Try?
A few months ago, Colorado's New Belgium
Beers made their entrance into the Georgia market. My experience with them
had been, until their arrival, limited to a six-pack of Fat Tire Amber purchased years earlier while traveling through Texas.
So, I was encouraged that I would soon be seeing their brews, and my
predilection for trying new brews knowing no boundaries, it was a sure thing
I'd be snapping off their offerings as soon as they hit store shelves.
Certainly, New Belgium arrived with much fanfare. Their beers seem to have an almost cult-like following (not dissimilar to that surrounding fellow Colorado beer Coors before it was sold in the East), and posters could be seen at just about every liquor store I frequent stating "New Belgium Fat Tire-Coming Soon". When New Belgium beers finally did get here, they were instantly ubiquitous: sold at liquor stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas stations.
Among the first New Belgium brews I picked up was the 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. I must admit to a certain fascination with the label and background description. New Belgium describes the beer thusly on its website and on the label:
Born of a flood and centuries-old Belgian text, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale uses a light lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark beer can be. In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed the original recipe our researcher, Phil Benstein, found in the library. So Phil and brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. Their first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554, a highly quaffable dark beer with a moderate body and mouthfeel.
Certainly, I was a bit skeptical. How can you make a unique style lost to the ages (which undoubtedly would have been an ale) with a lager yeast? Only a taste would tell.
New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale pours to a dark brown to light
black, not fully opaque color with a thick creamy tan head formation and a
lightly chocolaty nose. A fine layer of Brussels lace follows the liquid
down to the bottom of my pint glass as I sip. This is a black ale with all
the roasty dark notes that implies, not as full in body as a porter or a
stout, of course. Chocolate and coffee notes are very much present, and the
ale is mostly clean of fruity esters (if there are any, the roasted malt
hides them well). A hint of licorice comes through in the finish.
This is a nice enough dark malty quaffing beer, and at 5.6% alcohol by volume it isn't overly strong. The beer is a bit creamy and rather easy to drink, and the finish is nicely balanced by the roasted malt. And that licorice note really grows on you. But I have a hard time believing that it's based on an obscure Belgian style dating from 1554. For one thing, it tastes a lot more like a German Schwarzbier to me (witness the lager yeast strain used). But it's also not all that different from a lot of other American dark lagers I've tasted over the years, and even reminds me a bit of the old Devil Mountain Five Malt Ale, though it's a bit roastier than that one.
So while I enjoy New Belgium 1554, I don't really see much Belgian character about it, either old or new. I'll give it three and a half stars, though I think I'll round down to three based on the seeming exaggeration here.
Certainly, New Belgium arrived with much fanfare. Their beers seem to have an almost cult-like following (not dissimilar to that surrounding fellow Colorado beer Coors before it was sold in the East), and posters could be seen at just about every liquor store I frequent stating "New Belgium Fat Tire-Coming Soon". When New Belgium beers finally did get here, they were instantly ubiquitous: sold at liquor stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas stations.
Among the first New Belgium brews I picked up was the 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. I must admit to a certain fascination with the label and background description. New Belgium describes the beer thusly on its website and on the label:
Born of a flood and centuries-old Belgian text, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale uses a light lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark beer can be. In 1997, a Fort Collins flood destroyed the original recipe our researcher, Phil Benstein, found in the library. So Phil and brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. Their first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554, a highly quaffable dark beer with a moderate body and mouthfeel.
Certainly, I was a bit skeptical. How can you make a unique style lost to the ages (which undoubtedly would have been an ale) with a lager yeast? Only a taste would tell.
New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale pours to a dark brown to light
black, not fully opaque color with a thick creamy tan head formation and a
lightly chocolaty nose. A fine layer of Brussels lace follows the liquid
down to the bottom of my pint glass as I sip. This is a black ale with all
the roasty dark notes that implies, not as full in body as a porter or a
stout, of course. Chocolate and coffee notes are very much present, and the
ale is mostly clean of fruity esters (if there are any, the roasted malt
hides them well). A hint of licorice comes through in the finish.This is a nice enough dark malty quaffing beer, and at 5.6% alcohol by volume it isn't overly strong. The beer is a bit creamy and rather easy to drink, and the finish is nicely balanced by the roasted malt. And that licorice note really grows on you. But I have a hard time believing that it's based on an obscure Belgian style dating from 1554. For one thing, it tastes a lot more like a German Schwarzbier to me (witness the lager yeast strain used). But it's also not all that different from a lot of other American dark lagers I've tasted over the years, and even reminds me a bit of the old Devil Mountain Five Malt Ale, though it's a bit roastier than that one.
So while I enjoy New Belgium 1554, I don't really see much Belgian character about it, either old or new. I'll give it three and a half stars, though I think I'll round down to three based on the seeming exaggeration here.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
