Rolle Bolle, New Belgium summer seasonal
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I debated whether or not to put this beer in the"fruit" category, but I don't think "fruit" was their main focus.
From the Bottle: "Brewed with monk fruit and soursop it stays true to the Belgian tradition of playing with beer and all that goes into it."
I had to google monk fruit and soursop. Monk fruit is used as a low-calorie sweetener having "300 times the sweetness of sugar." Soursop is used by pseudo-science quacks as a cancer treatment. Neither of these descriptions sounded delicious, but hey, it's beer. I'm in.
It's brilliantly clear (definitely filtered) and the color of cheap american swill. However, the lacing in the glass is much better than you'd get from a cheap lite lager.
It smells like a young, fresh wit. Although there are some other scents there. There's a faint fruity sourness (I assume from the soursop?) that's sort of herby in nature. There's also the smell of citrus. There's no mention of citrus used in the description, but I would almost bet money there's orange peel in this beer.
The taste is light, but surprisingly complex. Again, I don't know anything about soursop or monk fruit, but the flavors in this that I don't recognize I'm attributing to these things. It's spicy, sour, and bitter. It's like perfect Asian food. The bitterness is subtle and only on the finish. It's the kind of bitterness you get from the pith of an orange, but it's not as unpleasant as my description makes it sound. It's a really, really, light mouthfeel, but I'm tasting different things in every quaff. At 5.5% ABV, it's actually lighter on the palate than I would have expected.
Overall, it's a surprisingly interesting beer that you could easily session without tiring of it. I likeit, I'm enjoying it, but I'm not sure I'd buy it regularly. I'm not sure why, but even though I like it, it's really interesting, I just don't see myself buying it again right away. Eh, we'll see.
I took a short one a couple hours ago. It was nice. --
C_B -
Thanks for the writeup. I'd not seen or heard of this one, but now I must try it.
The only thing between me and a train wreck is blind luck..... - Kenny -
Lakewood said:
Thanks for the writeup. I'd not seen or heard of this one, but now I must try it.
It was new to me. That's why I bought it! ;)
I took a short one a couple hours ago. It was nice. --
C_B