New Belgium's "LOFT"

[Redbird Fan]

I recently tried New Belgium's "Special Release;" Loft. I didn't really enjoy it. Actually I'm finding I don't really care for most of New Belgium's line... but back to Loft.

It reminded me of their sunshine wheat, only it tasted like it was "off." It seemed like it wanted to be citrus flavored, but just came out tasting semi-bitter - like when you're eating fruit and you somehow manage to bite the peel.

It was light tasting, which was nice, but I didn't find it "uplifting" (as they claim it should be.)

Has anyone else tried this brew yet?

[hops99]

Yes, I tried it last summer in New Mexico, and I thought it was a major disappointment. Your description of the brew echoes what I thought about it. However, there are some New Belgium brews that I think are great, and seek out. We all know that Fat Tire is pedestrian (albeit a decent clean-out-the-garage beer), but the Abbey and Trippel are very good representations of the styles. Also, as far as other seasonals go, I enjoy the Saison and Bier De Mars, and absolutely think the Christmas Raspberry brew is perfect (it's one of only two or three fruit beers that I could honestly rave about). Loft was a mistake, to me.

[Kiltlifter]

Actually, the bottle of Loft I tried tasted pretty good to me. I thought that the combination of bitterness and citrusy flavors worked. I'm a big fan of NB's Abbey and Trippel as well. Don't get me started about the Framboise ... I had a whole bunch of those at our bike club's Christmas Party. TASTY!

New Belgium was represented at the Bavarian Bike & Brews Festival in Leavenworth, WA earlier this month. They had the Fat Tire, Sunshine and Trippel with them. Surprisingly to me, I liked the orange flavor of the Sunshine. Very good summer brew. The Trippel on draft was awesome! Can I have another please? :p

[fretlessman71]

I tried the Loft... I thought it was a little bit better than Flat Tire, but not much. I'd drink one if offered, but wouldn't seek it out. It's sort of like a watery version of a really good pale ale without actually BEING watery. OK, OK, I like bigger beers, but SNPA is a bigger beer compared to this one. If it's 100 degrees out, I'll probably pick this one over a Bigfoot.

Everyone raves about NB's beer but I haven't found a style of theirs I'm all that crazy about yet.