Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

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

750 ml bottle from Binny’s (Orland Park, IL) shared with some friends. Pours a nice coppery red, a bit hazed, with a moderate offwhite head that dies to a film and laces pretty well. Aromas are a nice caramel malt base, some dark fruit like raisin, light spiciness from a sorta Belgian yeast influence, but muted, maybe a touch of cinnamon instead. A nice sweet fruitiness, faint peachy apricot. This is interesting. Initial takes on a mellow medium boy, some caramel and toffee malts underneath, with a good cereal, fruitiness is pretty strong, a touch of dark fruit but some decent peachy apricot that is mellow. A nice light warming alcohol, a touch of light bread, fruit. Very nice with a good sweet finish, light bitterness

[2008] Brown amber color with a small, light tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of caramel malts, spices, toasted dough, , and light fruit. Taste of sweeter caramel, toffee, pepper, and alcohol.

So I had this fresh on tap awhile ago at the brewery but I decided to rate it from the bottle. Caramel pour with active carbonation but no real head. Sweet aroma of pale malts mixed with an earthy funk. Smooth mouthfeel with flavors of light hops and almost belgian-like yeastiness. There was a bit of a sweet alcohol flavor towards the end. A pretty nice beer overall.

750 ml corked and caged bottle purchased mail order from South Bay in Imperial Beach, California. Cork is tough to remove, but when it gives it eases out quietly. Pour is murky ruby, copper, brown with only a few tan soapy bubbles. Aroma of alcohol hot slight sour and some earthy black white pepper spiciness. Taste is dry white pepper, some earthy dark fruit maltiness - more grainy sour, than sweet. Straw, hay, barnyard. There is a spice, clove garlic thing going on that is not real smooth. Finish has some bright alcohol heat. Palate is thinnish, dry, lowish carbonation. This was ok, but really not by deal. Not sure on the age of this, maybe when the Brett kicks in more, it gets more interesting?

Thick off white head, copper colored body. Mildly carbonated with a nice balance of bret, citrus, caramel, and honey.

Slightly hazy copper amber color with a froth beige/tan head. Mysterious aromas, underlying which is fruit. Hop or ? But fruit. Not dark fruit. Rich light stone fruit. Medium body with mild, creamy carbonation. There is a funky note, astringency, wood, pale fruit, maybe tobacco. Floral/fruit hop. And the funk, though not strong, never quits. This is a truly intriguing ale.

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of Sonicdescent. Light malt aroma, sweet with caramel and toasted grain, average hops and a nice Bretty nose. Plum, honey, and coriander. Creamy off-white head with nice lacing. Dark amber clear body. Full bodied, not quite oily, with a sticky tongue. Medium-light carbonation with bitter finish. Medium bitter-sweet with nice Brett flavor.

This one poured a cloudy amber/orange color with a smaller off white head. Aroma was just punishing spices, cloves cardamom, myrrh, ginger, and garlic, just weird and lots of things going on. Flavor was lots of spices, mainyl ginger and clove, but some exotic spices as well that were hard to pick out. Too much spice going on here for me and just unorganized.