Day 20, Jan 20 / 2° Below Winter Ale

Day 20 / Jan 20

2° Below Winter Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company  /  Fort Collins, CO

Where:         At Home, purchased in NC

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I finished up my New Belgium Beer Run with a winter seasonal, 2° Below Winter Ale, which was an enjoyable beer.  It’s an amber/copper color, not too hoppy, a little fruity.  If you like New Belgium’s Fat Tire, you’ll probably like this too.

Apparently, my palate is nowhere near as refined as this guy’s, who reviewed 2 Below on BeerAdvocate.com:

              Smell :  Huge cracker based malt, sesame seeds, pine nuts, toasted white bread, almonds, and berry fruit.

             Taste:  Excellent cracker malt, with notes of toffee, Granny smith apple peels, butterscotch, and caramel.

When I see reviews like this of beers or wines, with all those flavors and tastes listed, it reminds me of that scene in Willy Wonka, where Wonka describes the gum that contains all the flavors of a 3 course meal.

I can just see the beer drinker above sipping this beer like Violet Beauregard, saying,

“So long as it’s beer and that’s for me.  Fabulous!  It’s toasted white bread!  Warm and toasty, I can actually feel the butterscotch running down my throat!  Hey, the second course is coming up – cracker malt and notes of toffee!  Desert?  Here it comes!  Granny Smith Apples and caramel!  It’s the most marvelous beer I’ve ever tasted!”

Shall we roll on?

Day 19, Jan 19 / Ranger India Pale Ale

Day 19 / Jan 19

Ranger India Pale Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company  /  Fort Collins, CO

Where:         At Home, purchased in NC

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Our New Belgium Beer Run continues with Ranger IPA, which was released in bottles for the first time in 2010.

WOW!  That’s a bitter beer! 

Many readers on RateBeer and Beer Advocate give it high marks, and say it is a good representation of the IPA style.

I say, “Man, that’s a bitter beer.  I need a glass of water.”  Check out my bitter beer face below.

P.S.  Happy Birthday, Terri!

Day 18, Jan 18 / 1554 Enlightened Black Ale

Day 18 / Jan 18

1554 Enlightened Black Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company  /  Fort Collins, CO

Where:         At Home, purchased in NC

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The 2^nd beer in my New Belgium Beer Run is 1554 Enlightened Black Ale, a dark Belgian Style Ale.  I enjoy Belgian Ales occasionally, but I usually switch to a lighter beer after one or two.

This beer had a very dark color and, rich foamy head and faint aromas of chocolate (oh my god, am I becoming a Beer Geek First Class?).  Anyway, it definitely had a good taste, smooth and enjoyable.

NOTE 1:  This beer has a very interesting backstory, according to the New Belgium website:

In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed the original recipe our researcher, Phil Benstein, found in the library. So Phil and brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. Their first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554.

NOTE 2:  For you aspiring beer geeks, check out this cool feature on the New Belgium website.  Many of their beer pages show the “Flavor Attribute Flower” for the beer, a spider chart that graphically describes the beer in 13 different categories such Hoppy, Malty or Fruity (which, by the way, are the names of the 3 other dwarves that moved out of the Dwarf House to start the Enchanted Forest Brewery).

Day 17, Jan 17 / Fat Tire Amber Ale

Day 17 / Jan 17

Fat Tire Amber Ale

New Belgium Brewing Company  /  Fort Collins, CO

Where:         At Home, but purchased in NC

We’re going on a Beer Run! 

UPDATE:  On second thought and prodding from my followers, I have upped my rating on Fat Tire from a Good to a Very Good.  JD

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What’s a Beer Run?  Well, in terms of this blog, it’s a series of 3 or more days where I will sample and write about beers that have a certain similar characteristic.  It could be multiple beers from the same brewery, of the same style or have something else in common.

So we’ll kick off the first Beer Run with Fat Tire Amber Ale, the first in a set of beers from New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado.  I remember when I was younger (both from my beer can collecting days and my early beer drinking days) that Coors was the golden fleece of beers – you just couldn’t get it here on the east coast.  Now that my beer palate has matured, I wish that was still the case.

Anyway, for a long time, Fat Tire has been the “Coors” of craft beers, for the same reason – you couldn’t get it around here.  It was something that business associates talked about fondly when they returned from a west coast trip.  In the last couple years, it has become available in North Carolina, so you’d often ask a friend who was heading to the Outer Banks to pick some up for you.

So this weekend I found myself (or lost myself) in the OBX, so a friend and I mixed and split four different six-packs from New Belgium Brewing Company, whose flagship beer is Fat Tire.

So is it worth the hassle?  I’ve got to say, Fat Tire is a thoroughly enjoyable beer for any season.  It’s a medium amber color, a nice frothy head, slightly hoppy.  Makes me wish I didn’t split that six pack (but I do have a few more beers to sample this year).

If you get a chance, check out New Belgium’s website.  They are definitely one of the most eco-friendly breweries around.

P.S.  Yes, I know, it's a Dogfish head glass.  I have a lot of beer glasses, but most of them have something printed on them....