New Glarus Apple Ale Review

Name: New Glarus Apple Ale
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 3.8%

You may have noticed that I am posting an astonishly high number of reviews today, but that's because I had to call in sick today on account of a cold. Since I can't have beer due to my lack of smell and have a few reviews in the pipeline, I figured I would divvy up my time between playing Diablo 3 and finishing those said reviews.

Earlier this year in May & June, New Glarus Brewing released their Apple Ale as part of their Thumbprint Series. Sadly, while I was over in Wisconsin earlier this year procuring some Three Floyds, Apple Ale was nowhere to be seen and I had to settle for another bomber of Dreadnaught (Talk about first world problems, am I right?)

Then a couple of weeks ago, New Glarus announced via Facebook that it was bringing back Apple Ale. My excitement grew even more when the owner of Keyport Liquors over in Superior, WI was on the radio talking about Apple Ale and how they had just gotten it in. Needless to say, I knew where I need to go to get my own!

Apple Ale pours a clear dark golden color with a rather filmy head, high carbonation and no lacing along the sides.

The nose has a sweet aroma of apples, cider, spices and some pale malts. It's almost like someone poured a bottle of Angry Orchard into my glass.

The flavor is pretty similar to the aroma with sweet apple tartness, cinnamon, barley and pale malts. It's much more obvious that this is a beer than an actual cider due to the barley and pale malt presence. The body is pretty light and the carbonation is quite mild as well. It's a pretty easy to drink beer overall.

All and all, it's a great yet mellow tasting fruit beer and I feel that even those who aren't generally fans of craft beer will find something to like in this. It isn't quite as complex or robust as New Glarus' other fruit beers but this is still very easy to recommend.

New Glarus Apple Ale - 8.5/10