Buddha Nuvo in the glass.
The beer is Buddha Nuvo. It’s a Saison with an ABV of 12%. Buddha Nuvo was bottled at Rockyard Brewing, but is a collaborative effort between 14 Colorado breweries including Elk Mountain, Strange, Black Fox, New Belgium, Ska, Funkwerks, Trinity, Crooked Stave, AC Golden, Pumphouse Brewery and Rock Bottom (incomplete list). The breweries involved did everything from helping to conceptualizing it, providing equipment and/or ingredients, or simply lending a helping hand during production of the beer. The beer was developed as a fundraiser for the Colorado Brewer’s Guild. More information can be found here, here and here.
Only 1700 bottles were brewed, but I read somewhere that 135 cases were released to the public. On the first day of release, it was available at a very limited list of locations; Rockyard, Trinity, Falling Rock, Argonaut, Mile High, Tony’s Meat Market, Lukas Liquors, and Village Wines @ Castle Pines (all in Colorado, of course). Sale price: up to $40. Many places had bottle limits of 1 or 2. I was able to score 2 at one of my favorite beer spots, Lukas Liquor. One bottle I am drinking now, the other…I’m hoping to cellar for a long time.
The bottle is a work of art. The label has fantastic artwork, but even more impressive is the wax. The wax comes from recovered crayons at Rockyard, which is also a restaurant. Mine was a very cool looking blue, but what I liked best about the wax is it was thin enough to open it directly with a bottle opener. Some beers, you just can’t do that due to the thickness of the wax. Also, the label is signed by Jim Stinson of Rockyard and Jason Yester of Trinity. This is a bottle to keep.
Enough background info then, let’s get to the beer.
Buddha Nuvo's Beautiful artwork.
The beer is light amber-orange in color. It is clear, but hazy (if that makes any sense). There’s light lacing and light carbonation, kind of like Champagne. It smelled of oranges, but not just of any oranges…fresh squeezed oranges. I could smell table sugar as well. The taste consisted of honeydew, apricot, some lime and heavy orange. It tasted like I was drinking fresh squeezed orange juice. After considering the carbonation for a moment, it reminded me of Orange Crush. There was some citrus bitterness in the middle, but nothing too bitter. The beer is more sweet than sour for sure. The most surprising thing about this beer? Absolutely no alcohol burn. None. Look at the 12% I mentioned above. Now consider that this beer, taste-wise, is extremely sessionable. A dangerous beer indeed.
This beer is in the top 2 beers I’ve had this year. That is saying a lot. I had Pliny the Younger earlier this year, and thought it was the best beer I had in years. A lot of people will tell you PnY is all hype, and I agree that I might have been caught up in the moment. But Buddha Nuvo…I am drinking this at home, with my wife, while watching TV. There is no hype, no line of people out my door, no weeks of anticipation. So I’m pondering; maybe this is the best beer I’ve ever had. Bravo on this work of art, it is absolutely beautiful.
My suggestion is to find it and buy as many as you can. Really, do what you can to get your hands on this beer. It is definitely worth it.
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