New Belgium Brewing Company’s Lips of Faith series is an intriguing and somewhat revolutionary creative outlet in the world of craft brewing. Here’s a little background straight from their website:
“…We’ve always wanted to keep the brewhouse a playground by creating tiny batch brews for internal celebrations or milestones. We’ve loosely grouped all these playground beers as Lips of Faith. In exchange, we are committing time, resources and boundary-free imagination to the Lips of Faith program to ensure that not only will you have innovative, delicious brew, but also a steady and ever changing variety available. With the new release of bombers of Lips of Faith beers…you‘ll have more opportunities to sample and enjoy the outcome of our brewers at play.”
Certainly all craft breweries take time to experiment, chasing ideas and dreaming up recipes for their next greatest beer. But there aren’t many who are making their “free-time” creations-even the ones that don’t eventually make the cut-available to the general public for consumption. After reading about the Lips of Faith series on New Belgium’s website, I gave myself a nice figurative pat on the back for grabbing the intriguing-looking bottle off the shelf at Binny’s.
Biere de Mars was an interesting experience…exciting too, but that was mostly because I enjoyed it during the Cardinals/Packers record-setting Wild Card game. Though not technically a wheat beer, wheat malts are used along with barley and oats, and the wheat character shines through. It poured a color that immediately reminded me of honey, and was somewhat reminiscent of a weiss (although less cloudy and with weaker head retention). Specifics in the aroma were tough to place; an ever so slight fruity-caramel note, perhaps? A pleasant earthy mustiness was present, though…probably from the yeast. The first sip was all it took to confirm: this is a definite spring/summer brew. The malts are light, toasty and almost buttery tasting, it finishes with a lemony tang on the back of your tongue, and there is no hop bitterness (or hop anything, really). An orange or lemon slice would be right at home swimming in the glass. And to be honest, I liked it less and less as it warmed up, which seems fitting for a warm weather beer I suppose. If you allow it to reach room temp like I did mine, the relatively normal 6.2% ABV will dominate (no thanks).
Still, not surprisingly, this offering was unique and creative, unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. I highly recommend snatching up any Lips of Faith offerings you might run across in your local liquor store (quantities are limited), if for no other reason than to gain a sneak peek into the creative “playground” of New Belgium’s talented brewing minds.
Grade: B
ABV: 6.2%