New Belgium Vrienden Ale

It's been a long and busy week at work, so I'm looking forward to sitting back, drinking a beer, and writing about it.  Is anyone looking to hire a full-time, salaried beer writer?  Is there even such a thing?  If so, please contact me directly!  Oh and by the way, did you hear that Brett Favre is retiring?  Hilarious!

Now down to business.  Tonight I am drinking a bottle from the New Belgium Lips of Faith series, called Vrienden.  This one is brewed with Colorado-Grown Pale Malt and Caramel 80, Target and Cascade hops, and....hibiscus flower, and......Brettanomyces? and......Lactobacillus??????  Wikipedia, to the rescue!  Brettanomyces is a type of yeast that has historically been used in English ales.  As for Lactobacillus, I read the wikipedia description and I still don't know what the hell it is, so let's just move on.

The beer comes in a pint-sized bottle, which looks like it's been vandalized by graffiti.  There is a story and a little description written around the bottle, "Get a belgian brewmaster and a master of belgian brewing together and there's sure to be a spontaneous imagination that leads to micro-organisms mingling in fermentation ""Bliss"" ""Bliss"" ""Bliss"".  Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our collabeeration."  The front of the label says this is a beer brewed with hibiscus and endive. 

Pouring this into my snifter, it pours a clear, dark golden orange with an almost pure white head of over an inch.  The head receeds quickly and leaves a sticky lace.  The aroma is odd - it almost reminds me of Coors Light.  When I dig a little deeper I can find some sour apple and some floral notes.  But seriously, this beer smells like Coors Light.

The first sip definitely does not taste like Coors Light.  Right away there are some floral, sweetly bitter notes present, and then it gives way to a bunch of dark sour fruits.  Cherries, sour apples take the front seat.  Then a big wave of flavor really pounds my palate on the backend, which takes those same sour fruits to another level of zing, and adds in some bready malts.  That must be the yeast and the hibiscus playing nice together!  The 8.5% alcohol is nowhere to be found.  The texture of this beer is medium-bodied (although it tricks you into thinking it's light), with fairly heavy carbonation.

Overall Rating:  (4.0 out of 6.0)  For a beer that smells exactly like Coors Light, this beer isn't bad at all!  It has some unique flavors that I can honestly say I've never experienced before in a beer.  While there were some minor (barely noticeable) off-flavors, the combination of belgian influence, along with the hibiscus flower addition, made for an enjoyable fruity brew.  If you're in the mood for something new and unique, be sure to give this a try.