New Belgium Releasing La Folie Grand Reserve Honey Saffron

From New Belgium:

Hey, Lauren Limbach here.
I like to say that our annual La Folie Grand Reserve release is like taking La Folie to the prom. It’s the one time each year where we take our beloved signature sour, La Folie, and reinvent its world by featuring some of the most intriguing, exotic, and luxurious ingredients we can get our hands on. And the 2020 release is no exception.

The inspiration for this year’s La Folie Grand Reserve release, Honey Saffron, came from a very simple starting point: the life around a flower. More specifically, its petals, its crocus threads, and its eventual honey. We wanted to create a culinary experience in a glass and I think this is one that you’ll really enjoy.
Cheers,
Lauren Limbach
Wood Cellar Director & Blender

THE SOUR

La Folie, our pioneering sour, is an award-winning Flanders-style sour. Its notes of sour plum and cocoa are the result of years of maturing French oak foeders containing the oldest, continuous souring culture in America.

THE HONEY
The honey that is fermented within the base beer is from a very special producer and friend of New Belgium’s, the African Bronze Honey Company. This honey is wild-harvested and only gathered twice a year in the West Lunga Forest of Zambia, Africa. The honey is dark in color and showcases notes of dried fruit, smoke, and maple syrup.

THE SAFFRON

Known as the world’s most expensive spice, the saffron used in this beer come to us by way of our new friends at Zeeba Farms Cooperative, an Afghan saffron co-op that’s working to strengthen the economic relationship between consumers and farmers in the saffron industry of Afghanistan. We finished this beer with over 800 grams of saffron to add floral and woodsy notes and a deep amber glow to the beer — specifically in the foam.