Lost Abbey Cable Car

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Sour Ale
San Marcos, California USA

Draft at Night of the Funk 2009: Cloudy golden pour with a fading head. lactic and citric aroma- has a lemony acidity with a mild floral component, and mild white oak tannins as well. Fairly slick mouthfeel with apparent acidity. Flavor is lactic and a touch solventy, and mild buttery grains as well. Citric and dry yet there’s that mild solvent presence. perhaps it’s because i tried this just after Yellow Bus, but this is slightly overrated. Still a solid American style sour ale.

Draft at Night of the Funk. Pours a solid cloudy yellow with a tall white head. Aromas of citrus, witbier-like spice, and a ton of barnyardy funk. The flavor is heavy on the lemon with cumin, more funk, and some white wine-like notes. There is substantial sourness here that cuts through the funk and reminds me of Cantillon’s lambics. A very fine effort.

Sample @ BBF Night of the Funk. Pours a cloudy deep yellow with a fluffy white head. Aroma is citrus, a bit of spice, and a whole lot of that wonderful funk. Flavor is spicy citrus up front (coriander, perhaps a few other spices) with a wonderful explosion of funk at the end. Beer remains sublimely smooth and supremely drinkable, a characteristic that belies the heavy, heavy funk. It wasn’t the Yellow Bus, but man did I love this beer.

Sample at NotF 2009. Pours a cloudy dark yellow color with a small frothy head. Nose is light funky esters with some lemony notes and a bit of spice. Palate is crisp. FLavors of light lemon and spice with some funky, musty notes.

2009 bottle from Toronado SD ($45!) shared with mspindler and joetheyounger. Pours a honey amber color. Bottle foamed a lot when opened resulting in big white head when poured. Aroma includes sour lemon, musty yeast, vinegar, spice, under ripe fruit, and Brett funk. Flavor is tangy and tart and contains vinegar, lemon zest, leather and more funk. Finish has more acidic sourness and funk. Sours are certainly not my favorite style, but I found this smooth and quite drinkable.

Pours a dark golden ripe banana color that is slightly murky with a one finger off-white head that quickly fades into a lasting ring. There is very minimal lacing, only small spots here and there. Very funky aroma with some nice barnyard, horseblankety goodness. Lots of crisp golden fruits, apple, pear, grape, etc and a nice dusty earthy oak character. Just the smell of this beer made my mouth water. I literally sniffed my glass for several minutes before even taking a sip. This beer has a perfect balance of intense puckering tart barnyard funk, horseblanket notes, slightly lactic and acidic but not too much so. Tart and sour intensity up front that settles into some beautiful light crisp golden fruit notes. Hints of apple, pear, grapefruit, light grape followed by more funky brett oaky sourness which lingers into the amazing mouthwatering finish. Very dry yet sweet and crisp with an amazing crisp dry tart puckering finish. This is an amazing beer that for me truly lived up to the hype. It is just a perfect blend of tart/puckering sourness, crisp delicious fruit notes and a dry sweet yet tart delectable finish. This beer tasted better with each sip and my mouth was literally watering in anticipation of each sip. This is one of the most complex, flavorful sours I’ve ever had and I cannot recommend it any higher. I only wish I had more.

2009 Bottle from Toronado in San Diego. Poured a light golden color with nice foamy head. Aroma of vinegar, spices, dried fruit, lemon. Nice tartness with some brett present. Very nice carbonation surprisingly. Overall very good, im glad I had the opportunity to get this.

Bottle at MesandSim’s tasting Aug 09. Thanks to MadMitch for this, cheers Ken, this was on my must have list. Unattractive thick gold cloudy beer. Lacks a bit of farmyard funk on the aroma which I want from my sour ales. Some funk and lemon, but more muted than Belgian lambics. Very sour finish. Smooth lemon. Very drinkable, good funky lemon and good flavour in the mouth. I suppose a bit unfair to compare an American sour with Belgian lambics, but this doesn’t stand up against lambics. That funk just isn’t there. We had a Girardin black label gueuze earlier in the day and then a J&J Blauw afterwards and the aroma of those 2 just blows virtually all American sours away. Russian River beers are just about the only ones that even get close.