Lips Of Faith - Super Cru - New Belgium Brewing

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BA SCORE
78
average
-
271 Ratings

rAvg: 3.42
pDev: 16.96%
Reviews: 154
Hads: 117

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
New Belgium Brewing

Colorado, United States

Style | ABV
Belgian Strong Pale Ale | 10.00% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (120), on-tap (32), growler (2).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (78) | Reviews (5) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by SkeeterHawk:

SkeeterHawk

Texas

3.3/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

OK, I must admit, I am so hooked on Le Terroir that I am just picking up the Lips Of Faith series rather blindly now. It sucks to see that this beer has had some pretty poor reviews, but I don't care...I'm going into this one with an open mind. I don't normally look at the score, but this one was surprisingly low that I couldn't help but notice. Anyway, let's "light this candle":

Appearance: Pours a pretty clear to maybe slightly hazy reddish orange with a small 1/4" head of off-white bubbles that was maintained by lots of bubbles rising at first, and after a minute you could tell that the alcohol was starting to take it out. After swirling and drinking, there is a little bit of lace on the glass that sticks about 1/4" above the beer and then fades back down.

Aroma: The aroma is pretty clean with some obvious belgian yeast character and some hops and already evident alcohol. There are some toasty notes from the malt, but the hops and alcohol are king in this beer. It is already obvious that this beer was intended to cellar for quite a while and is currently pretty green.

Taste: The flavor follows along with the aroma pretty closely except that the Belgian yeast character is a whole lot more pronounced in the flavor. There is clearly bubble-gum in the flavor that I truly didn't get in the aroma. The flavor is pretty thin for such a big beer, and it comes across as medium bodied with ample carbonation. The finish is balanced with the alcohol being as big of a player as anything.

Opinion: Again, I am certain that this beer was just sold early as you really can't condition a beer this big long enough at the brewery. I would not deter you from getting this beer as about 5 years in a cool cellar (or refrigerator) would do wonders for it. As it is, it is a bit hard to drink. The yeast is just too strong and is not playing well with the rest of the beer. As it is, I will be scoring this one a bit low too, but I am taking in mind the potential that this beer has too. There are no fermentation flaws to kick it out except maybe that the yeast ran a bit hot for my taste, but this will soften with age too.

Serving type: bottle

06-20-2011 01:59:25 | More by SkeeterHawk

More User Reviews:

csfcmitchell

Texas

3.25/5 rDev -5%

05-23-2013 16:01:07 | More by csfcmitchell

Pookie

Georgia

3.75/5 rDev +9.6%

05-05-2013 15:02:30 | More by Pookie

djs467

Colorado

3.5/5 rDev +2.3%

04-30-2013 16:18:40 | More by djs467

Jadjunk

Georgia

3.18/5 rDev -7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

"Our 20th anniversary! Let's roll a bunch of New Belgium together and put it in a bottle, start with the backbone of Fat Tire, but double the malt and hops; add in asian pear juice, a very Belgian thing to do; and bring it to life with a Saison yeast. It's New Belgium Super Cru from us to you! Brewed in the style of a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

Served in a New Belgium Globe snifter. Served north of 45º Fahrenheit.

(Appearance) Pours a copper-tinged cream head of a thick frothy consistency over a very hazy copper amber body with ample carbonation. Lacing is light and stringy and retention is average at best. A decent appearance but could do much better. 3.25

(Smell) Aroma is strong with a tart fruit juice forward, biscuity malts, a pinch of ginger spice and pepper and a subtle earthy hop backbone. Fruit juice comes off strong, very central to the aroma of this beer, and the touch of funk is a distinctive twist for a perceptible sourness. Malt character pales significantly by comparison. I'm not blown away by the aroma, it comes off a bit overdone in the wrong places and underdone in other spots. There are some notable astringencies that I could only deduce in this stage, none of them were appetizing in nature. 3

(Taste) The balance is a bit better balanced in the flavor, with a moderate, biscuity malt character, relatively clean, a dash of standard Belgian spices like coriander and pepper, a nod to citrusy hop character and a still strong, still forward pear juice concentrate for a very dry and very acidic finish. The combination of acidic fruit juice and strong spice profile compared to a biscuity, moderate malt character makes this one very dry Belgian Ale. I didn't really enjoy the balance in this beer as much as I had hoped to- hopefully it's just an old batch but the flavor isn't extraordinary by any stretch. 3.25

(Mouthfeel) Mouth is slightly sweet with juicy sugars, but wraps up with a dry acidic finish paired with a forward Belgian spice profile. Carbonation is fuzzy and provides a subtle airy texture. Alcohol is medium/high, quite perceptible in this beer and not hidden by much body. The body itself is a medium+ amongst the style and medium/high overall. While the carbonation and texture was decent, the alcohol could have been a bit better hidden and the body didn't do a good job at keeping it under wraps. 3

(Overall) Super Cru plays around with a popular style but comes out somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the pear juice twist but found it too distracting and the malt body was a bit too plain and transparent by comparison. Not bad for an experiment but overall it didn't impress me all that much and doesn't warrant a repeat visit from me. 3.25

New Belgium Brewing's
Lips Of Faith Super Cru
3.18/5.00

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2013 20:59:29 | More by Jadjunk

Birdlegs

Washington

3.75/5 rDev +9.6%

04-10-2013 05:12:12 | More by Birdlegs

MaxOhle

Illinois

3.25/5 rDev -5%

04-07-2013 17:15:04 | More by MaxOhle

csurowiec

Maryland

3.75/5 rDev +9.6%

04-06-2013 23:11:28 | More by csurowiec

zonker17

Illinois

3.25/5 rDev -5%

04-06-2013 01:19:01 | More by zonker17

ThisWangsChung

Maryland

3/5 rDev -12.3%

03-20-2013 05:47:18 | More by ThisWangsChung

kylehay2004

Florida

3.39/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

No head really on a murky orange and golden body with some lacing. Aroma of juniper, fresh flowers, orange peel, Belgian yeast and some candy sugar. Well the flavor is a little sour up front but smooths out quickly and finishes slight tart and mildly sweet. The one tastes like one of those multi fruit minute made fruit juices. Very tropical with mostly pineapple and tangerine with some peach. Belgian character is understated. Medium to thick body and moderate carbonation. This one is pretty unidimensional and hardly Belgian. This series has disappointed me again.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2013 00:11:26 | More by kylehay2004

nickfl

Florida

3.44/5 rDev +0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A - Pours with a small head of white foam on top of a hazy, dark copper colored body. The head fades quickly and leaves little lace.

S - A fruity aroma of orange, clove, and banana backed by toffee malt notes.

T - Thick malt up front with pithy lemon and clove. Some pepper and more lemon in the middle. Finishes with pepper, clove, lemon and some spicy hops.

M - Medium-thick body, moderately high carbonation, and a somewhat malty finish.

D - Flabby and muddy, the yeast character is pungent but not particularly good. There is both a lack of crispness and a somewhat harsh bittering component to this beer. I'm not sure quite what they were hoping for here but they don't seem to have pulled it off.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2013 00:09:36 | More by nickfl