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My eye was attracted to the heavy san serif pale green font against a deep purple background – Grape Fizz Ale. Then, to the side in much smaller type, three words that sealed the deal for me: with concord grape.
Before returning to my native Duluth in March 2020, I spent seven years working for a newspaper in Door County, a place that has a number of breweries and wineries that I visited regularly for my weekly drinks column. But one of my favorites was not even in the county. I would drive south to Algoma in Kewaunee County to visit the Ahnapee Brewery, built in a two-stall garage next door to Von Stiehl Winery.

Ahnapee was making my favorite beers, but whenever I visited, I’d also stop at Von Stiehl to pick up a guilty pleasure the winery produced – Concord Grape Wine, a slightly sweet dessert wine packed with the delicious flavor of Concord grapes. Concord grapes are traditionally used to make jelly and juice, but I loved the Concord grape flavor of Von Stiehl’s wine. Wish I had a bottle right now.

So, I did not have to give much thought to picking up a six-pack of New Belgium Brewing’s Grape Fizz Ale. I have a very long history with New Belgium and I know they do not disappoint.
I hadn’t felt such excitement about cracking open a beer in a while. I was looking forward to the great Concord grape taste.

Somehow my eye glossed right over the type on the other side of the six pack that read “and golden lime.” While my palate was prepared for the great grapey taste of Concords, especially after getting a whiff of Concord grape soda upon opening the can, instead I had a moment of shock from the tartness of this ale.

Unlike other grapes, Concords have a chemical compound called methyl anthranilate, which is the stuff used to flavor grape Kool-Aid, grape Nerds and other grape candies. That is the taste I was expecting from Grape Fizz Ale, but the addition of the golden lime changed all that.

And what, anyway, is a golden lime? Had to look it up. The golden lime – also known as calamansi – is a hybrid of a kumquat and mandarin orange native to the Philippines. The “golden” interior is closer in color to a tangerine than a lime, and it has more pucker factor than a regular lime, all of which explains what happened to the Concord grape flavor I was anticipating.

The New Belgium website claims they wanted “to make a beer inspired by the nostalgic grape sodas of the 80s and 90s.”

Instead of the fizzy Concord grape-flavored ale I was expecting, I got instead a fizzy sour ale that, while refreshing, took some getting used to. I definitely reveled in the Concord grape aroma before each sip.

With soda getting trendier than ever, we wanted to make a beer inspired by the nostalgic grape sodas of the 80s and 90s