New Belgium / Cigar City Lips of Faith - Anaheim & Marash Chili Ale
We’re about to light up Florida with this Cigar City collaborative brew. Our Belgian yeast tangos with Anaheim and Marash peppers along with loads of citrusy hops to create an ale full of spice. Aged on Spanish cedar to salute our mutual love for wood!
3.3
318 reviews
Fort Collins, United States
Community reviews
Not much aroma. Tastes something like a light Barley Wine. Somewhat bitter, can taste the peppers. Not bad.
Bottle was rather old from a few years back. Poured into snifters at home. Light golden yellow with a mostly transparency. Some active puffy white head. Aroma was light fruits like pear and apples, very slight cedar plank, cereal, and sugar. The taste was...rather old. (My fault,) A little oxidation. Chilies were non-existent, cedar was nearly gone as well. The fruit was OK but I missed out. Light body, nice carb.
Amber-gold, brilliantly and perfectly clear. Outstanding clarity. A full inch of off-white head is gummy, stocks together in clumps and hangs out for a long while. Light and sweet aroma. Pear, a hint of banana, lavender. Very lightly toasted crackers, a hint of chile. I’ve had a cedar aged beer from Cigar City before. It was like licking a cedar plank, and it was glorious. There’s zero wood in the flavor of this beer. There is, however, a sweet, soft blend of banana and pear, along with chile fumes. Intriguing. Chile heat settles in about halfway through a glass -- it has to build but never gets very intense.
Medium-light body, mild fizz. A gentle, pleasant heat - "very mild" at the Mexican restaurant salsa tray. Clean finish. A decent brew, though not as complex as I expected.
4th March 2015
Hazy gold beer, small pale cream colour head. Palate is airy and a little dry. Grainy pale malts, creamy sweetness as well. Mild floralness and tangy fruits. Mellow chilli warmth before the light dry finish. Really not that much going on here.
Deep yellow color, minimal head. Nose of tart cherries. Odd bitter taste from chilis, tart in the middle and a little spicy on finish. Not my cup of tea. But an average beer from CCB is still better than most.
From notes. tasted on 12/26/13 on draft. Pours clear dark golden with a thick white head that slowly recedes to average, but very sticky lace. The nose is rather nondescript with a bit of bread malt, a hint of spicy yeast, some citrus hops underlying, and a bit of chili spice stinging my nostrils. The flavor is like a very simple pale ale with bread malt and light citrus hops, but then there is quite a bit of burn on the back end. The body is medium with average carbonation and a long, lightly bitter hops and belly heat finish.
pours a mostly clear amber with a large off0white head, and good lacing.
smell is of caramel, chilies, spice, wood, some floral, and some tropical fruits.
taste is of tropical fruit, caramel, citrus, hops, and slight chili. ends a bit creamy and just a little bitter.
Draft... Pours lightly-hazed and amber with orange highlights and a mid-sized, creamy, white head. Fantastic retention. The restrained nose is built using pale malts, earthy hops and earthy chilies. Also, plenty of fruitiness, but no cedar. Full-bodied and creamy with busy carbonation. The flavor is just acrid and very bitter. I don’t like this at all. Can’t finish it, and that never happens.
Sampled on 1/1/2015. This spiced ale pours a medium to dark orange gold color from a 22oz bottle. Medium sized white foamy head with decent retention and nice lacing. The aroma is bready, fruity and sweet, some citrus and some wood, with some chilies. A medium bodied spiced ale. The malts are fruit and sweet, a touch tropical. The hops are herbal, earthy and spicy. A touch of wood, with some chilies in the background. Not a lot of heat, but they are definitely there. A touch of cedar(?) and wood upfront with the chilies at the finish. Interesting beer. Good carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly spicy.
Pours a medium amber color with a boozy head. Aromas of slight cherry, slight fig, grass, and hint of pepper. Flavors of mild pepper, slight cherry, grass (dominate), faint cedar and corn. Taste mostly like a lager. Drank 2 months later than the best by date. Medium sweet. Just a hint of the chili in the finish but just to faint.
Bottle. Amber beer with a cream head. Chili and light spice aroma with light backing sweetness. Caramel and chili flavor with light fruitiness. Medium bodied. Spice and caramel linger with red fruit.
Liked this collaboration. Two well established breweries brewed a good tasting beer that has good color, taste and aroma. Chilis are apparent, but not overwhelming. Some citrus detected. Would seek out this beer in the future.
Pours pale gold orange color, semi clear with a huge beige head. Nose is cherries, bell peppers, strawberries, caramel. Body is medium with a very silky texture, and medium carbonation. Initial soft sweetness leads to a nice clean dry finish, with just light lingering fruit.
Pours light brown, minimal head. Aroma of herbs, floral hand soap, watermelon. Taste is soapy, flowery, not sure where the peppers come in, maybe slighltly in the finish. Maybe. The description is much better than the product.
Poured from bomber into pint glass. Massive head on a golden-to-brown color. Herbal hops aroma with not much else. Taste is bland and uninspiring. The Belgian yeast comes through as does some peppery hops. However, the peppers and the wood are practically nonexistent. I've had a great many of CCBs cedar aged beers before and this doesn't even come close. I've also has plenty of their pepper beers and this is also doesn't come close. If you gave this to someone and didn't tell them a description, they would just assume it's some run of the mill pale ale. Disappointing.
Bright orange with a tall off-white head. Citrusey, lemony hops, subdued peppers, and caramel. Sugary sweetness with a with a lemon rind bitterness. Medium body with a sticky feel. Very well done beer
Aroma is nice and hoppy. Pours a golden brown with a healthy head into stemware from tap. Mouth feel is great and thin and bubbly. Taste is pepper forward with sweetness and some hops at the end. Really interesting brew
bottle - Pours hazy orange with a big off-white head. It smells of citrus and yeast. The flavor is of pale malt, yeast, and rather subtle peppers. It’s on the dry side with moderate bitterness at most. Interesting brew.
Pours Orange, lacy head that sticks to the glass. Smells hoppy. Tastes hoppy and finishes with the chillies. Little bitter on the palate.
Pours orange-amber into the glass with a soapy head that leaves ring lacing down the glass. The nose is citrusy and vegetal. Citrus flavors are backed with chile skins and building light to moderate heat. A juicy mouthfeel shows a nice bitter finish, which complements the chile heat well. This feels a bit unilateral, without much depth. The palate feels devoid of true substance, without a decent malt backbone. A tad thin, juicy with subtle chile essence, I was really hoping for more out of a collaboration of such great titans of the craft industry.
Medium amber flows out of the bomber and into my glass, the head accumulating so quickly I am overwhelmed. It’s soft, off-white, and grips the sides of the glass with a tenacity uncommon with a foam this thick, creamy and wet. The aroma is a very light Belgian yeast, the bread and spice dominating and wiping out any notion of peppers.
The taste is slightly bitter, but very subdued. Not enlightening, not amazing, but not a bad experience at all. It’s a combination of the yeast and the cedar that are coming together to make this what it is. Really a nice palate, medium body, light carbonation, and a long lasting and dry experience on my tongue. The flavors are timid almost, but this has a style of it’s own. Not a favorite, but definitely not what I expected from the ratings I had seen. Wood and spice...the floor of the forest is coming through here, rather than the fruits of the trees. A new experience. A good experience. I would ask that someone tries this for themselves rather than relying on the average rating or taster. It deserves more than to be considered a rating.
22oz bottle -
A very strange, strong beer with some pretty big swings of aroma and flavor. The cedar seems to dominate the aroma for me with just a smidge of underlying bell pepper-like note and a touch of fruit. Grapefruity and cedar on the palate, with just a hint of any chili pepper presence, both in flavor and spice level. Very, very low spice level and the pepper presence is more vegetal. Not bad.
The nose is well spiced with moderate spice notes, citrus, lemony notes and clove spices. A bit earthy and woody with a solid hoppiness that blends well. A bit rich and well spiced with heavy malts and light citrus and fruity notes. A well balanced but quirky brew with an interesting spice and hop notes that go well with toasted caramel malts. In general, I liked it but would probably not buy again.
Julie thinks it is kind of boring. Kind of likes a fluffed Julie gives 1.5
Tap at Sidedoor. Filtered orange-tan-amber body. Foamy off-white head. Interesting vegetal heat in the aroma. Interesting balance, a lot going on. The pepper heat is certainly present, but melds really well into the cedar and fruity belgo yeast. Almost an amarillo dry straw hop balance. Unique and out there, more LOF than CC. Not fantastic, but unique. An interesting palate mixer upper.
On tap at 1702. Pours light copper with very thin head. Aroma of lighy malt and green veg. Flavor has some upfront hops and veg green chile. Just a hint of lingering heat on the finish after about a minute. Great beer to show the chile light enough but motocable. Very nice.
Honey brown, with a small skiff floating on top. I normally hate me a chilli beer but this seems to be working for me. Aroma is sweet candied peach with a hidden pepper spice. Bubble gum really started to dominate the aroma the longer it sat in my glass. Taste is pretty much the same but way more of that sweet bubble gum hop comes through. The chillies build on your pallett the more you drink but never gets spicy. Yep cedar is noticeable. Not my favorite beer but best chilli beer by a long shot.
A hazed golden ale with a thin white head. In aroma, nice fruity malt with kiwi, Lichee, agave, nice. In mouth, a nice sweet fruity malt with lingering bitter notes, chili, grassy hops, nice but not too hot. #OttBottShare.
Bottle. Bright fruity aroma. Fruity taste with spice, bitterness, but no heat from the chilis. Quite sweet.
Pours golden with a white head. Citrus, chili, yeast and malt aroma. Mango, orange, yeast, lemon, chili, wood and malt flavors. Medium body and carbonation. Slight pepper spice. Citrus and slight pepper finish.