Lost Abbey Cable Car

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

07 Vintage thanks to OteyJ Pour is a swirling cloudy NEctarine. Aroma is funk wood, peach fruitiness, vinous, mellow woodiness. This aged very well. Apricot fruitiness as well. Flavor is immediately complex nectar, apricot, sourness that tingles the palate. This effortlessly moves to wood soaked with funkiness, becoming very vinous a flutter of vinegar. Finish is woody and tartness that coats the inside of the mouth. A revelation.

Vintage 2007 sampled with craftycarl21 and jblauvs. Hazy peach pour with nearly no head. Aroma is bursting with light nectary fruits- peach, nectarine, apricot, tangerine, grape, and grapefruit in the most heavenly quantities and orientations. Oaken funk is huge but ever so mellow. A peppery clove note comes through as well complementing the wondrous arrangement of aromas. Flavor is a funky masterpiece of nectar complexity. Huge tropical fruits swirl together in an amazing torrent of brettanomyces, barnyard, oak tannins, and juicy ripe sugars. Palate is full, slippery and full of tiny effervescent pillowy caressing bubbles. One of my favorites of the style.

Huge thanks to oteyj for grabbing this. 2007 batch. Pours a slightly hazy orange color, with visible carbonation on the edges. Aroma has massive amounts of funk, peach, apricot, light plum, vinous grape, and some wood; very complex, and smells delectable. The barreling has made this beautifully mellow aroma, not too sharp of a Brett note, yet still bold. Flavor is absolutely stunning; the Brett is key, and present throughout, but doesn’t overpower any of the epic flavors of this beer. More nectar fruit starts, then builds to a wondrous zenith that is marked with beauteous wood notes. After this peak, the flavor transforms into more notes of wine and grape, with the funk blending throughout, Palate is marked by the funk, but not too aggressive, and slides across the tongue impeccably. The finish seems to provide a summary of all aspects of the complex flavors, and makes the drinker pine for more of this heavenly liquid. Incredible sour ale.

Bottle at Toronado in San Diego. It hurt to drop $40 bucks on this, especially to have to drink it in the bar, but I didn’t know how else I was going to get it. For all the hype, I’d say it holds up, but persoanlly I would drink Temptation over this in a heartbeat. Pours a golden color with a frothy white head that quickly settles. Smells of floral hops, funk, oak, yeast, lemon, and tangerine. Foams at the front of the palate, almost like Sprite, and evolves into a sharp apple acidity that takes hold on the mid, followed by a film of lemon juice that coats your teeth on the finish. Here’s to punishing livers everywhere, indeed -- now how about we distribute it in more than two locations...

On tap at toronado. Nice goldenerod color with a nice white head. Smells like brett, cheesy funk, apricots, and hay. Nice sour acidity, citrusy yet sweet fruits, and a stellar mouth. Clean, crisp, and refreshing.

2009, batch 3, 750ml bottle. Poured into Duvel tulip. A - Pours a mirky golden/light copper color. A nice, fluffy, white head quickly follows on a medium-aggressive pour. A nice, frothy, sticky lacing stays behind from the head. Once held into the light, I can see loads and loads of bubbles rise to the top of the glass from the etched "D" on the bottom of my glass. Overall, something to look at in awe and appreciate. S - Once I popped the cork, I could smell the tart/sour notes from a couple of feet away. Once I brought the glass to my nose, it wanted to turn inside out, just as I imagine my lips will want to do in a few minutes. Musty brett, stanky cheese, lemons, barnyard funk, sweet tropical fruit. All of this combines into an awesome-smelling wild...something to sit back and enjoy for a bit before you taste, lots going on here and probably more then I can pick up. T - Lip-puckering tart that hits you right off the bat and then mellows out into subtle lemon-esk tingle. This is so damn good, words can hardly describe it. Lots of funky barnyard/brett mixed with some semi-sweet fruity notes. Not too tart/sour which gives you a chance to delve in and enjoy some of the other flavors going on. A nice semi-sweet finish that I don’t think I can recall in any other sour I’ve had. A very complex wild. M - Light to medium bodied, but it sways more towards medium but not quite "medium" (sorry if I’m confusing here, hard to explain). Very full, but light at the same time. The carbonation is right-on here, a nice fizzy tickle on the tongue that helps open up the flavors. A dry finish that makes you come back for more. D - This beer makes you sit back and appreciate it. It’s easy to drink fast, but why? It’s great to chill out while sipping on this from time to time. I don’t want this bottle to end, but I’m glad I was able to pop this one open and enjoy. Lost Abbey, you have done it yet again!

Courtesy of tpd975. Pours hazy deep gold with bright white head. The aroma is big tartness up front and right up the nose followed by smooth grains, a mild bit of lemon, apples and a touch of oak. The taste, like the nose, starts with bold tartness building quickly to a full rolling boil of tart daggers. It then seems to even out a tad with faint fruity notes of apples and lemons. The tartness rides right into the finish.

The 09 on tap, pouring at the Night of the Funk event in Boston. Pours a slightly murky and hazy golden straw yellow. A bit nutty, with hay, straw, and brett. Medium bodied, and a bit more of that nutty almond flavor. Light solvent notes. Long slow finish with some light aicd. Buttery, bit of DMS.