Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Bière de Garde
San Marcos, California USA

A very unique BdG. Aroma of peach, passion fruit and mango. Pour was a thick cloudy light orange with a one finger white head. Taste was like mango juice. Tropical fruit, yeast and a some spice with medium carbonation and an alky vinuous aftertatse. Very different.

750 ml bottle. Pours a light amber color. Thin, bubbly white head. Fruity aroma with some spices thrown in for good measure. Sweet flavor gives way to a funky, bitter finish. Interesting beer

750mL Bottle. Wow. Rich fruity nose combined with elements of candied plums, rich jamaicain spices, and brandy. Dry, cottony and fresh. Very inviting. Pours a brilliant amber, with gold fringe and a rim of white. The flavor is deft. So many wonderful things going on, from the minerally yeast signature, to the redolent mix of fruit and spice and the wildness from the Brett. Dry and quaffable. Spicy alcohols mix with white figs and candied almonds. Delicious. This beer is stellar. Complex. Deep. Dry hops add a wonderful grassy floral quality throughout the beer. The malt lies deep with toasted bread character and sweet, perfumed mild fruits. Hops clean up in the finish. Rounded, complex and full of delicious depth while maintaining drinkability.

750mL corked and caged bottle, no date. Clear orange with a 1 1/2 finger off-white creamy head, pretty good retention. Orangey herbal hops up front with some caramel. Some buttery leathery brett comes next with some pepper. Flavor has a little more pepper and brett to help dry out the buttery caramel sweetness. Bitterness was higher than I thought it’d be--peaked at a 4-5. The alcohol doesn’t even try to hide itself, though didn’t really bother me. Moderate carbonation with a full body. For whatever reason, I didn’t want to like this, but I thought it ended up pretty good. The gf liked it too! Ah, the old 8-4-8-4-15 rating.

A gusher. Pours with a large, dense, off-white head covering a slightly hazy copper body. Good lacing and great retention. Aroma has lots of toffee, butter and caramel with some light spices and some apricot. Taste is pure butterscotch with some light alcohol and yeast. Creamy smooth mouthfeel with light carbonation, slight warming but the alcohol is not very strong in the taste.

In short: A very dry and yeasty barnyard Bière de Garde. Different and excellent
How: Bottle 750ml shared at Dark-Lord-Day party 2008. Unknown generous soul
The look: Cloudy dirty orange with a large beige head
In long: The first thing that stoke me about that beer is how dry it is. This bottle was dry as hell it mostly seemed to come from the dry/dusty barnyard yeast profile and maybe a little contribution from the dry grassy hops. Sitting in the middle of that dryness was baguette bread, some citrus skin, light herbal spiciness sensation, orange peels and blanket that spent five years in the attic. I happen to be a huge fan of dry and barnyard beers so this was right up my alley but this sure is quite different from just about all the Bière de Garde I’ve had, and thus making this confusing style even more confusing to me. Named after a book that teaches that physical possession is not important. The beer had more of an effect on my than the book cause I want a full case of this stuff.

Cloudy amber with a medium white head. Strong yeast aroma with some hops. Flavor had bread, caramel, hops, spices, a bit of funk/brett, light fruit and floral hops. Finished somewhat dry, a bit warming.

Bottle shared at DLD. Pours hazy amber with thin off white head. Aroma is brett, hops, and bready. Flavor is just that with a touch of etoh.