New Belgium Eric's Ale (Lips of Faith series)

Eric's Ale is a peach sour in New Belgium's Lips of Faith series, though, like La Folie (and others, probably), the beer predates the creation of the Lips of Faith line.  The brewers make this beer by blending a <3 year old oak-aged sour and a fresh sweeter beer.  Then, they mix in some peach juice, allow it to ferment out the new sugars and voila!  Eric's Ale is born.  Old-with-new sour blending is best known in lambic production, particularly gueuze, and master lambic blender is probably the coolest profession on earth (the Telegraph Stock Porter review discusses it a bit outside of the world of sours).  Of course, Eric's Ale is no gueuze, but it's certainly a tasty sour.

This beer is likable, interesting and refreshing.  It does not have the unrelentingly sour (read: wonderful) strength of La Folie, but it is still assertive and tart.  I'd give it a six on the pucker scale.  As my glass warms, the beer seems to be growing a bit sweeter.  The initial sourness and puckery finish are still present, but the middle has noticeable maltiness.  It's a pleasant, kinda spicy malt note (not sure if there's wheat in this one).  To be clear, the beer is fairly dry but not quite as dry as what you might find in a good fruit lambic.  The taste is like an unripe but juicy peach or a pie/jam-making peach variety.  The peachy-ness comes through even more strongly in the aroma.

Unripe peaches, lemons, old oak barrels and traces of caramel and musty barnyard odors all come through in the aroma.  The sour aromas are heavier on the oaky, vinegary, nearly lactic side of things.  The oak also adds a wonderfully dry feel.  Though present, funk is not a major player in this experience.  That caramel sweetness, presumably from the younger beer, sets Eric's Ale apart from most available sours.  The peach aroma is natural and relatively strong without stepping on the toes of other notes.  All of the flavors blend nicely, and the sum is greater than the parts.

Appearance-wise, it's a golden beer, transparent, with a small white cap that disappeared quickly.  As with other considerations, sours don't really conform to normal beer standards.  This beer resembles whiskey once the bubbles have entirely dissipated, and it's a nice look within its specific context.  

Though it's definitely not the most challenging sour around, Eric's Ale still has enough juice to confound the palates of those uninitiated to the world of sour beer.  Happily, it might also be a good beer to with them over.