Goose Island Lolita (2013)

January 31st, 2014 by Scott in Walt Disney World Beer Reviews

Back on New Year’s Eve at The Avenue, I first had Cantillon Mamouche, but the pub had also put a number of other beers on for the occasion including several other sours. Lolita by Goose Island was on draft so I decided to give it a shot as well.

As far as i can tell, the beer is named Lolita in reference to the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Two film adaptations exist; a 1962 adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, and a 1997 adaptation starring the man who voiced everyone’s favorite evil uncle lion and my personal favorite Spaceship Earth narrator Jeremy Irons.

A 1997 Lolita poster hangs in a downtown Houston pizza place I visit every so often called Frank’s Pizza; the posters in Frank’s are for films that were shot in Texas. Scenes from Lolita were filmed in El Paso, TX and also in New Orleans according to IMDB.

At this point you may be thinking:

[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YmS_VDvMY]

Let’s talk about Lolita the beer instead of Lolita the controversial novel and films.

Goose Island’s Lolita is a dark red beer and was poured with little head from the bar. It’s brewed with raspberries and brettanomyces, both of which contribute to a tart, sour flavor and an aroma full of raspberries and a bit of Belgian-style funk. It’s certainly full of raspberry flavor with a bit of wood from the wine barrels it was aged in. A pleasant funky taste in the dry finish.

While overall it wasn’t quite as good as Mamouche, this is still a terrific beer and a lot easier to find than Mamouche. Lately I’ve seen plenty of bottles in even though Goose Island considers it a limited release. Lolita is released annually in the fall, so it will be back around towards the latter part of the year if you miss it this time.