1001 Beers: La Folie

Beer Number 27: New Belgium La Folie

I don't even know where to start. This is one of my favorite beers ever! I wish could have tasted earlier bottles of this, you know, before my first taste of 2010 especially since I found out that they used to be corked! I always love the bottle art on the Lips of Faith series as well. I want to collect them just for that. It sounds like I am not the only one excited about this brew either!

New Belgium releases a variety of beers that draw their flavor and character from wooden barrels, but La Folie was the star the moment it was first released.

Not long after the began at New Belgium in 1996, brewmaster Peter Bouckaert bought twelve used wine barrels. He purchased a variety of Brettanomyces and other wild yeast, then found others along the way--harvesting what returned in old kegs of other New Belgium beers, for instance. Bouckaert tasted the beer every fourteen days, and the tastings became among the best attended at the brewery. When the time came to bottle the first batch in 2000, employees from the brewery enthusiastically pitched in.

The first batches of La Folie were sold only at the brewery, before being released to a broader market. When it comes to bottling this sour ale, employees from throughout the brewery still show up to help.

Now I don't know the exact pronunciation of this beer but it is damn delicious. I'm down to my last bottle of this one... Though, maybe I should have found more bottles before I killed my supply :'(



2011 La Folie

So, I remember having this one after it first came out and a few times since then but I do not remember it being this SOUR!!! I love it :D There is a generous vinegar sensation that just fills the palate but nice cherries just sneaking in and giving you something to rub up against the faint tones of citrus and funk. This is the beer I want to be drinking. Like all the time. I am seriously considering buying at least six bottles of 2013, finding it in a bar and only drinking it there until I feel compelled to open my first bottle... That could be only 1 week though... Maybe I better come up with a better plan...

974 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Vrienden

This is one of the beers that I loved and I was happy when I was able to find it again after having to get rid of my whole bottle collection :'(. I guess at the time I never had a use for the bottles. Kind of keeping them for nostalgia purposes. I am sure the men and women of New Belgium would be proud but many others just see it as clutter. I hate those people. HAHA! JK! I still wish I had my bottles though.

To this day, I have still never had the Allagash Version of it, but now that I live considerably closer to their brewery... though, I am not counting on finding this "Colabeeration".

Get a Belgian Brewmaster and a Master of Belgian Brewing together and there's sure to be spontaneous imagination that leads to micro-organisms mingling in fermentation bliss! Bliss! BLISS! Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our CollaBeerAtion Vrienden.

This beer is an ale brewed with Hibiscus and Endive. Very amazing on my first go around so I am hoping it is just as great this time. Though, I know nothing about how it was stored before it came into my hands or how long this beer was even built to last. I guess we will see... right?

Brewed with the slightly fruity hibiscus flower, the aromatic Brettanomyces, and the flavor-boosting Lactobacillus. We recommend pairing it with creamy, soft cheeses and charming Vrienden-That's "Friends" in Flemish. Enjoy.

I did not pair this beer, and I was fairly selfish :p I guess maybe that is a bad thing but only few I know could appreciate something this amazing.

Though, I guess I got to it too late :'(. It still had that sour nose with hints of fruity, lemony, orange peel? Somebody tell me what hibiscus is supposed to be like. Lame, I know. I am missing one of the major aspects of this beer due to inexperience. The sourness is now very mellow. It was never too big before but it kind of dampened off. Not like I remember it. A bit of kick in the back, but nothing overwhelming. It doesn't even really have that funkiness I loved before. It is more dry and spicy now. I guess it is not a full loss, but still. A beer I loved lost to the hands of time. Maybe a rerelease? That would be awesome. Or am I just living unreal New Belgium Fan Boy Dreams?

Cheers!