Lost Abbey Devotion

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

Decent bready malts, a rather full mouthfeel - really hits the the entire mouth with flavor. A big rush of hops - flavor and bittering. The yeast flavors provide more balance against the hop than the malts, but I found the beer to have enough malt to hold up. Long fresh hop finish. Fresh cut grass, a bit of citrus. The hops tasted freshly harvested, maybe the label is effecting me....but that fresh hop flavor really came through. As with so many of Tomme’s beers - complex, flavorful and perfect beer for rish cheeses and crusty bread.

Bottle. I was pleasantly suprised by this one. Tomme Arthur does it again. Based upon the ratings I wasn’t expecting much, but boy this was a good one. Think West Coast IPA w/ a Belgian twist. Spicy finish from Tetnang? Reminds me of all those other excellent IPA’s that Tomme has brewed over the years, but w/ a twist.

Sampled May 2007
Almost brilliantly clear, with a full copper color that has lots of tightly beaded bubbles streaming up from all portions of my tulip glass. The head is almost three-fingers thick, with a lacy broken surface that forms a varied, cavernous surface from the pale, off-white colored head. The aroma is quite hoppy with an equal mix of orange, grassiness and herbal notes. The citrus character becomes quite a bit more pronounced as you dig around in the aroma; the orange leans more towards bergamot and candied lemon peel. There is a nice dusting of malt in the aroma too, actually it is quite a bit more malty than that with notes of biscuit malt, soda crackers and lightly caramelized bread crust.

The taste is quite dry, yet still has a touch of caramelized maltiness that adds a touch of sweetness. The hint of sweetness accentuates a lemon like citrus. Quit a grassy hop character in the end though (the lemon zest character actually melds quite well with this grassiness, lending a lemon grass note). This beer is quite hop focused (surprise, surprise, or not), some yeast character still manages to come through though with touches of ginger, some lightly astringent-cottoned mouthed yeast bite, a hint of clove (but this really mixes with the citrus & malt sweetness so becomes a bit confusing to pick out).

The yeast has really dried this beer out to nice effect (the hops contribute to this as well). Really the dryness, yet still quite malty, followed by a hit of fermentation character, and the solid hop character define a balanced whole that really works quite well. I am not entirely sure why but the mix of flavors in this beer just works much better than the sum of its parts (the parts certainly aren’t half bad either). To me there is just something about a beer like this!

Purchased at Holiday wine cellar. After my local liquor store sold out of this stuff almost over night, I had no choice but to drive all the way out to Escondido to get my hands on a bottle. The nose will create a big aroma of quality hops upon opening of the bottle, and will become even more apparent once some of it is poured into the glass. The appearance is a firm gold tint with a lot of sediment and dust clouds throughout the entire liquid. Creates some thick foam topping at first, but will retreat to a small layer of film across the glass. Now to the most important part of how I will judge this beer, the flavor. It has a strong chewy profile of very distinct hops that I don’t believe my taste buds have come across before. The hops are of a fresh green pine and light citrus nature, and are displayed as the main leading role of this ale. I might believe this was India pale ale instead of any Belgian ale because of what a punch it gives.

Big huge thanks to DirtyMartini for sending this gem!! Bottle. Pour hazy straw/amber color with a rather sizeable white head, and a ton of lacing. Aroma is grassy, floral hops, grapefruit, vineous notes. Flavor is refreshing grapefruit, grains, yeast, grass, pepper, citrus. Palate is medium bodied, medium to high carbonation, finishes bitter, almost IPA like. Wonderful brew, maybe it was the 95° weather that made this so refreshing, but whatever it was really enjoyable!!

A cold pour reveals a golden copper color and a modest, very English, beachball spattered froth that reduces to a just as modest lace. Aromas of aged citrus and tropicals. Medium nectar w/ superb carbonation. This is a nice brew w/ great balance. Flavor wise it reminds me more of an English ale w/ some tropical nuaces rathern than a Belgian Ale. Gentle citus and banana compliment eachother wrapped in a moderate malt blanket w/ striking hopsy citrus rind bittering. The finish satisfys and demands to be consumed. This beer is delicious!

Nice cloudy pale pour with good head. Spice with nice balance of bitters and citrus.

A great grapefruit citrus aroma. Flavor has a lot more hops than I expected but is earthy at the same time. Dry and hoppy in the finish, but still quite nice. I would have again.