We are on day 17 of “sheltering in place” for the COVID-19 Coronavirus, and I’m in my man cave continuing to stain wood for the display case I’ve been working on. While I let the stain dry, I grabbed this one out of the beer fridge. I bought this at the New Glarus Brewery in 2016, when a friend and I decided to head up there for a day trip. I figured this one would get more interesting with age, but it’s time to finally give it a try.
Location: Poured into a Teku style pint glass from the 12 oz bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.6% ABV, ~180 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It a deep, dark brick red-brown color with brownish highlights when held up to the light. It had a thin cream colored head that quickly fell to a thing ring around the edge of the glass. It has a dark fruit, slightly dark tart cherry-like aroma with some maltiness.
Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is crisp from carbonation and acidity. The flavor up front is sweet and a bit tart with a dark fruit flavor, almost like dark cherries and raspberries. The tartness gives way to the sweetness in the middle, and the maltiness grows to meet the dark fruit flavors. It finishes fairly dry with the same dark fruit tartness peaking at the end, which lasts for a couple minutes in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This beer is fairly sweet and tart with dark fruit flavors, so I would contrast it and cut the acidity a bit with something like a chocolate cake or brownies.
Overall Impression: I wasn’t sure how this low ABV beer (5.6%) would last after about 4 years in the beer fridge, and I’m not usually much of a fan of sour beers. However, this beer was amazing. It had a great sweet-tart flavor with a good amount of dark fruit and malty flavors behind it. Throughout each sip the sweetness and tartness fluctuated back and forth giving way to dark cherry, raspberry, and malty flavors. It reminded me a little bit of the fruit beers I like from New Glarus, such as their Belgian red, raspberry tart, and strawberry rubarb. I’m not sure what this beer tastes like when it’s fresh, but this one is great right now. Next time I’m at the brewery, I’ll definitely have to pick up more of these if they are available.
My Rating: 
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