Giddy Up! - New Belgium Brewing

    Giddy Up! is an Amber Ale that is infused with espresso. New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado brewed a limited amount of this ale, and at this point the beer is no longer being made. Unlike Fruit/Vegetable Beers, where the fruit is added before fermentation or in secondary, this espresso infusion is achieved by adding actual brewed coffee to the finished beer. Now that's two different kinds of brewing in the same bottle!

    The infused ale pours a dark, chocolate color with an amber tint. A thin white head forms upon pouring, but subsides to a thin white ring around the glass that leaves light lacing on the edges.

    The beer smells like sweet roasted malts and strong coffee. The sweetness and coffee scent really reminds me of coffee flavored jelly beans. The coffee scent kind of turns me off as it makes me think of how old, spent coffee grounds smell.

    The beer's body is on the low to medium side with a similar level of carbonation. There is an alcohol content of 6% ABV.

What do you mean it's a bad idea to mix uppers and downers?

    Giddy Up! hits the pallete with the same, old coffee flavor that is present in the aroma. Sweet cocoa and caramel malts back the coffee, bringing to mind sweet espresso drinks. There is some bitter lemon peel flavor in the beer as well which seems to be at odds with the other flavors.

    Everything about this beer makes me wish that it were a porter or a stout. I wish it had a thicker body, that the coffee flavor was better accompanied by roasted malts, and that the lighter Amber Ale flavors were better suited to accompany such a strong coffee flavor.

    I honestly cannot drink this beer wtihout thinking of old, gross coffee grounds that have sat in a machine overnight. I wonder about the quality of espresso used in the infusion, and if it were better, if the beer would taste better overall. Though the flavors are interesting, I can't recommend this beer to anyone that would be looking for anything but a novel, strange flavor to try.

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Loft - New Belgium Brewing

    Loft is a hard beer to categorize. Conservatively, the closest style to which Loft is most similar would be a Belgian Pale Ale. This style confusion comes from the fact that Loft is brewed using multiple ingredients which are rarely seen together. Both barley and wheat malts go into the mix as well as a decent amount of hops. New Belgium Brewing (Fort Collins, CO) really worked to defy genres with this one.

    Loft pours a light gold color with a half-finger of white head. The foam leaves a good bit of lacing on the glass. Lots of bubbles are visible in the beer.

    The beer's aroma is mainly hoppy, though the wheat and barley malts can both be smelled as well. The strange mix of barley and wheat creates a sort of confusing scent which makes me wonder what I'm in for as far as taste.

    Loft is medium bodied with a medium-high level of carbonation. The beer finishes lightly, and almost watery.

Talk about a light beer!

    Loft's flavor begins with slightly bitter orange peel hops changing to sweet biscuit malts and finally a grainy, sweet wheat flavor. The aftertaste is that of wheat. The beer's flavor is very light, making for a nice hot-weather drinking beer. I really find the strange mix of malts and hops off-putting, but not disgusting.

    I find myself somewhat torn between my love for ingenuity and a respect for the tried and true. I definitely applaud New Belgium for attempting to make a genre-bending beer, but at the same time I just find the beer to be strange tasting. I don't want to become the sort of person who automatically hates anything different from the norm, so I worry that differences from the traditional styles in the beer's recipe are causing me to dislike it more than the flavors themselves. This is just a beer that you will have to try for yourself to see what you think of it.

    While I don't hate this beer, I definitely wouldn't choose to drink it regularly. Loft is a very easy to drink beer, but the barley and wheat just seem to be at odds with each other when I taste it. This isn't enough to make the beer taste horrible, but it certainly isn't entirely pleasant to drink either.

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Fat Tire Amber Ale - New Belgium Brewing

    Fat Tire is an Amber Ale created by New Belgium Brewing which is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Fat Tire is interesting, as it is commonly the first craft beer that people try. When New Belgium recently expanded their distribution to new parts of the country, I started hearing all about this new "Flat Tire" beer that I just had to try. Now that I've had a good number of different beers I find Fat Tire to be somewhat of an average Amber Ale, though I'm not at all surprised that people were blown away by it when they first tried it. When you go from drinking only light (or lite, as the case may be) beers to drinking an actual craft beer it's not surprising that it would be world changing. I can just see it now, "Hey! there's something strange in my beer! I think..I think it's..flavor!?"

    Fat Tire pours a fittingly amber color with around a finger of off-white head. There is some very light lacing.

    The beer smells lightly sweet with biscuity malts and lightly toasty. There is a very slight floral hop aroma to the beer.

    The Amber Ale is light to medium bodied with a moderate level of carbonation.

Fat tired bikes, you make the rockin' world go 'round!

    Fat Tire Amber Ale tastes of lightly sweet cereal malts. There is only the slightest bit of hops flavor, keeping balance against the sweetness and making for a very drinkable beer. There is no alcohol character at all. The beer has an alcohol content of 5.2% ABV.

    While I find Fat Tire to be only an average beer, I have to give New Belgium credit for introducing new markets to craft-style beers. As I mentioned before, I really am not surprised that some beer drinkers were blown away by the new style. Before the craft wave really hit the Midwest, all we had was basically the macro-brews and Samuel Adams, who might as well be a macro-brewer anymore.

    As with so many other beers, Fat Tire Amber Ale does nothing wrong, yet does nothing to stand out from the crowd. I have a special respect for New Belgium, however, for changing the minds of bad beer drinkers in my area. If nothing else, this would be a great starting point for someone to jump into the craft brew scene. If you have any interest at all in trying new beers, get on your bikes and ride!

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Abbey Belgian Style Ale - New Belgium Brewing

    Abbey Belgian Style Ale is brewed by New Belgium Brewing which is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. This ale falls into a category of Belgian style ales called Dubbels. Quite commonly throughout history monks living in abbeys throughout Europe have brewed beer to sell as a means of income to support their religious activities. Abbey Belgian Style Ale seeks to imitate the popular style of Belgian ales crafted by these monks.

    This Belgian ale pours a dark caramel color with a small bubbly head.

    The ale smells strongly of Belgian yeast, which can be likened to the aroma of bananas. A sweet smell follows the powerful yeast smell as well as notes of clove and other spices.

A beer best enjoyed in introspective silence.

    New Belgium's take on an abbey style ale is medium bodied, with a medium-high level of carbonation that seemingly increases the body of the ale. Overall the ale makes for a pretty smooth drinking experience.

    Abbey Belgian Style Ale features a strong flavor of Belgian yeast. This yeast has an almost fruity quality to it; again, likened most to the flavor and scent of bananas. There is little to no bitterness to the ale. Sweet, bready malts are the main flavor on display with slight hints of spices.

    I make no claims of verity, but I bet monks throw one heck of a party. I mean, think about it, a bunch of guys studying hard nearly 24/7, brewing beer in the back of their house, rooting for their team over the evil team; we're just a few steps away from this abbey being a fraternity house! I bet Friday comes around and Brother Joseph (or Broseph) cracks open a cask of the abbey style ale and the party starts. Next thing you know, Brother James is wearing his rosary beads on his head and Brother Carlos is bobbing for apples in the holy water.

    Semi-offensive monk jokes aside, New Belgium's Abbey Belgian Style Ale is quite a good representation of the style. I personally am finding that I do not enjoy Belgian style beers as much as some, though I definitely can see their appeal to fans of sweeter ales.

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