like that, with the tea not only delivering its own flavors, but acting as a carrier, moving the taste of both the base beer and the currants forward in the mouth and adding a lightness that La Folie usually doesn't have. I think the only disappointment with this beer was that the currant flavor, although present, wasn't easily identifiable as anything other than a generic "fruitiness" on the finish. Without having been told it was present, I probably wouldn't have been able to guess that it was an ingredient.

Easily the best beer (to me) on offer at this year's Into the Woods event.