New Belgium 1554

I searched for a thread about this one, but all I found were a couple of pleas for a clone. I'm sipping my first one, and I can't find a reason EVER to clone it!

I like New Belgium, I like most of their beer, and the 1554 looked interesting, so I bought a sixer. I feel like I wasted $7. After a good sniff and about a quarter pint, I looked it up on Beer Advocate to see what others had to say. Surprisingly, it got pretty decent reviews. I'm hoping I got a bad batch - here's what I'm getting out of it:

Appearance: Rich and dark. Brown with just a hint of red when held up to the light. Thick head that dissipates quickly. Promising.

Smell: Utterly wretched. Yeasty, but not in a good way. Like old, bad bread. No hops. Maybe a hint of caramel and/or roasted undertones, but overpowered by the vile yeast odor.

Taste: Like it smells. If the overpowering yeast notes were gone, it might be sweet and palatable. Roasted barley and chocolate up front, sickening old, wet bread on the finish. Yuck.

Mouthfeel: A bit overcarbonated, but that's to be expected of a bottled beer. Acceptable if the taste and smell were pleasant.

Drinkability: I'm not sure I can bring myself to open another bottle. I will out of curiosity, but I won't be buying this again unless someone can assure me that I got a bad batch. EDIT: After an hour and more (different) beer, I still have that disgusting, yeasty aftertaste lingering in my mouth. It's actually making me feel a little nauseous.

Obviously other people like this beer. Anyone else have a similar experience with it? Anyone care to sway my opinion or convince me to buy another six pack someday?

I was the same way with the bottle I got. Im not sure how to describe the flavor, just not a good one. I finished the bottle and put it on my not to buy again list. To me it just had a almost harsh not pleasant flavor.

that's funny, i think the 1554 is one of their more drinkable beers, but i probably won't ever buy a new belgium again. they all have the same taste...can't put my finger on it. they must use the same hops all the time or something, because it's in every beer.

DeathBrewer said:

that's funny, i think the 1554 is one of their more drinkable beers, but i probably won't ever buy a new belgium again. they all have the same taste...can't put my finger on it. they must use the same hops all the time or something, because it's in every beer.

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Could be the water. I have noticed this 'thread' through many micro's. Like certain ones you can hand me the beer and I could probably tell you the brewery.

huh, strange. I have noticed I've definitely gotten bad batches of Fat Tire, but I think it is a shipping/storage issue. I rarely buy 1554, but I find nothing more enjoyable than an imperial pint of 1554 at the Red Lion after a long day on the slopes at Vail...

I thought the same thing about 1554. It wasn't very plesent to drink at all. After all the hype I hear about New Belgium I haven't been impressed by their beer.

I can't stand most new belgium beer off the shelves any more. There may indeed be a storage or shipping problem. I have had the 1554 on tap at the NW brewer's festival a few weekends ago and I did think it tasted significantly better than what i'd had from a bottle. Still... I didn't think it was worth buying when I can brew a few gallons for the price of a six pack. There are just too may good beers around on the shelves at bottleworks to pick this up again and make sure it was bad. I do like the limited sour run that new belgium put out and i'll pay a bit more as I have not bothered to do any funky yeast brews myself yet.

As an update, I bought a sixed on my way over to my future SWMBO's, she was making dinner for us that night, she likes beer a lot (again, why I think she might be a future SWMBO) and asked for something dark. She had mentioned liking 1554 so I picked up a sixer (and a $12 bottle of Lefthand Oaked Imp. Stout). The 1554 was fantastic, I was disappointed that I hadn't had it since last winter, it is usually my post-Vail skiing beer at the Red Lion...bout the best way to end a day of skiing.

I drank it out of the bottle, so I can't comment on aroma, but it had a nice roasty, chocolate, and coffee flavors that was there but still mellow and not overpowering. Mouthfeel is good, not too thick, fruity hints, finishes clean, no yeast flavor.

I am excited it is getting colder and I am in the mood for darker roasty beers again....guess you guys just got bad batches...I loved it.

Let me just plead with everyone to try this one on tap! Out of the bottle this beer is nothing even remotely interesting. It's so different on tap, it's almost scary. I don't know what New Belgium is doing to their bottles pasteurization-wise, but the bottles of 1554 are terrible.

I find the Sunshine Wheat to be their worst brew, IMO.

UPDATE:

I'm with Nyxator on this one. The bottles were awful, but I tried it on tap tonight. It was pretty good. It wasn't great, but it was a nice, chocolatey, roasty, schwarzbier-esque beer with some real complexity. I wouldn't go out of my way to find it again, but for those of you who have had the bottled 1554, try the draught. The difference is quite startling.

1554 is my favorite NB beer. Don't hardly buy their beers anymore though. I don't know if it's the fact that their beers have really gone downhill or just the fact that there are so many other better beers out there.

ColoradoXJ13 said:

As an update, I bought a sixed on my way over to my future SWMBO's, she was making dinner for us that night, she likes beer a lot (again, why I think she might be a future SWMBO) and asked for something dark. She had mentioned liking 1554 so I picked up a sixer (and a $12 bottle of Lefthand Oaked Imp. Stout). The 1554 was fantastic, I was disappointed that I hadn't had it since last winter, it is usually my post-Vail skiing beer at the Red Lion...bout the best way to end a day of skiing.

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Alright, hold on. I realize this is an old post, but first you said she is your future SWMBO, and then you say she MIGHT be your future SMWBO. If I recall, there's a little deal involving a ring and two months pay that makes the difference. So what happened - did you get hitched?

1554 is not so good out of the bottle, but quite good from a tap. It's at its best in the tasting room at New Belgium and gets progressively worse the farther you get from there.

I rarely buy New Belgium's beers anymore, even though they're (relatively) local to Denver. O'Dell's beers are just that much better.

blacklab said:

Alright, hold on. I realize this is an old post, but first you said she is your future SWMBO, and then you say she MIGHT be your future SMWBO. If I recall, there's a little deal involving a ring and two months pay that makes the difference. So what happened - did you get hitched?

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um, not so much. Went to Peru for a week to do some jungle trekking, met a nice girl down there, and when I got back to the states this girl dumped me. I wasn't wanting to commit to anything, she got sick of 'dating'. Oh well, she was a cool girl but I didn't really like her that much.

+1 O'dells IPA is really awesome! I also like re using their bottles.

I agree that O'dells is generally better. That said, I've never had a pale ale I like as much as Mighty Arrow (only available in the mix pack), and nothing even comes close to Bier de Mars from a few years ago.

Yeah, shoot.

I've seen the rise and fall of their beers. I went to college in Fort Collins which was convenient. No bottles. It was always full kegs of the stuff.

I'm not a fan of the 1554 or Fat tire or most of their beers in fact. Hell, I don't even like their bottles. They're too damn short so I have to adjust my bottler...

90 Shilling is far superior to any swill New Belgium is putting out.

Smogre said:

90 Shilling is far superior to any swill New Belgium is putting out.

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Agreed. I also really like the 5 Barrel Pale.

Damn, I know this is an old thread, but I wanna stick up for 1554 a bit. It is one of my favorite (commercial) beers. I get a bad sixer about every 5-6 six pack, though. I don't know why. I don't think it is usually that overpoweringly yeasty, just in those bad sixers.