Tart Lychee

Another solid sour from New Belgium. Tart Lychee isn’t a faceburner, but it hits all the right notes for a sour jones, and gives an interesting fruitbeer twist to a delicious tart ale. The cinnamon pops up but doesn’t make waves, rather backing the sweetness of the lychee without veering into Christmas beer territory. The finish rides out the sweet/sour combo, and the oak aging gives an extra depth to the fade. It never quite reaches the heights of wonder you want; I’d always prefer a heavier sour side of the blend. Still, this bottle is tasty.

Location: 22 oz bottle from Colonial Wine and Spirits, 6/19/12

Aroma: The nose is mostly fruity (almost like a tart strawberry?) with notes of wood, spice, and earth
Appearance: It pours a cloudy gold-orange color with a small white head and light-medium lace
Flavor: The taste is mostly tart fruit, with some funk, wood, earth, and a little bit of spicy hops too
Palate: The body is light-medium, with a tingly feel, average carbonation, and a long, dry, puckering finish
Overall Impression: Honestly, I haven't a clue what a lychee smells like, Asian fruits in general are pretty far down on the list of my areas of expertise, but I do know that the fruit nose was the predominant part of this beer, so I can only assume that was the lychee. That note I put about tart strawberries was the best description I've got, but granted, it isn't really a great description. Regardless, I liked this beer. The tart fruits, wood, funk, earth, and spice all work pretty well together, and made for an interesting, and pretty unique combination. This was another nice Lips of Faith offering from New Belgium.

On draft at RFD DC. Pours a translucent deep gold with some thin, white head. Nice tart nose, grapefruit pulp, guezy almost, hay, bright lemon, grass. Flavor is tart but also sweet, lemon, lychee, bubble gum, grass, grapefruit. Full bodied, tart finish. Well balanced.

Bottle. Hazy, light orange liquid with small to medium white head. Aroma of lacto, sweet tropical fruit, cinnamon, wood, wheat and red berries. Taste is light sweet and light bitter with a light to medium sourness and fruity notes of red berries and yeast. Light to medium bodied with nice carbonation. Quite good but not excellent.

Bottle shared by Marcus. Pours very hazy orange gold with a white head. Mildly sour fruit aroma. Med body. Flavor starts quite tangy sour, but quickly drops foff. Gets a bit earthy. Finishes dry and not too sour.

Bomber. Thanks to brenn79 for picking this up for me. Aroma consists of sour funk, fruit (sour berry jam), faint cinnamon, basement. Pours hazy cantaloupe with a medium off-white head that collapses after a couple of minutes into a collar of foam. Taste is sweet and lightly tart and acidic. There’s some spiciness to it in the back of the throat, which I guess is from the cinnamon, although I don’t taste that particular spice. The oak is apparent, but not prominent. Highly carbonated with a watery texture. This is pretty simple and straightforward with not much complexity.