New Belgium Lips of Faith - Sahti
A Sahti is a Finnish Rye Ale brewed with Juniper. A Settee is a seat for more than one. A Soiree is enjoying this Cascade & Amarillo hopped, orange & lemon peel spiced, amber Sahti on your Settee with your Sweetie.
3.2
195 reviews
Fort Collins, United States
Community reviews
Orange pour with a white head. It’s fruity and malty and it’s ok, but isn’t that grand.
Night of the Lips of Faith series continues to dissapoint. This is just oddly grassy and wierd. I cant even describe the watery subtle flavors in here. Maybe light sea weed and bark? bad
Some light tea flavors. Lightly sweet. Kinda boring and nothing else going on. But hey, nothing is better than terrible
bottle - Pours clear orange with a small off-white head and a fruity, malty aroma. It’s sweet and fruity with a faint hint of juniper and a touch of hops in the finish. It’s alright.
pours a pale gold, malt and tea aroma. Thick body, lots of tea and juniper flavor. Pretty good all around beer
Hazy amber colour. Small white head. Gently malty aromas. Notes of biscuits and caramel. Slightly oxidized. No noticeable rye nor any juniper, so it is hard to tell why they call it a sahti, for it does not appear like one. That said, it is a pretty tasty beer.
Pours a translucent orange-green with a fast fading thin white head. Aroma is spicy, fruity, rye, bread, some bitter citrus.Taste is very mild, very nice up front; bread, earth, yeast. The flavors become somewhat generic however. Not much character in the middle. The finish is bitter, but again, rather general in flavor and character. Not bad, not great; a step up from okay.
This feels like an incredibly well-made MACRO-brew. I feel like it would make a GREAT gateway beer for someone who only drinks Busch Light.
Name: LoF Sahti
Date: December 28, 2010
Mode: Bottle
Source: Hop City, Atlanta
Appearance: clear copper, wispy off white head, drippy lace
Aroma: sweet and very spicy aroma, fruity sweetness
Flavor: sweet and fruity flavor, candy caramel, balancing spicyness, light bitterness
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4
bomber pour that comes out golden colored. aroma of citrus zest, juniper and hops. taste that follows the aroma. the citrus and juniper stand out. different for sure but not half bad.
Pours light amber with a large off-white head. Smells a bit like rye, some earthiness, and a touch of juniper. Tastes bitter, a bit funky, kinda citrus peel spiced, juniper notes. Medium-bodied with a slick texture and active mouth-carbonation, New Belgium Lips of Faith Sahti finishes funky.
Tasted from bottle into standard pint glass. Beautiful, clear golden-amber color with thin white head. Pleasant aroma of grain, hops and subtle juniper. Restrained malty sweetness, some rye crispness, slight biscuit taste. Nice round mouthfeel, very dry finish. Here’s the thing: I know talk of "beer styles" makes the New Belgium brewers’ skin crawl, and I like that about them. But hey, they called this Sahti, not me, so I feel entitled to quibble. Sahti is an ancient Finnish style using rye as most of the grainbill, mashed with and lautered through a juniper twig bed, not boiled, utilizing little or no hops, fermented with rough baker’s yeast, left unfiltered. This beer doesn’t appear to use much juniper or rye, is clearly boiled with hops, fermented with a very refined neutral yeast, and microfiltered. It’s a great beer, possibly better than most Sahtis, definitely more shelf-stable, but it barely resembles true Sahti. Regardless, you should give it a try.
(draft 12/28/10). Clear deep gold color. Medium off white head. Light grass and citrus hop aroma. Same flavor, with light sweetness and light bitterness. Avg duration. Light bitter finish with light alcohol. Slick texture. Moderate carbonation. Good lacing.
22oz bomber from Pinch poured into an English Pint. Pours a dark burnt orange with a small bit of off-white head. Slight aroma of sweet malt and citrus hops. Medium sweet and light bitter. Medium bodied with a creamy yet oily texture. Lively carbonation and a long sweet finish. Overall, not bad. Nothing I would seek out but something I would drink again.
Hazy orange amber under a bright white head that thinned and dissipated in short order. The aromas didn’t smack of juniper as I had expected, but were rather subtle and leaned more toward blood oranges. The flavours are the main writing point as it was sweet and tangy with orange citrus flavours. It was a fairly light beer considering its pedigree (and its alcohol content, thought my companion who si a very learned chap in these matters). The hop content was either incredibly subtle or my tastebuds had taken a beating from dinner. Juniper cames through on a subtle note toward the finish as well as being herbal and astringent with lots of ginger.
This beer was ideally suited to its purpose as a mid-dinner conversation piece. Plenty to muse on and good dollops of flavour to accompany the strength of the Mexican dishes we were eating. A cracking drop.
Serving glass: Poured from bottle into dimpled mug.
Appearance: Clear amber with thin white head that disappears leaving no lacing. I thought a Sahti should be cloudy?
Aroma: Bready with a decent level of spiciness, citrus and a somewhat metallic bitterness (this may be the juniper).
Taste: Very bready, caramely and spicy, with citrus and juniper. The juniper just seems a little strange to me, as if some gin was poured into my beer. Surprisingly simple, and almost ordinary, compared to my expectations.
Palate: Moderate carbonation, medium body with a juniper-driven dry finish. Strangely boozy for the moderate alcohol.
Overall: Hard to review a style I have not had before. It is hard to know if it is indicative of the style or not. My guess is not, since I thought it would be much more yeasty, both in appearance (cloudy) and in taste (banana, maybe slightly tart). As is, this seems to be simple English Ale with a bunch of juniper. I will need to try one of the better reviewed examples of the style to know if I am the problem or if the beer is (I have a sneaking suspicion it is the beer).
22 ounce bottle shared by Butters at the 14th Richmond Ratebeer Gathering, 3/19/11. Pours a clear golden color with a thin head that fades quickly. Aroma of pale wheat malts, nutty notes, herbal notes. The taste is sweet malts, herbal notes, citrus and caramel. Fairly sweet. Medium bodied. Decent.
22 oz. bottle shared by Tmoney99. Pours a slightly hazy amber color with a small white head. The aroma is a battle between juniper and other herbs and the sweet caramel malts that try to take over. Some vegetal notes with agitation. The flavor is sweet caramel malts, light leafy notes, juniper and a touch of spicy rye. I get some sweet tea toward the finish. This was strange and I probably wouldn’t have this again.
22. Pours a somewhat hazy bronzed medium amber with a loose and thin tan head. Drippy lace. Bit heavy-handed with the caramel on the nose, almost like a candy bar melting in the sun. The juniper and rye just emphasize the sweetness of all the residual sugars in this. Creamy medium body with prickly carb, though not much of it. That gin flavor juniper, along with the spiciness of the rye, kick up a little on the mid palate, flowing under the river of malty caramel notes. You can almost feel the angry little imprisoned sugar molecules trapped in this beer, slashing rebelliously against your mouthflesh on their way to their doom, it’s just sharp and prickly and coruscating. Overbearing and oversweet.
Opens up with a one finger head that pretty much disappears by the time I walk to the other room. Clear amber colored body. Orangy aroma. Juniper comes through in the flavor, as does the rye backbone. Cascade hops sure are nowhere to be found. Bit of a "twang" in the back end. Definitely worth trying, especially for those that like non-traditional beers.
Poured into a tall flute.
The pour is a soft orange yellow with some soft head produced.
the aroma is very minimal, not a whole lot of much.... some sweetness and some very minimal hop presence.
the taste is almost non-existent. upfront the is a weird bland american ale taste to it. Sort of mild hops with a little sweetness and almost no juniper presence. The is almost nothing on the mid or back palate... just falls right off.
it is an easy drinker for sure... but i am a bit let down by this beer.
not great for taste or for the sahti style.
22 oz. bottle. Medium orange pour with a small white head. Aroma of some bread dough, crackers, some spruce and citrus peel. Flavor is doughy with some spice, juniper, and spruce. Vegetal plants, citrus. The more I drink this the more it tastes like a spiced version of fat tire. Blegh. Thin to medium bodied. I feel like this fat tire ale base gets dragged out way too often by New Belgium. Wouldn’t ever buy or drink this again.
Bottle. Pours a golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty spicy hoppy aroma. Sweetish malty fruity spicy caramel flavor with hoppy hints. Has a sweetish malty spicy warming finish.
Medium offwhite head. Hazy deep yellow body. Fruity resiny papery aroma with herbal notes. Dry-sweet resiny spicy cinnamon taste with honeyish mealy notes. Mid-bodied. Mild mealy mouthfeel. Dry resiny honey aftertaste with mealy fruity notes. Nice, but a bit old, and nothing at all to do with sahti. (0.65l bottle, Café Amsterdam, San Francisco.)
I didn’t think that this was particularly junipery. Some spices a little sweet. Slightly oily mouth feel but not in a bad way. I have to say I kind of liked it. Serving: Bottle
out of bottle, this beer was light and crisp with some peppery spiciness to it probably wouldnt go out of my way to get this one again, but fun to try
Bottle. Poured a clear copper color with an average white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate aroma of citrus, leaves and earthy. Medium body with smooth dry texture and soft carbonation. Medium citrus bittersweet flavor with a medium complex bitter sweet finish of moderate duration. Interesting complex brew.
22 ounce bomber. I’ve seen this several times but never picked one up, until last night. I’m not really sure what to expect out of this beer. The label states it’s a Finnish Rye and that it’s got some hops in it. Little to no head, cloudy appearance, murky carbonation. Color is a nice amber brown, cinnamon. Aroma isn’t as big as I had hoped for – guess those hops aren’t used for aroma. I can pick out the rye and some caramel malt sweetness. Pretty disappointing really. Luckily the beer makes up for it in the taste department, as there’s lots of things going on. The spice of the rye really hits you first, it kind of punches you in the mouth and makes you sit up and take notice. Unfortunately, from there things sort of wash out in the middle, as the mouth is still reeling from the initial hit of rye. However the beer makes a comeback, finishing with floral juniper and citrusy hop bitterness. This is clearly and almost makes up for the lack of complexity in the middle. Mouthfeel is sufficiently slick though never oily, with medium carbonation. It’s somewhat watery – I find myself wanting the body of the beer to be a little bit heartier. There’s a little bit of a hint of alcohol esters in the middle of the beer but nothing outlandish – and I’m relatively sensitive to those so you may not even notice. Overall this is an interesting though slightly disappointing beer.
Picked this up at the Liquor Stop in Indiana. Shared at a recent tasting and poured into a tulip.
Really not a good example of a Sahti. Oh well, here goes. The beer pours a moderate golden color with a thin white head with moderate retention. The nose brings forward a bit of bready malt. Really plain. Plain, plain, plain. How does that happen with a sahti? Normally I’m complaining that there’s way too much going on. The taste is along the same lines. A bit of mild weirdness from who knows what in the background, but mostly just a bit of lightly-sweet malt. Feel is medium and average. Decent carbonation. Nothing horribly offensive about this beer, it’s just a bad example of the style. It just doesn’t really present anything that would make me think this was a sahti.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 01-04-2011
Bottle. Pours gold with a brown tinge; head looks so solid that it could be blown insulation. Nose has spicy and juniper notes atop roast and toast. Definite juniper on the tongue as well; also some hops bitterness and spicy notes, over an underlay of malt; I don’t get the citrus in the description anywhere. Mouthfeel is very round -- almost too much so. Good, but not something I’d drink a lot of.
bottle thanks to thirdeye11. poured gold with a thin white head. aroma was grain, candy sugar??, and spice. flavor matched the aroma with a light body.