Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

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

bottle, orange color with apricot nose that is an excellent prelude to the first sip, nice carbonation with flowery, fruit taste that finishes with the very nice sourness, one of my favorites so far

Electric orange pour, hazed all the way through with yeasts; a firm cream of white leaves a thick glue of lace. Aroma of young brett yeasts humming over the top with a pineapple and maraschino cherry acidity; beneath, hints of light toffee, candied almonds, mandarin oranges, alcohol, and band aid. Suggestive of brown spices; specifics are hard to identify apart from some creamy vanilla and cinnamon. Mildly funky and clouded with attic dust. Taste is ridden a bit strongly with alcohol throughout, which is too combative and distracting given the generally sprightly character of flavors in this style; golden fruits, cotton candy, bubblegum, and candied lavender hops are treated to a rough once over of dry citrus vodka in the mid palate, very grainy, sterile, and hot. Palate is soft and creamy, medium to full in body with reserved carbonation; finishes cleanly with a tart and sweet interplay of apple and orange. The intricacies here are boundless, but what’s most apparent is the deadweight of alcohol that suffocates them; the body is intensely warm and heavy and simply difficult. Absolutely interesting and deep in complexity, but a bit overdone; from the beginning, the obesity of the chewy, yeast muck is a little too much. Six to seven percent or so and bit lower gravity would have done nicely. Thanks Alex!

750 ml corked and caged bottle poured a lightly hazy orange with a lasting off white head. Aromas of citrus, barnyard, light leather, light carmel and a hint of earthiness. Palate was light to medium bodied and smooth. Flavors of carmel, pear, citrus, light barnyard and a hint of leather with a smooth lingering bitter finish.

750ml bottle(s) with thanks to rustychiles and IEBAILI. Rating one early and one after 6 months or so.
Early - Slightly hazy dark orange with a fizzy medium head. Aroma is a bit funky-sour, with the brett already making itself known. Also there was pears, bananas, cherries, caramel malt and a spicy-dusty overtone throughout. Started out extremely dry, bit picked up a little more fruity sweetness as I got down to the yeasty bottom. The spices were a bit unsettling for me; somewhat metallic and astringent. But a very interesting brew.

Finally, a lost abbey beer i fully enjoy. The nose, deep apricot, slight hop burn, and a musty brett backing..complex indeed. The color, a muddy orange. Thick, chewy, bitter, & funky! FUCK. Fruits? yes, indeed...apricot, old mango, & grapefruit rind. Funk? Indeed, sharp microorganism tang & flavors of decomposition. Bitter? Definitely. Citrus rind bitterness all over. Malty? Sure. a very nice foundation of overripe fruit. I dont see how this is a biere de garde, but i also dont give a damn.

Bottle from SS. Cloudy glowing orange color with big fluffy light tan head. Lively carbonation. Aroma of funk, yeast, black pepper, and herbal grassy hops. Fizzy on the palate with light mango and pepper finish.Could not even finish half a bottle. No thanks.

At some point it gets tiring thinking of new accolades to pile on Lost Abbey beers. Another winner, a decadent 9% with citrus and tropical fruit. Spicyness and slight funk to balance it out. Excellent management of the wild yeast.

From a 750mL Bottle. Healthy crack upon uncorking. Pours a transparent, brassy orange color with a huge layer of tight bubbled, creamy off-white head. Lovely brett aroma that has some borderline tropical fruit characters, bringing images of passion fruit and papaya to mind. Floral lavender hand lotion. Sweet citrus zest and orange blossom honey. Perfumey. There’s clearly some alcohol present in the nose, but it actually compliments the brett characters nicely. Fresh white pepper; the nose is quite beautiful, it has a fresh floral quality the meshes perfectly with the brett. Medium bodied, softly carbonated mouthfeel with a sweet malty, barleywine-esque texture. Honey and biscuit malt flavors up front on the palate, along with some grapefruit hops. As the hop bitterness builds, the brett characters become more and more prominent, adding an aged sheep’s cheese flavor profile. Finishes moderately dry, with a musty, waxy brett flavor lingering among the citrusy hops. Very interesting beer; in previous draft samples, I certainly wasn’t able to pick out the subtle aromatic nuances that are the high point of this brew. The aroma is pretty awesome, but the flavor doesn’t really follow through with the same complexity and wow factor. The hops, in particular, seem to muddy the flavors a bit. I’m impressed by the amount of brett character present in this beer, being 9.5% ABV, so it will be interesting to see if the flavors catch up to the aroma level as it ages.