Wisconsin Belgian Red
New Glarus Brewing Company

This is an ancient want of mine, as Imm pretty sure that for the longest time it’s stood as #1 in the very broad style of Fruot And Field Beer. I was never able to find this when I looked on MBC and then one day I just got lucky, because I found 5 New Glarus beers being sold together. All of the others have been pretty good to great, so I’m excited to dig into this legend

Pours a lightly cloudy reddish brown with 2 fingers of light beige head that quickly fades to a thin cap and leaves minimal lacing

I’m not gonna lie, the nose has an odd medicinal quality dragging it down just a bit, though it’s still mostly good. I’m picking up on aromas of tart cherry, brown sugar, jammy raspberry, bready malt, vanilla, lemon zest, and light cough syrup

Things improve significantly in taste, both amping up the tartness and making it feel like a cherry pie. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting tart cherry, lemon juice, brown sugar, dark bread, vanilla, tart raspberry, and light honey. The swallow brings notes of tart cherry, graham cracker, pie crust, lemon zest, raspberry candy, brown sugar, light pecan, and vanilla

A light medium body pairs with gentle tingling carbonation, resulting in a sharp beer. Finishes a tad sticky but is ultimately very refreshing

The aroma had me a bit worried, but this one redeemed itself in taste. I truly wish I had consistent access to this

 

12oz bottle from Ken
L: ruby red body; foamy beige head
S: ripe cherries
T: sweet and loaded with cherries along with biscuity malt and some modest earthy hops and oak
F: medium body, very sweet start-to-finish, higher carbonation
O: the flavors are always great with this one, but I always find it to be so sweet

 

 

Delicious fruit beer! Pours and off mahogany color with barely any foam. Aroma is fruity, almost entirely cherry, of which I’m a fan. Then the taste, smooth and fruity, cherry and maybe apricot or peach. Delicious. Will buy this again.

 

 

Wait, what is this?

Nose - some kinda candy? Dude it's cherry twizzlers. That's it...I need to get me dad a bottle of this.

Taste - well it's still twizzlers but there's a bit of spice and depth here. Toasted cinnamon toast crunch. Yep it's twizzlers and some kinda cinnamon toast crunch.

This is a bit coying for me. Not enough carbonation. It's good but this isn't going to be winning me over. Too sweet and not balanced. It's adult kids friday nights. I'm not MUCH more mature than I was at 10 but a little bit. Also this needs carbonation badly. It's lacking.

What a legend! Definitely worth trying - crazy fruit forward taste that perfectly embodies the strong notes of fresh cherries! In the era of IPAs and sours it is great to try such a robust fruit and field beer.

 

 

Smells of sweet cherries and could trick your nose. It’s very good but tastes more of a cherry life savor than a cherry pie. Still clearly the top cherry beer I’ve ever had. However, in terms of new Glarus the raspberry tart is better.

 

 

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a tulip. Gorgeous garnet-red liquor. Drinks like sweet cherry wine with just enough tart pucker to keep from being too cloying. Dangerously quaffable. Full, slick mouthfeel.

 

 

This was the first beer that showed me how complex beers can, truly, be. Our local grocery store for a village of approximately 600 has an excellent beer and liquor department.
They have a dedicated section of just New Glarus Brewing Company beers. They have all of New Glarus’ regular offerings plus their seasonal offerings too. I’m always looking for new beers to try and came across this. I have always liked anything with cherries in it. So I bought a 4-pack to try. Wow! What a great beer. To me it’s almost sour at first, but just let it sit in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing and all kinds of flavor and magic happens.
At the time I bought this, unbeknownst to me, it was only a Summertime seasonal offering. To my disappointment when I went back later in the Fall it was all sold out for the year. So I had to wait until the following Summer before I could get and enjoy some more. It has since become one of New Glarus’ regular offerings. Yeah! I can enjoy it anytime now.
I’m retired now and I have told my friends that along with my numerous hobbies I’m also on a couple of quests in retirement. They are:
#1. Find the perfect Beer
#2. Find the perfect Bourbon/Whisky.
We are truly living in the golden age for this quest. With all the micro breweries and distilleries. I figure that I can sample a different beer, bourbon or whisky each day from now until I die and never run out of new things to try. Is this what they mean by “the golden years” when one retires?
I have not completed my quest but will keep trying and enjoy myself as I continue on.
This beer is right up there as one of my favorites. But I will not call it the perfect beer as that would put an end to my quest and I’m not ready for that yet.
Cheers! Everybody!