I was at a bar over the weekend with a couple of buddies. I only peeked at the beer menu a few times and I got exactly what I wanted. Petrus sour cherry and a Founder's Breakfast Stout to finish me off. I'd been drinking all day and one of my buddies gave me a sip of his beer. I identified the the hop as Centennial immediately. It tasted like Two Hearted Ale, but I'm sure it was a IIPA. My buddy told me it was New Belgium. I'm not really familiar or crazy about New Belgium, but I'm not seeing this beer on their site. Any leads?
Only IIPA going from New Belgium right now is their Rampant, but thought that one is highlighted by mosaic hops? Could easily be wrong there. They also have their Hop Series going right now....think the current release is their Fresh Hop and don't know which hops they use.
Rampant DIPA has a plethora of Centennial, Mosaic and Calypso hops. I did not find favor with this ale, but it is solid nonetheless.
Glad to hear he was right about the beer. I might try to turn the other cheek for New Belgium just this once.
I personally find Rampant to taste like I imagine Modus meets Hop Stoopid would taste like, I drank a case of it this spring when my shop got a 2-week old batch in Try it out! $10/6 here; hard to beat that price for an imperial. Maybe check the dates too, as I thought it was meant a Spring seasonal. Their Fresh Hop ale this year was pretty good too IMO, and IIRC only $3.50/bomber. I'm not the biggest fan of their beers either, but I get Ranger from time to time (my non-craft friends will drink the cans), and that Rampant and the fresh hop were great.
See Ranger was my surprise beer from NB. It is actually an above par IPA. Clean and tropical and at 6.5%, it's perfect for baseball season.
Glad to hear I'm not alone in having a hard time finding a great one. I'll try to stay optimistic, but I've had about 7 of their beers, Ranger included. 1554 leads the list for me. I won't cast stones here, but an amber or dark beer isn't hard to make.
Some of their Lips of Faith stuff is fantastic, much of the Lips of Faith can be just as crappy as their regular line up. Right now on the shelves, though, you can find both La Folie and La Terroir. Both are great.
I haven't tried another collaboration beer from them since Super. That beer wasn't for me at all. I may have been more happy to see an Alpine brewing collaboration on this side of the coast.
Had Bell's Amber? Definitely one of my favorite ambers; not too hoppy, not too sweet. I'm sure the Lips of Faith stuff is better (the fresh hop ale sure was IMO), but I wouldn't stress over finding one you like in the regular line-up. As for dark beers, my go too stout/dark-beer is Founders Dirty Bastard, or Sierra Nevada's stout.
I loved Super IPA. If they could ever throw that one into their regular lineup, I would look at them in a whole different light. I wouldn't care that they didn't have a single other regular release that I actually cared for.
I love hoppy beers don't get me twisted. But there was a huge onion flavor (for me anyway) in the mix. I like herbal hops but that was bam! Plus I got phenolic alcohol in there as well. For being 9 % I didn't calculate that being there. The rest of the beer was fine, just those two were my ending results why I didn't enjoy the beer fully. Plus there might be an age issue as well. MD do not get the freshest of things.
That's something I associate with summit. Definitely not my favorite tasting note but some people enjoy it.
I know this has strayed from the original topic, but their I thought their French Aramis IPA was outstanding.
