Lips of Faith: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout

I've had about 7 of the various Lips of Faith series beers from New Belgium Brewing and I am not stopping there. My wife has stepped up to the plate and has really been enjoying them with me. So far the Lips of Faith: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout has been my favorite. It has 10% abv and 39 IBUs. It's an imperial stout so it totally fits right in my wheelhouse.

It smells like a Starbucks mocha. The coffee and coco were really in your face as soon as you cracked open the beer. It poured out dark and smooth with a tan head that continued to produce lacing throughout the drink.

Right up front there was a dry and bitter chocolate flavor mixed with a surprisingly subtle hint of coffee. The coffee flavor was not too in your face. There was a nice slight smoked malt flavor that rounded the whole beer out. Really all of the flavors were surprisingly well balanced and mellow for an imperial stout, they can totally get super sweet sometimes. This did not turn out too much like a dessert. It had a clean dry, bittersweet chocolate kinda finish that you do not always get from an imperial.

This was a shockingly well rounded imperial stout. I give it a 4.

Lips of Faith: Tart Lychee

The Lips of Faith series is put together by New Belgium Brewing Company. It is an American Wild Ale with 7.5% abv and 20 IBUs. It is a blended ale that is 56% ale aged in oak and 44% ale brewed with lychee and cinnamon.

It poured a light caramel color with no head to speak of. The beer itself had a cloudy color. It had a fruit and berry aroma with a little bit of cinnamon.

Each sip was like a fruity bundle of joy in my mouth. It was sweet and sour with a nice tart cherry or raspberry flavor up front. The body of it was still tart but it had a nice oak-y backbone with hints of cinnamon. The woodiness helps to mellow out the sour flavor. It finishes off tart and dry with a lasting tanginess. It is a very well balanced sour beer.

This had a light mouth feel with almost no carbonation. It was smooth and dry. It was the perfect beer to have with Chinese food. The sweet and sour flavor matched up perfectly with my pork fried rice.

Great beer, and my wife liked it too. This is one I will look for again.

I give it a 4

Lips of Faith Brett Beer

I picked this one up on a whim. I really like a lot of what New Belgium does out there, and I am always excited to try a collaboration beer. This is part of the Lips of Faith Series as well as a collaboration with The Lost Abbey brewery. It has an abv of 7.5%

The beer poured out very light with a clear golden yellow color. It had about one inch of white fluffy head. It had a very fruity sweet aroma.

The beer was not what I expected. It had a sweet and fruity flavor with some strong bready malt taste. The fruit gave it a slight tang that made it the most mild sour ever brewed. I didn't think it was a sour until I checked their website. For a style that is so in your face this was subtle to the point of disappointing. There was however a nice, light complex hop finish that did its best to cover up the tang and additional alcohol flavor but didn't have much success. It was a fine combination of citrus and pine which finished the beer off very clean. Although the flavors were good, the beer was not very impressive.

It had a very light mouth feel to it with light carbonation. It lacked much back bone, and came off a little bit light and boring in taste and feel. The hops were light. The sour was barely noticeable and the malt was nothing to write home about. Really there was nothing exceptional about this brew.

Seriously I think I am being generous, I give it a 2

Santa's Wishlist: Christmas Beers

Just in case you are tired of bringing boring wine to Christmas parties, we put together a list of some (mostly regional, but all available at your Indiana liquor store) beer options that will knock their socks off. These are not in any particular order. Most of them have reviews that will popping up in the next few weeks.

Three Floyd's Brewery brewed up Alpha Klaus. It is a dark Christmas porter with tons of chocolaty flavor and some pretty intense hops at the end. This is a great beer that is sure to impress any causal beer drinker who can stomach the dark stuff, and if you are in Indiana it is pretty easy to get your hands on. (full review to come later)

Hoppin Frog brewed up Frosted Frog Christmas Ale. This is a pretty intense dark brown ale. It has been beefed up with cinnamon  brown sugar and some great gingerbread flavor. It is very very sweet, and my wife fell in love with it. The sweetness makes it easy for anyone who is not into the craft beer scene to have a glass of holiday cheer. (full review to come later)

Anchor Brewing brewed up Our Special Ale (Anchor Christmas Ale 2012). This one is going to be different from all the rest. It pours out dark, but the taste is surprisingly light. It has nice malty flavors but a pretty strong dried cherry flavor helps cancel them out. This is a very well balanced brew. If your guests don't like the heavy stuff this is the one to go with.

Bells Brewery brewed up Bell's Christmas Ale. This Christmas ale is a pretty easy going brew for another dark beer. It has nice sweetness up front followed by a tasty round of holiday fruit flavors. The beer is heavy, but the sweetness mixed with the fruit flavors does a good job to round it all out.

New Belgium brewed 2 Degrees Below. This has always been one of my favorite winter beers even though it is a hoppier winter beer. There is going to be some serious bitterness mixed in with flavors of liquorice and other holiday spices. The beer is dry but well balanced, a seasonal favorite for the holidays.

Santa and our friends in the craft brewing industry have not forgotten our friends celebrating Hunakkah.

He'Brew brewed up Sweet 16 Anniversary Ale. I liked Origin, but this one is even better. This is a malty beer that has some nice seasonal fruit flavors. It also has a nice oak flavor that some of the other beers are missing. This helps balance the whole beer out. All this is to try and cover up the huge abv. Beware a few of these will get you celebrating.

Whatever you decide to share, or just to have on your own, enjoy the holiday season! What are you drinking this time of year that isn't on our list? You know we're always willing to try something new.