Lost Abbey Isabelle Proximus

Formerly brewed at Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Sour Ale
San Marcos, California USA

Poured from a 750 ml bottle. Thanks to Ty for the opportunity. A still, cloudy gold. Clean. Mineral, saltwater and stony white gruyere aroma. Softest of funk, layering into pineapple rinds, cool guava tropical sweet, and champagne vinegar; sometimes mild and sweet, and sometimes bewilderingly animal; mango and vanilla, then wet dogs and goat cheese rinds. The push and pull of its cave-drawn acidity and its delicate tropical sweetness is an exchange otherwise found in only the finest of gueuze. I love how hidden the characters of this kind of an aroma are, lurking in a funky cloud of mist from a seaweed ridden enclave of the ocean, while ready to burst with a fresh sunny sweetness when the cloud breaks. It’s spectacular.

Flavor is a fresh stone fruit dry funk and mineral earthiness; apricots and nectarines, embedded in cream and old cheeses, somewhere between the flinty dirtiness of Sauvignon Blanc and the smacking tart-sweet of Guwertztraminer, which is quite reminiscent of the other finest examples like Cable Car and Blauw. Sourness seems immediately and distantly present. A mite of refreshing apple near the back.

A second thickened pour is stunningly gravelly and funky. A massive tanginess of goat cheese, wholly pervasive, settled in the consistent tropical fruits and comparatively calm vinegar character. Sparkly and firm in the mouth; a gorgeous fulsome texture. Finish is at first quick and acidic, but with warmth it grows ever more dirty-dry and more gueuze-like, more evocative of cheeses and briny earth. Vinegar-heavy, finalizing in a salty, champagne pucker; again, lengthy and briny, like the finest golden ale fermented with some alien yeast that crawled up with the tide from some foreign ocean. Breathtaking, and worthy; "serious lambic of the highest order" is possibly the best description.

Hype Hype...hell yaaeer - thx Mikkel. Nose: mild sourness with hints of black sweet grapes and vanilla-butter. The poor was similar to a sparkling orange-soda (Squash) and comes with no head. The flavour is round and the nice sourness has notes of red grapefruits and you can allmost taste the breeze over a field full of flowers. The finish is still sour but treats you gentle and is slowly fading away. The palate is light oily and a little agressive...Good beer

[Bottle, thanks a lot tytoanderso!] Pours orange with a tiny white head. Really nice gueuze aroma that is sour and funky, but also has oak and fruitiness (something non-citrus and sweeter--almost like a berry of some sort) that really open up as it warms. Taste has quite a bit of citric sourness, with the funk and oak also present, but the sweeter notes that were in the aroma not detectable. Good mouthfeel with a long finish. An excellent gueuze that is one of the best that I have had.

750 corked and baled from ??? at the recent tasting. Pours hazy dark gold. Lots of lemon and a touch of cherry in the aroma and taste. Tart and woody finish.

Bottle from miketd’s tasting

Once again Mike comes through a bottle of one of the best sour beers currently available. It wouldn’t shock me if he had some retired ones lurking in his stash as well but since he freely shares them I’ll take whatever is being offered. After having this I can see why it has garnered such rave reviews. It might not be the best sour beer in the world but its merits are strong enough to best 99% of what is on the market.

Aroma / Appearance - The white head was an excellent contrast to the golden clear body underneath. However unlike a pils or typical macro this had the look of a top notch gueuze. The aroma wasn’t very complex but it was evident that much hard work had gone into creating the blend of sour citrus, lemon and grass notes.

Flavor / Palate - The intensely tart mouthfeel had the feel of a lambic - sour, dry and yet still light on the palate. Easier on the throat than I expected this falls somewhere around Lindeman Cuvee Renee on the sourness scale. The woody base was a secondary highlight that I picked up right at the end. If it weren’t for the cost I would definitely work on getting to try to this again.

Bottle at Lost Abbey RBSG. Pours a cloudy yellow color with a small white head. Aroma was very much of funky sour grapes and Belgian style yeast. The taste like the aroma was also rich, there was a good bit of sour funk, acidic woods, musty fruits, bread and pecans. The mouthfeel was light but satisfying. The finish was long and sour with white wine lingering on the palate. Overall: Another great concoction from LA.

Pours a cloudy straw-tan with a medium white dissipating head. Aroma is supremely "funky", earthy, and a bit acidic. Some vinegar, mustard, lemon, oak, dusty attic, salty cheese, mushrooms. I get used to the acidity over time. Tastes quite tart and puckering, earthy, sour, but softly balanced too. Lots of oak, mustard, mellower vinegar, dusty, dirty, hay, and slight lemon. Finishes very oaky with a dry dirty musty sensation on the throat and a sort of mushroom taste. Still, it’s a soft flavor and the dryness isn’t extreme. Thin to medium bodied and well carbonated, this is not as creamy as Red Poppy which might be more stylistically correct. No heat to be found. Very sour and yet so subtle, soft and quite pleasurable to drink. Get to those trade forums!

yellow body with a white head.heavy on the lemon,funk,tartness.slight oak and wood flavors but the funk really dominated in this one.