New Glarus Apple Ale

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2013

Style/ABV: Fruit Beer, 4.0% 

Reported IBUs: ?

It's Sunday night (or Monday morning, technically). The Bears just got gashed. I have to work today. I need a sweet, sweet nightcap. About New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Apple Ale is part of the New Glarus' 2013 Thumbprint Series, and rolled out in November and December. This beer began as a brown ale, and features Wisconsin-farmed wheat and fresh picked apples. 

New Glarus Apple Ale

The beer pours into an amber/cider looking body, and kicks up a finger of off-white head. Bright light confirms the hazy, cider-like body. The head drops off leaving a ring of white lacing around the glass, and there's some carbonation lazily rising upwards. It looks like apple juice.

The aroma here is huge cider and juicy apples. I'm getting big apple juice, some hints of spice like cinnamon, and some malt-bread aroma that reminds me of pie crust and apple pastries.

The taste mirrors the nose, with sweet, slightly tart apples driving this beer. Behind the apples is some nice malt sweetness, with some hints of bread and sweet caramel. There's also some wheat in the mix. I'm getting a lot of apple juice, apple cider, and freshly squeezed apples. It's very refreshing and super drinkable.

Yeah, this is good. The malts bring the body to a medium-light mouthfeel, but the carbonation and fruity nature of the beer make it super drinkable. You won't have any problem drinking two or three of these in one sitting. This would be the perfect Summer or Fall beer. It's very cider-like, and although the complexity is low, palate depth is great. You get big cider and apples up front; that rolls into some malt/bread density, apples, apple spice, wheat; the back end is lingering wheat and apples, and it finishes a bit dry. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew on this. I think this is everything you can ask for with an apple beer, and maybe a little more. Aside from going in a sour direction, I don't think there is a better apple beer out there. This shit is just straight up legit. It's so good I hesitate to recommend food pairings. Like...you could pair this with apple desserts or Fall/Autumn dishes, but this is a beer worthy of being sipped on after dinner. But it also has that drinkable thing going for it, so maybe pick up a case. I have only good things to say about this beer. Highly recommended.

Random Thought: The Bears defense is bad, but oh lawdy, they really shit the bed tonight.