E-Malt.com News article: USA, CO: New Belgium Brewing releases Snapshot Wheat, new year-round beer

New Belgium Brewing’s 10th year-round beer falls close to the intersection of two growing craft beer trends – sour and session.

The Fort Collins brewery on Monday, November 25 announced the introduction of Snapshot Wheat, an unfiltered wheat beer with a citrusy nose from the Target hops, coriander and grains of paradise, giving way to a sweet malt profile and a flash of tart across the finish, according to a description from the brewery, Denver Post reported.

The beer will be available in just about every package at New Belgium’s disposal – 12-ounce bottles and cans, 22 ounce bottles and drafts in all New Belgium distribution markets.

“This has been a fascinating process,” New Belgium Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert said in a news release. “We are actually blending two beers here – one that is traditionally fermented and one that undergoes a lactobacillus fermentation which creates a subtle tartness. By blending the two, we smooth out the tart and create a very refreshing and sessionable wheat beer.”

Snapshot Wheat is 5 percent alcohol by volume, New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson said. Two year-round New Belgium beers are lower in alcohol – Sunshine Wheat and Blue Paddle pilsner, both of which are 4.8 percent ABV, he said.

“For us, we were excited to get into something we think could be session-worthy, for sure,” Simpson said. “We also wanted to play around with the idea of a Belgium influence with the implied tartness or sourness you have” from one of the fermentations using Lacto.

Simpson thought that more subtle sour profile will have wide appeal. It’s refreshing and the sour flavor does not dominate, as it does in New Belgium’s beloved La Folie sour brown ale, he said.

New Belgium’s other wheat, Sunshine, is a different (and more conventional) kind of wheat beer, with orange peel and coriander. In 2012, New Belgium discontinued its organic wheat beer, Mothership Wit, due to declining sales and the addition of other beers to its portfolio.

New Belgium is not dropping any other beers from the rotation with the arrival of Snapshot Wheat, Simpson said. The last addition to the year-round lineup, Rampant Imperial IPA, came earlier this year.







27 November, 2013