New Belgium Tart Lychee
What do you get when you mix the juicy sweetness of lychee with a light sour Felix base and top it off with the warmth of just a hint of cinnamon? A really good sour beer. Our Tart Lychee, to be exact, and it's a cult favorite for good reason.
Originally released in 2012 we figured 2020 could use a bit of a win so why not re-release a new and improved version? We like to think of this as the Goldilocks of sours: not too sour but not too sweet, either. Even if you've avoided sour beers in the past, don't be surprised if the balanced sweetness of Tart Lychee wins you over.
Originally released in 2012 we figured 2020 could use a bit of a win so why not re-release a new and improved version? We like to think of this as the Goldilocks of sours: not too sour but not too sweet, either. Even if you've avoided sour beers in the past, don't be surprised if the balanced sweetness of Tart Lychee wins you over.
3.7
510 reviews
Fort Collins, United States
Community reviews
Bomber. Poured a hazy golden color with a white head. Slightly sour taste of sweet lychee, tart berries, sweet and subtle cinnamon spice. Great carbonation, medium body. Very complex and well balanced!
Gold pour, white head.Aroma of raspberry, fruit, and spice. Flavor is lychee for sure, with nice spicy cinnamonness. A nice beer, but it falls a little flat.
On tap at Draft Taproom. Aromas of white grape, tropical fruit. Murky orange with a mostly fading white head. Dry, pretty sour, funky. Medium bodied.
Bottle, 650 ml, courtesy of Werckmeister, shared with him and others. Pours hazy golden, white head. Fruity, citrus, yeast, heavy malty, some sweetness, moderately sour. Medium bodied.
Pours hazy pale yellow with very little head. The aroma is really nice. The sour and a buttery malt both come through on the nose. Very tart, strong flavor on the front of the tongue, and mellow in the finish. I don’t pick up on the cinnamon but I don’t care. This thing tastes great.
Pours hazy orange with a one finger white head with good lacing. Aroma is of sour fruits, earthy funk, lychee, lacto, cinnamon, some bready matls, tropical fruits, and light wet hay. Taste is about the same as the aroma. Has a medium body with a semi creamy mouthfeel and a semi dry, semi sour, long finish. Overall, a solid, interesting sour ale that has a interesting combo of lychee and cinnamon notes.
Bottle. Light to moderate hay for the malt, moderate lemon for the hops, light to moderate musty basement for the yeast, with vinegar and very faint litchee fruit. Head is small, frothy turning wispy, white, with thin lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is hazy light amber. Flavor starts moderately acidic and acetic, then finishes lightly to moderately acidic and slightly bitter and a bit sour. Palate is light, watery with a lively to fizzy carbonation and a tart finish. A nice tangy Sour Ale with an easy drinking quality.
Lacti sour aroma with some berry, woody and slight earthy funk. Taste is a sweet tart berry like flavor with a bit of a lactic sour finish. Sour maybe 3 of 10. Not too sour but nice. A bit of an earthy funk in the finish. Some woody complexities. Easy drinking sour, funk becomes more prominent the more I drink. Would like more lactic sourness, still good though.
From a bottle at the Fall 2016 L.E.A.F.
Slightly hazy yellow-gold body with a fine white head.
Tart and fruity aroma.
Flavor: Moderately high tartness. Fruit notes include lemon and pear, in addition to subtle lychee.
Smooth but near puckering feel, with a surprisingly full body.
On tap at Lunar Brewing Co., and snifter served displaying a cloudy orange, with a fluffy, finger’s width of white head foam, and web-like lacing. Initial sweetness and light spice in the aroma subtly mellowed the tartness & tanginess of the esters as lychee and green grape. The body was somewhat light, with decent carbonation, as the taste added a hint similar to Tang breakfast drink to the existing esters+, along with a hint of salinity. The texture thinned a bit, but on the whole, a pretty flavorful Sour.
Sample at SBWF 2016.
Hazy golden with a white head. Tart with berries, cedar, light spices, bread and fruit. Refreshing and easy to drink. A tasty one.
Appearance: hazy to cloudy medium gold, two fingers of off-white head, excellent retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: tart citrus, slightly funky sweet and gritty lychee, crackery pale malt, woody, very light cinnamon. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate tart, light bitter, light spice. (8/10) Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, off-dry lingering tart and lightly spicy finish. (4/5)
I was a little hesitant with this one - the LoF series has been a little hit-and-miss for me lately, with really only La Folie being consistently excellent. Others have been a bit “meh” (e.g. the Blackberry Barley Wine) or worse (the Hof Ten Dormaal Golden Ale leaps to mind). The flavours for this one are actually somewhat reminiscent of La Folie, but with less depth. On the other hand I am definitely getting the lychee, so I guess it accomplishes what it sets out to do. On yet another hand (yes, I have three hands) it’s a little pricey for what it is. Ultimately worth it, I think it, but there are better examples of the style (albeit not with lychee) for cheaper - their own La Terroir, for example. (16/20)
Sample at SBWF 2016. Tart and fruity smell with some tropical fruits. Similar taste. Refreshing. Nice!
New Belgium’s LoF Tart Lychee is totally unlike any sour I’ve had. In fact, it’s unlike any beer I’ve ever had. Gold-colored pour - textbook Sour appearance. Pretty typical Sour aromas, too: bright, fruity, and funky yeast esters - champagne-like. Flavor is completely unique with (very) sour sensations coming through, sweet tea-like lychee fruit, and a bit of spice. It’s tart, but also very light and refreshing. It’s stupid easy to drink. This is a lovely example of weird beer, one that I could happily tip back all day.
Bottle.
A- Plastic, rubber, sour, subtle lychee.
A- Golden color, hazy liquid, white fizzy head.
T- Sour, tart, very subtle lychee, subtle plastic, acidic.
P- Light body, average texture, average carbonation, refreshing finish.
O- Really tasty. Could use a ton more lychee. It was definitely subtle and hardly noticeable. But even with the mostly absence of it, it was a great sour.
Big brown bottle. American. Pours medium pale yellow and opaque. Thin foam residing. Scent is medium dense sour ale. Taste is sour ale and a bit Lychee. Slightly acidic. Great. Interesting.
Pours a bright straw yellow with a foamy white head. Funky tart aroma. Taste is somewhat tart but a little dry. Not as enjoyable as I had hoped for but not bad.
Tap at Clubhouse BFD. Pours light hazy lemon color, white head. Aroma is lychee (surprise surprise), sugar, slightly sour funk, more funk than sour, citrus. Flavor is lovely puckering sour notes, lychee, some citrus. Nice! New Belgium does well in the sour department.
Huge thanks to Iznogud and Werckmeister for sharing the bottle! Drank at the Who Cares for Beer Festival 2016, Bevog Brewery in Bad Radkersburg, Austria. Hazy golden, thin white head. Fruity aroma, citrus, biscuit, yeasty. Malty, tart. Sour finish.
0,66l from bottle at Bevog Festival shared by me; thanks to fabiand. amber hazy color, small white head. smells fruity, some wood, lightly sour, berry notes, lightly nutty, nice smell. full body, soft almost light carbonation, slick mouthfeel. tastes lightly sour, some wood, caramel, light sweetness, fruity notes, marzipan, rather heavy / malty. finishes light to medium sour with notes of fruity / berry and some nutty notes. nice one, but rather heavy for a sour, not as refreshing as i expected.
on tap @ Hebron Brew Haus / Hebron KY --- Hazy light amber color, white head that drops to a full cover, lace strips. Taste is sour malt that moves through light carbonation to a long sour finish. Strong for a sour, but also balanced and thirst-quenching.
Draught at St. Augustine’s, Vancouver
Cloudy blond color. Light tropical aroma, mild tartness, a bit of citrus fruitiness. I would have expected more lychee; a bit moldy, funky in the final.
Pleasant fruity(-ish) sour.
Pours a merkey golden color with a nice thick white foamy head. Aroma of a sweet hops. Taste is Sour...... Wow, is it sour. Not my thing.
Plain look. Nice sour and funk. Hazy. Draft at the airport. Golden. Excellent.
Cloudy, pale. Lacto, sweet lychee, clean pale malts. The lychee balances the kettle sour nicely, such that this is a nicely balanced refreshing brew.
On tap at St. Augustine’s during New Belgium 25th anniversary celebration. Pours a hazy pale golden with a white head. Aroma is fruity with lychee notes. Same character sour, tarte taste. Crispy. Ver good.
Hazy yellow pour, large white head. Big fresh lemon, and melon Aroma, fresh melon rind, honeydew and some nice light malts and yeast with some light funk. Soft mouth feel and a very soft carb. Finish is tart and funky, with more melon, and some citrus pith. Not as sour as I expected but still quite good, and dangerously drinkable for 7.5.
À l’aveugle je n’aurais probablement pas deviné les ingrédients spéciaux, mais en les connaissant ça fait du sens. Il y a effectivement des notes de Lychees et de cannelle. C’est un peu mince et ça manque de punch, cela dit. Une espèce d’eau fruitée et un peu sûrette résumerait mon expérience. La combinaison de saveurs est intéressante, mais la base gagnerait à être améliorée. La bouteille est très belle par contre!
On draft at The Bird in Jackson Hole. Pours a hazy gold with an off white head. Fruity nose. Flavors of sour white grapes and green apples. Tart finish.
On tap at Bitter Creek Alehouse Milky beige yellow with a full dense off white head. Tart fruity flavors. Jucyfruit gum and apricots maybe. Lychee fruit I suppose. Soft unfiltered palate short lived fairly intense tart flavors. Interesting