Dark Kriek - Gone, But Not Forgotten

For those of you not familiar with New Belgium's "Lips of Faith" series, I'll enlighten you a bit.  It's a very limited run, often not even enough to keep the Fort Collins residents happy, and there are usually only 2-4 offerings available.  For quite a while, the only place you could get these was the brewery, though they've recently started putting them in bombers available at a few liquor stores around town.  As far as I know, there is only one permanent Lips of Faith, a sour brown ale called La Folie.  We'll discuss that a bit later.  These beers fetch a heavy premium, usually between 9 and 20 dollars a bottle, but more often than not, they're worth it.  Before I ramble too much, we'll get to the task at hand, one of the best Lips of Faith in the series, and one that is likely almost all gone: Dark Kriek.


My first sip of this beer (pronounced dark creek by the way) was in early April of this year, when we stumbled upon a bottle at a local liquor store while visiting Fort Collins (we hadn't moved back yet).  The blend, which consists of 65% ale brewed with cherries and 35% wood aged brown ale (translation: La Folie), was unique, and worth a 9 dollar gamble.  We brought the bottle back to Iowa and shared it while watching the fireflies one night, and quickly fell in love with it.  Now keep in mind, it was already out of the brewery by that time, so it was on it's way out.  We had friends in Iowa that visited Fort Collins for vacation in May, and we asked them to bring us a couple more bottles.  They obliged, and again, we shared them (this time with the friends as well) under the stars.  We thought this was the last we'd ever have of this delicious beer.

Flash forward to a couple weeks after we moved back (mid-September), while perusing the shelves of our neighborhood liquor store we found a bottle hiding in a dark corner of a cooler and grabbed it.  We asked the clerk if they had any more, and sure enough, it was the last bottle.  Chalk it up to fate.  We decided to hold on to that bottle until I got a job.  Flash forward again to today.  Coincidentally I accepted an offer about 5 hours ago, so that bottle has since been emptied into two globe glasses (you really can't drink it any other way).  I'll admit, it's different than that first bottle.  It's aged over the months, a bit of the cherry flavor has dwindled, but the nice sour backbone is still there and there is no skunkiness.  La Folie has a very notable sour note, enough so to feel that twinge in the corners of your jaw, but the dulled and slightly sweetened Dark Kriek is a much more palatable beer that can be enjoyed by a much larger audience.

If I were to drink this out of a glass without the bottle staring me in the face, I might not guess that it had a heavy cherry content.  It's just not that strong, which is a start contrast from it's cousin, Transatlantique Kriek.  This beer is a reddish amber, where Transatlantique is very red.  I'll admit, I don't know exactly what's in that one (something foreign as it costs twice as much), but it's very different, albeit still a good drink.  Maybe I'll review that someday.  The 8% ABV is great, but never quite realized unless you drink the full bottle yourself, as I don't know of anything that this beer could follow or precede.  This could easily be paired with food, but I'd go with a smaller snack or appetizer instead of a meal.  Maybe some cheese or something.  I really don't know, I'm just not that classy.

Anyway, I'm rambling and talking like a snob again.  Beer pong.  Jager bombs.  Strip joints and late night taco bell.  Much better.  I'll finish this up by advising the reader to try some of the Lips of Faith series.  To save some big money, go try them at the brewery first to see what you like, then check the liquor stores later to see if it made it to bottles.  These offerings are an easy way to expand your beer tastes in a different way than just grabbing random six packs of the shelf.  They are also usually quite tasty, and are perpetually changing, so if you find one you don't like, wait a couple weeks for the next one to come along.  Also, if you want to read more about Dark Kriek, check here.

Final Grade: A.  I would have gone A+, as I love it, but it's all but extinct and will probably never come back.  If you can find this beer, buy it all, and if you hate it, call me and I'll buy it off you.  It's a beer drinkers beer and will probably be good into the middle of next year.  If you never have the chance to try it, I'm sorry, but get to the brewery and try La Folie to get a bit of a taste.

Girly Grade: a qualified B+.  If you like red wine, you'll probably enjoy this, as they have a lot in common.  If you're more of a Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi drinker, avoid it, the flavor will probably be too much for you.  Either way, as I said above, buy any you can find, and maybe sell it to me.

I'm sorry to see the last sip of this beer disappear into my belly, but it gives me hope.  New Belgium is a daring and experimental brewery, and they tend to bring unique, but still drinkable flavors to the market.  I have no doubt that they'll continue to make some kick ass Lips of Faith offerings, and I'll continue to drink them up with glee.  Enjoy the season, talk to you next year.  Until then, bottoms up.

-The Drunken Dane