New Belgium Lips of Faith - Belgo IPA

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado

Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from a 6-pack from Jewel-Osco in Illinois; 2011

Style/ABV: Belgian IPA, 7.0% 

7.0% ABV...see?

New Belgium Brewing semi-recently rolled out their "Lips of Faith" series of beer. The Lips of Faith series is New Belgium's super-cool collection of exotic beers featuring Belgian influences, barrel aging, exotic spicing, and exotic ingredients. This will be my first Lips of Faith beer, and also my first Belgian IPA. Belgian IPAs are a newer style beer being brewed by a wide range of brewers mostly from America and Belgium. The style of beer combines citrus and floral American hops with Belgian yeast strains, and many of these beers are often bottle conditioned. This style should be clean, bitter, and dry; should have fairly high ABV; and have a solid head with good lacing.

I've already had a few of these New Belgium Belgo IPAs, and I found it to be quite bubbly and effervescent. My opinion is that this beer tastes like a really strong and citrusy IPA combined with a Belgian Tripel; Tripels are somewhat pale/tart/hoppy and dry, and this beer seems to roll a lot of those qualities into a nice package.

There is a little confusion with today's beer: New Belgium's website lists it at 8.0% ABV. They also were selling these beers exclusively as single-bottle ventures (I believe, at least). But I have a 6-pack here, and the beer I am holding is clocking in at 7.0% ABV. New Belgium's website says this beer is brewed using Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade and Amarillo hops; so lots of fragrant and citrusy punch is to be expected. The beer is also brewed with pale and honey malt, which lends some of those Tripel and Belgian qualities. They also imply that this beer uses an "authentic Trappist yeast strain," so it should have a nice Belgian funk. 

New Belgium Belgo IPA

The beer pours with a really nice 2-finger, foamy, off-white head. This head is somewhere between eggshell and white and has quite a bit of bubbles in it. There is also a lot of carbonation activity between where the head and the body meet, and as the head diminishes it is leaving nice lacing on the glass. This beer is golden-orange or golden-yellow in appearance, with more gold than amber. It is semi-transparent so that you can see the carbonation but you cannot see through it. It looks to be semi-hazy and unfiltered. The short version is that this is a bubbly, effervescent, gold-orange looking beer: it reminds me a bit of a Tripel.

The nose of this beer is a combination between the big yeasty and spicy notes you find in a Tripel, and the hoppy citrus notes you find in an IPA. There is a ton of coriander and pepper on the nose; orange and grapefruit which is sweeter than bitter; maybe some clove and sugar; and just some good funky yeast. 

As far as taste goes, the bitterness catches up to you on your palate, and you do pick up the 70 IBUs. This beer tastes a lot more hop-forward, with a big punchy orange rind flavor which seems to blend well with the peppery Belgian notes. This is a predominately hoppy beer with lots of orange, and maybe some grapefruit and tangerine, and tons of peppery spice.

The front end of the palate is carbonated and refreshing with lots of hops and pepper on the tongue. The middle is smooth and features more pepper and citrus, with the addition of some clove. The back end is citrusy and slightly drying. Overall this is a medium-bodied beer with a slightly thin and near-watery profile. It's quite spicy and hoppy, but has just moderate depth. This also is not overly complex, especially considering the mesh of ingredients. 

Rating: Average

Score: 73%

This is an interesting beer...it is very peppery and hoppy. There's a lot of overtones of a Tripel, but the hops really come forward and dominate. I would call this an IPA with Belgian overtones. This beer masks its alcohol well, and the 70 IBUs aren't bothersome. The lacing is gorgeous and present, and there is a thin coating of head from top to bottom which is nice to see. I think this is a solid execution of the style, but this beer is a bit thin in some regards and not as complex or life-changing as I would imagine a Belgian IPA to be. Because of this I would definitely recommend you try this out, and I think this would make a great standby. But as far as going above and beyond...this beer didn't blow me away.

Good. Solid. Spicy and citrusy. A bit thin in the body and not overly complex, this is a good standby but not a life changer. Pick it up and try out the style, or pick it up if you want a really well-priced (8 or 9 bucks) 6-pack of something with good flavor and a nice ABV kick. Check it out.