What would you ask Eric Salazar (New Belgium Sours)?

San Diego Beer Week is almost upon us.
There are a crazy amount of events but the one I am really looking forward to is a special tasting with Eric Salazar of New Belgium.
He will be explaining about brewing the following beers and also open it up to questions.
- La Folie (Flanders Red Ale)
- Eric’s Ale (Sour Peach Ale)
- Belgo IPA (Belgian IPA)
- Biere de Mars (Brettanomyces fermented)
- Trans Kriek (Blend of Boon Kriek--a sour cherry ale from Belgium)
- Sahti (Finnish-style beer, spiced with Juniper berries among other things)

I have so many questions running through my mind. I was wondering if anyone had questions and I can try to get them answered.

I have lucky enough to have tried many of these.

They are all very different.

La Folie is very acidic. Almost aggresive compared to some of the others.

Eric's is nicely balanced.

Biere De Mars is very floral no real sourness at all.

Since temperature can drastically affect the way brett can react as in the amount of acetic acid versus lactic acid. Are all of these cellared at the same temperature or is it purely the ingredients that are making a difference?

I tried Eric's Ale and found it to be barely sour at all. However, I did not enjoy La Folie at all because I found it too sour.

Q: What do you add to powdered water?

I thought La Folie was supposed to be a brown.

arturo7 said:

I thought La Folie was supposed to be a brown.

Click to expand...

A Flanders Brown. I didn't think it was that sour but then again I'm use to drinking Cantillon and many Gueuze's.


Primary- 10 Gal Oatmeal Stout
Kegged- Sorachi Ace Pilsner, Wet Hop Citra Pale Ale, 10 Gal Black IPA
Bottled- Berliner Weisse, Zeus IPA
Next batches- Kolsch, Pale Pale #4 w/Greenbelt Yeast

Since switching over La Folie to the “Lips of Faith” series the flavor has changed substantially (less acidic, less complex). Is this change a result of the flash pasteurization, or is the beer being blended to be more marketable?

Oldsock the biggest thing I have questions about is how La Folie is blended. To my understanding but if people know more please chime in.
New Belgium makes Love which is like a 6% pretty tart, pretty sour almost lambic style beer. I've only tasted it once it was amazing with a great sharp acidity. This beer is aged in their giant "Rodenbach" style foeders. Then my questions kick in, how is this blended beer made?
In what proportion is it blended?
Does this blended beer age a while before it is bottled or kegged?
What is malt profile on Love?

Some other generic questions
How are your yeast and bugs produced, maintained and do you continually repitch them?
Do you start with a mixed culture or do you add different bugs at different times?
What sort of adjustments can you make to the beer while it is brewing?
When do you add fruit to you sour beers? (like Tart Lychee)
Is there any way a homebrewer can get your souring bugs?

There was an issue of BYO awhile back that had a chunk of those answers. They had some info on blending (50% 3 year old beer IIRC). I was under the impression that Love was just the starter culture they use to propagate the bugs.

I used dregs from the old corked and caged La Folie with good results, but the new Lips of Faith bombers don't have anything alive in them so I'm not sure if you can still harvest their bugs from any of the bottles (do they still sell the corked and caged at the brewery.)

Interested to hear what sort of answers you get.

Ask him how to make Eric's Ale, so I can make it.

Try to get the grains and hopes he uses in Erics ale.

Almighty had some good questions about a mix or if they pitch the bugs seperate.

I asked a bunch of those questions when I went to new belgium and went in the foeder aging room but the tour guide had no idea.

Alright so my report back. I'll start with Oldsock's Questions:
I asked Eric and he explained the main change has been do to the volume change. Since moving to a Lips of Faith series they now produce 300 hectoliters instead of 30 hectoliters. And this means that the beer needs to be bottled on their main bottling line. And that means it must be pasturized so as to not contaminate the rest of their beers. Before it was all hand corked! And this allowed the beer to be in a different part of the brewery and these bottles could take the added pressure over time. Good News. Eric said they should have a corking line soon.

Most of my questions were background questions. Which has now generated more questions that I will have to follow-up with. Here's a good summary:

I tried to figure out how they approach sour brewing at NB. So from what I understand from my conversation with Eric. They started with the traditional bugs (lacto, pedio, brett) and pitched them into a bunch(lots) of barrels. And over the course of several years they got rid of the bad barrels and repitched more of the bugs from the good barrels (not sure how they control their ratios, like lacto getting out of control, more Qs). Eventually they moved up to using French Oak foudres. They now have 20 with 10 filled with Felix and 10 with Oscar. Oscar is their dark sour base (La Folie) and Felix is their pale base (Eric's Ale, Tart Lechee). Each of these foudres taste a bit different based on their location in the brewery. (This made me want to try the same wort and bugs but in different locations in my house). Supposedly foudre #3 is tasting really good right now. And once and a while you will here about a LOVE barrel. This is a single barrel or foudre that tastes great on its own. It can be Oscar or Felix. Some of the beers after they are blended are left to age in the barrel.

I did a more detailed write up about all the beers on my blog:
http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.com/2010/11/sdbw-tasting-with-eric-salazar-of-new.html

Let me know if you have more questions and I will pass them along.

Thanks for reporting back, did it sound like they'd be running unpasteurized beer on the corking line? I saw there was an article on NB in the newest BYO with an inset on their sours, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet.

That is what I understand. Eric said he likes the look of the corked bottle but it also allows them to have a different area to bottle beers with live cultures.

Hey Guys. I have some interesting stories to tell yall about these beers. I lived in Fort Collins for 7 years, and 2 of which I lived with the son of New Belgium. Obviously since I am on this website, I have some crazy home brewing adventures. When I was scrolling the forums and came across this post, I was stoked.

Sour beers are the best beers in the world. Perhaps some of the best beverages in the world. Living with the New Belgium Family was the most truly amazing adventure I can ever imagine experiencing.

I am really glad that you got to go and talk with Eric. Truly an impeccable person, and his wife, Lauren. She has some of the best taste buds in the world. You have no idea how nerve racking it is to have these guys taste and critique your homebrews. WHOA!!! But, what I learned is invaluable.

I can totally agree about the La Folie, one of my favorite's ever. I have had the opportunity to drink copious amounts of this stuff. Imagine having New Belgium parties where everyone has their own globe glass filled with La Folie and Erics Ale, among everything else, on tap in the garage. Anyways, the beer has changed. All beer changes however. Fat Tire is not brewed in the original recipe, in bottle. They went back to the original, very close, when the started putting it in cans. Even Chimay doesn't taste the same.

Here's the fun part. One day Zak, the son, and I are brewing on our electric keggle system and do an Imperial IPA and then pull all the second runnings to do a braggot. We added tons of honey and then pitched 100% Bretta straight from a fermenter at the brewery. After 14 months of aging, it was time to blend, keg, and bottle. As my signature says, and of course you know about the Transatlantic Kriek and the LOVE Foudre, do I say more? I will. We have 10 gallons of 7% 100% Bretta Braggot with Cherry Juice that was used in the Old Cherry Ale and then split into 2 5 gal Cornies. We went down to the brewery and how coincidentally fortunate is the Boon Oude Gueze from Belgium and the Love foudre in the same room in the warehouse. WOW. Take a growler pull of each and head back to the house. There ya go. 2 different blends with 10% Boon Gueze in one and 10% Love in the other. Carb and bottle. 2 years later I have 3 bombers left of each. This is why I love sharing this story. I have 2 beers that would never in a lifetime be able to be reproduced. I am truly fortunate for all my crazy opportunities and adventures. Shout at me I would love to answer some questions.

Hi guys, I know this thread has been quiet for some time but my question is related enough to post here.

Like Tannnick I live in N.CO and am fortunate to have a good childhood friend that works at NBB (not as tight as living with Zac). I am going to try to do something similar to their current Super Cru which is described as Fat Tire times 2 with Pear. My Mom has beautiful crisp Asian pears falling off her tree right now and this seems like a great use for them.

My Question: How would you add the pears? Juice them and add to boil at some point? Chop into chunks and add to boil at some point? Chop into chunks and add during chilling at 160 degrees to pasteurize and add to primary? Chop into chunks and freeze for a few weeks and add to secondary?

Yeast??? Wyeast french or belgian saison?

Any other ideas for this brew as well as other ideas for the pears would be awesome. Thanks!

Chop into chunks and freeze. I tried to make a puree out of pears once, which turned into a total mess when I racked. The problem with pears is that they have those fibrous veins and when you chop them up it turns into a lot of small strings and they clog up the racking cane.

If you really want to puree it I would stuff it all in a cheesecloth or nylon bag to pull it out once you're happy with the taste.