New Belgium - Lips of Faith Dark Kriek
Brewery: New Belgium
Type: Dark Kriek (?)
ABV: 8%
Quaff date: 03/19/2009
Poured at: Francisco Studios
Drunk from: glass
So, another cell phone picture, but this one from a Gphone (or whatever the google phone is called), taken with decent lighting. Not the best picture, but better than my razr wannabe can pull off. As with any practice review, the caveat applies - I spent most of my attention while drinking this beer focused on playing music.
Aside from Fat Tire, New Belgium makes some great beers. I usually grab new ones when I see them, but I have a hard time buying their beers regularly, due to my twisted, illogical system of ethics. If you talk to craft brewers and their employees, you quickly discover that New Belgium is notorious for aggressively targeting their fellow craft breweries in attempts to gain taps at bars, breaking an unwritten rule against such cannibalistic aggression that is followed by a lot of craft breweries. But I love their Trippel, their Abbey, every sour I’ve tasted by them (aside from the first I tasted, which was my first sour, and which I would probably dig the hell out of if I had it today), the 2 Below seasonal, the Mighty Arrow seasonal, etc., etc.. And when I saw the Lips of Faith Dark Kriek, I had to try it.
It looks like maybe the “Lips of Faith” in the name of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Dark Kriek refers to a line of beers. A look at the New Belgium beer list verifies that. All but one of the beers listed as a “Lips of Faith” brand New Belgium beer are Belgian styles. This one, though - the bottle claims it’s a mix of 33% barrel aged something, and something else. I don’t remember, and the bottle’s gone, taken off to recycling by the friendly neighborhood crackhead. According to the description on the website, which isn’t as bold in its proclamation of ingredients as th bottle, “we start with a light, dry, tannic beer aged two years in oak barrels and combine this with a heavier, dark ale and cherries.”
When I think of kriek, I think of lambic, which this doesn’t resemble. This is like a less crazy, big, and awesome, and very mass-marketable version of some of the better beers I’ve had from Lost Abbey and RRBC. It’s got that dark, roasty, full-bodied stout/porter feel, but also a mellow, candy-like sour flavor. Like crossing a strong dark with a Flanders red. Russian River makes a beer with a similar feel, but about 35% higher ABV, insanely tart to the point where I have to have about half a pint before I start to appreciate anything else about it, and a lot less of the roasty porter thing going on. It’s the beer I immediately thought of upon first taste, though this, despite the 8% ABV, is basically the session version of Consecration.
An enjoyable beer, maybe even a good entry point for someone looking to check out a sour beer.