Tasting Notes: New Glarus: Wisconsin Belgium Red

New Glarus: Wisconsin Belgium Red (USA: Fruit Beer: 5.1% ABV)

Visual: Semi cloudy dark red cherry, frothy red brown head that dissipates quickly. Darker blackcherry towards the centre.

Nose: Really rich fresh red cherries, wet twigs, sweet and fruity. Almost like a cherry tart. Hints of towards blackcherry yogurt on a deep lungful. Danish pastries. Very yogurt like in general, glazed fruit.

Body: Just slightly tart, lots of cherry and blackcherry. Lovely sweetness. Cheesecake and in fact smooth cheese. Grapes and jelly.

Finish: Lemon sherbet More cherries, apples/apple juice. White wine. Slight sourness. Custard.

Conclusion: How eminently drinkable, remarkably easy to consume with a barrage of sweet fruit desserts backed up with the lightest chaste kiss of sourness and tart flavours.

The sizeable bottle must be meant for sharing and otherwise this sweet surprise would overwhelm anyone with sugar shock. So very different to the sour lambic krieks that I was preparing to compare it to. It instead flirts with the concepts of the overly syrup sweet mass market beers, but then seduces it into depths previously unconsidered.

A summer fruit wine of a beer, for toasting times passed, old friend, and hopes of things to come.

A true easy to enjoy delight.