Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

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

Cloudy light amber. Full malty aroma - hints of bread, lush caramel. Hints of brett and ester. Crazy oak, rich malts, and a muscular alcoholic finish. Burly hop bitterness keeps it in balance.

Bottle. Pours a hazy amber with a 1+ finger off-white head. Aroma is somewhat yeasty, but with a good dose of malts and hops. Some fruit notes are also evident. Flavor is much the same, malt first, then some of the hops. Perhaps it is because I am not totally familiar with this style, but this almost tasted like a hopped up dubbel. Crisp and very drinkable.

sample at DLD - Pours hazy amber with a light tan head. It has a yeast and malt aroma with a hint of fruit and hops. There’s a surprisingly hoppy taste that works for it along with the malt and yeast in the background. The finish is dry probably due to the abv level. Nice beer.

Very cloudy brown with nice sized light brown head. Nose is fruity and malty. Flavor has some spice, but more of a slight roasty malty to it. Just enough hops to know that they are there, but the alcohol is really strong, and warm all the way to the finish. Half way through the bottle, the alcohol is less of a factor, and the beer settles down a bit. Wish I would have let it set for anther year.

Bottle. Beautiful bright butterscotch orange color with an even, thick ligh tan head. Peach aroma, grain, slightly spice, slightly floral. Smells great. Peach floral taste, alcohol apparent but well integrated. With Gift of the Magi on hand it’s like Christmas every day of the year!

Bottle,Pours a beautiful butterscotch color with a wonderful aroma of peach and malt, a little hop detectable. A good hop/malt mixture in the taste. Very smooth caramel taste. Spicy but not overly so. Some funky barnyard taste. Alcoholic aftertaste. I would love to try one of these that has been aged for a while. Would buy again

Bottle courtesy of Bu11zeye: Poured a deep clear copper color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of medium sweet Belgian style malt with light funky yeast notes. Taste is also one-dimensional with some medium sweet Belgian style malt with some light funky notes. I thought this was missing some spices or some kind of ester. Good carbonation with average body and no apparent alcohol. I thought this was OK but definitely not as good as expected. Not that it impacts my ratings but I am starting to think this brewer more hype then what he actually deserve – good to great beer but the exceptional ones are fare and few between.

first bottle after a long four month wait... pours a beautiful rich and murky shade of something in the neighborhood of orange-brown/amber with a wispy light tan head. there’s a lot going on in the aroma already. it’s very inviting... light alcohol, funk, caramel-y orange, slightly poached lemon skins, spice (coriander and cinnamon), floral, wet blanket, stale hay/grass, wood and something fruity but not citrus... peaches or pears, perhaps? the palate is oddly robust and sweet. luckily, there’s a whole lot going on to distract me from the sugar levels...it starts sweet, malty and orange and eventually finishes up earthy, herby, grassy and bitter. along the way are notes of the brett coming on, yeast, fresh lemon tartness and a licorice root like numbing effect on the tongue. the yeast cake at the bottom is very pungent and floral with a lot of pine. alcohol is noticed at the end and heavily in the belly. medium to full bodied with very soft carbonation. it’s a bit on the sweet side but that will likely disappear as this continues to age.... beautifully, i hope...