Positives

  • Forgiving
  • Good Float For All Mountain
  • Great Grip In Hard Snow

Negatives

  • Loose And Auto Spinney
  • Base Is Slow For This Price

Summary

The Lib-Tech Cold Brew offers up a pretty reasonably priced and forgiving freeride board that feels somewhat tapered but still has a pretty solid do anything kind of feel for those looking to get 1 board to do everything with.

Update 2024: The Lib Tech Cold Brew hasn't changed much or at all since we reviewed it so this is still relevant. 

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Riding Style All Mountain
Riding Level Beginner - Expert
Fits Boot size (US) < 8, 8-10, 10-12, > 12
Manufactured in USA by Mervin
Shape Tapered Directional
Camber Profile Hybrid Rocker
Stance Setback over 20mm
Approx. Weight Feels Normal
Split No
Powder Good
Base Glide Good
Carving Good
Speed Good
Uneven Terrain Average
Switch Average
Jumps Average
Jibbing Poor
Pipe Average
On Snow Feel

Semi-Stable

Turn Initiation

Medium/Fast

Skidded Turns

Semi-Easy

Flex

Medium

Buttering

Semi-Easy

Edge Hold

Icy Snow

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Lib Tech Cold Brew Written Review Review by The Good Ride

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

How This Review Happened:  We borrowed this for an extended demo and then returned it.  We borrowed this for a day and then returned it. We had a couple of laps at a frantic manic demo day so take it with a grain of salt. We liked it so much we asked to keep it (we only do this with our favorites).  After a demo, we liked it so much we bought it.  We spent our precious Good Ride dollars to buy this and review it.

Size: 157
Days:   1
Conditions:  Hard CO snow in most places
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-195lbs), Jimbo (Size 11, 5’11” 160lbs), Peter (Size 8, 5’11” 185lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV
Insoles: Sandsole Custom Insoles,  Footprint Insole Technology Gameghangers Low Profile
Bindings: Salomon Hologram,
Set Up
: 22-22.5” Centered 15 front -15 back

Similar Boards (but not the same) That We Compared This To:
Yes Pick Your LineBurton Flight Attendant, Gnu Mullair, Jones Flagship, Never Summer West Bound, Rossignol XV, Lib Tech BRD, Lib Tech Lost Round Nose Fish

Approximate Weight: Feels pretty normal.

Sizing

The Cold Brew comes in a lot of sizes. It used to come in narrow sizes in 2019 and 2018 but now only comes in regular and wide sizes. The Regular sizes also feel like they are closer to the mid/wide side of the regular spectrum. So with a size 10 boot you could even fit the smaller sizes well. 10+ is a good match from there and even the bigger regular sizes seem comfortable holding an 11 boot without having toe/heel drag.  That being said Peter and I had no problem riding this with size 8.5 and 9 boots. The wides would work well with bigger boots like 12-13 no problem.

Flex/Buttering: Pretty easy to butter and the Cold Brew has that typical lively energetic poppy feel underfoot.

On Snow Feel/Ability Level/Skidded Turns

The hybrid rocker or C2 camber profile feels somewhat loose in harder snow and can feel a little more stable in softer snow, but overall, it has that auto-spinny feel that most hybrid rocker shapes have. It likes to be on edge when one footing off the chair and isn’t easy to flat base. The Lib Tech Cold Brew does skid turns incredibly well and it is a very forgiving ride for those that get off their game. It’s a great entry-level freeride board for any ability level. You just need a little bit more weight on the back foot on groomers so it doesn’t wash out when turning.

Edge Hold

Very competent grip that can ride well in hard to icy snow as long as you keep it on edge.

Turn Initiation

So the Lib Tech Cold Brew turns really quick for how wide it is. Even my size 9’s and Peter’s size 8.5’s moved this pretty quick edge to edge and Jimbo with size 11’s had this thing turning super fast.

Turning Experience/Carving

The edge hold helps the Lib Tech Cold Brew carve and turn better in harder snow but it isn’t like C3 or other more camber dominant rides out there. Still, it’s not boring or anything. You can feel the little bit of taper going on and it does like a little more back foot weight.

Powder

There is a good set back on sidecut of 1.5″ so it leads us to think there is a good bit more back on board that makes this a pretty good directional floater when setting all the way back. That and the taper in the tail makes it a board that should be the opposite on groomers when it comes to back foot weight so it would not be the kind of board that gives you much or any rear leg burn unless you are in super deep thick powder.

Speed

There is some chatter picking up speed and that is often the case with hybrid rocker profiles like this but it’s not too bad with the Lib Tech Cold Brew.

Uneven Terrain

What makes the Cold Brew so poppy also makes it a little sensitive to uneven snow but it isn’t over the top. It can handle hard bumpy snow well enough and weaves in and out of bumps really well. So overall its a pretty good all day resort rider and you wouldn’t have a bad day from 1st to the last chair on a Saturday.

Switch

Pretty good switch for how much set back on sidecut and taper there is. Moving it up 2 inserts would get you pretty close to being centered on sidecut but it wouldn’t feel like a twin. Overall, it’s very doable.

Jumps

Lib Tech makes pretty poppy boards and you can feel this easily pop into the air on an ollie. This is a fun board for finding natural features on the mountain to get air.

Jibbing

More doable than you would think for a tapered directional board but not perfect like a small soft twin.

Pipe

Great edge hold for pipe riding and forgiving so good for someone that doesn’t need a super technical powerful camber kind of ride.

So, all in all, the Lib Tech Cold Brew has an easy-going forgiving ride to it that could work for beginner/intermediate riders and still be pretty fun for advanced to expert riders as long as they don’t need too much power in their carves.

 
Lib Tech Cold Brew Past Reviews

The demo board we tried grabbed really hard and it seemed to want to fight you into the turn.  It turns out it was right out of the factory, wasn’t de-tuned and was way too grabby.  It was hard to get past the side cut fighting you every turn so we could understand more of what was going on with the board.

 
Lib Tech Cold Brew Specs

 
Lib Tech Cold Brew Images

We try to get as many images of the Lib Tech Cold Brew, but forgive us if they're not all there.

2020

2019

2018

Lib Tech Cold Brew User Reviews

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