New Belgium Teams up with Old Belgium for 2016 Lips of Faith Offerings
Four intercontinental collaborative beers celebrate New Belgium’s 25th Anniversary and mark the debut of Lips of Faith four-packs
Ft. Collins, Colo., April 13, 2016 – As part of its 25th anniversary celebration New Belgium Brewing is going back to its roots to pair up with four Belgian Breweries for its 2016 Lips of Faith portfolio. Lips of Faith offers quarterly beers that push the envelope on flavor, process and ingredient.
Transatlantique Kriek
This year started with the re-release of Transatlantic Kriek, New Belgium’s longest –running collaboration project since 2003’s version with Frank Boon. Transtalantic Kriek is a tart cherry lambic brewed for the second time with Oude Beersel brewery in Beersel, Belgium. Oude Beersel starts with a true spontaneously fermented cherry kriek and then New Belgium blends that base beer with 25 percent sour Felix from its wood foeders and 25 percent golden lager. The result is a beautifully balanced kriek beer, New Belgium’s first true sour collaboration, with plenty of pucker power, a tart cherry snap and wonderfully dry finish.
Transatlantique Kriek is 8 percent ABV and is available throughout 2016 in 22-oz. bombers and on draft.
Hof ten Dormaal Golden Ale
Hof ten Dormaal debuted this April in 12-oz four-packs, marking a packaging first for Lips of Faith beers, which were formerly found only in bombers and on draft. This beer is a collaboration with the Jannsens family, which runs Hof ten Dormaal in Tildonk, Belgium, pairing Old World ingredients with new world innovation. The Jannsens provided their Belgium yeast strain, giving delicate pear, banana and clove notes to the beer. Spelt, malted sunflower seeds, and wild carrot herbs provide a nutty, bready and grassy wash. Add in Saaz and Mosaic hops and you have spicy, tropical accents and a taste of the Belgian countryside in every sip.
Hof ten Dormaal is 7 percent ABV, 20 IBUs, and is now available in 12-oz four-packs and on draft. To learn more about the collaboration check out Hof ten Doormaal Collaboration, which includes a behind-the-scenes video on making this golden ale.
De Koninck Flowering Citrus Ale
De Koninck Flowering Citrus Ale, a collaboration with Antwerp, Belgium’s historic De Koninck Brewery, will release this summer. This beer will offer a pop of key lime and lemons. The fragrance of hibiscus, rose petals and strawberry-tinged Mistral hops will make it the ideal beer for soaking in summer days.
De Koninck Flowering Citrus Ale is 7.4 percent ABV, 30 IBUs, and will be available in four-packs and on draft June 20, 2016.
Anne-Françoise Spiced Dark Strong Ale
The final beer in this Belgian-collaboration series is a spiced dark strong ale. Deep into Belgium’s Forêt d’Orval two brave brewmasters—Orval’s first female brewmaster Anne-Françoise Pypaert and New Belgium’s Peter Bouckaert—crafted Spiced Dark Strong Ale. They brought spruce tips and medium-toasted American oak to this brooding chocolaty beer, and then wove deeply herbal French Sprisselspalt and spicy Liberty and Willamette hops into the mix. A dash of grains of paradise offers a beam of citrusy light.
Anne-Françoise Spiced Dark Strong Ale is 9.5 percent ABV, 25 IBUs, and will be available in four-packs and on draft October 3, 2016.