Lost Abbey Lost and Found

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Abbey Dubbel
San Marcos, California USA

750ml corked and caged bottle: Soft brown colored pour with a firm tan cap. The nose is simple but enjoyable with a nice mix of raisins, caramel and alcohol. Big, sweet body offers an expansion on the malty nose, with roast, sweet chocolate and butter joining the mix. The raisins hit the tongue on the back end, along with a good dose of ethery alcohol. The yeast seems secondary here, not adding enough Belgian oomph. No complex esthers to speak of. I was also expected the addition of raisins to play off the malty raisin and plum notes that I have come to love in this style. This example falls a bit flat for me.

Lots of Abbey here. Plus the fruit flavors. You get malt, sweet, not much head pours. Still not sure where I place this one on the Lost Abbey scale, but nice all around.

Aroma is sweet with roasted scents and a hint of fruit. Color is a deep hazy amber with light carbonation and a very thin head. Taste is sweet and fruity. Starting with a medium to full body it goes down with a easy with a rich feel. Finish come in sweet with some mellow dried fruit flavors, a roasted caramel taste and a touch of yeast. In the after taste a faint bitterness rolls in. Good brew but nothing great.

750ml bottle(Patrons & Saints Club)-Pours a murky amber body with a small ring for a head. Aroma of fruit, sweetness, and yeast. Taste of the same with a nice balance of flavors. This medium to full bodied brew is quite tasty and another good brew from Lost Abbey.

Pours a very dark brown, almost opaque except for the glimmer of light escaping from the corner of the glass. Topped with a tan head which is short lived. Smells strongly of fruit, raisins with an undertone of yeast and bananas. Not too heavy on the tongue with a lively kick of carbonation. This there is a strong sweetness in the middle after the initial hints of malt. Transitions to a banana and sugar end and a alcohol finish. Strong entry for the style, but suffers in the end due to the overly defined sweet tones.

Bottle from Monument in Concord, CA. Poured a dark brown with sediment. Smelled fruity in flavor and there was a ton of carbonation. Tasted of dark fruits and brown sugar. Well done brew by Lost Abbey.

Bottle. Head is initially small, fizzy, light brown, fully diminishing. Body is medium to dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel), lightly hoppy (herbs), lightly yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of banana, brown/candy sugar, cinnamon/clove. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery/syrupy texture, fizzy/lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Another miss from Lost Abbey, I’m afraid. Decent aroma, but the buck stops there, utterly and completely...the appearance is poor (tiny fizzy head that quickly disappears), the flavor balance is lackluster (sugary sweetness that won’t go away), and the mouthfeel is terrible (fizzy, watery-syrupy, sticky). I couldn’t bring myself to drink more than four or five ounces before I tossed the rest. Such a bummer.

Deep crimson. Vigorous pour yields merely a thin cap of beige foam which quickly diminishes. Simplistic nose of yeast (banana taffy, wet paint), plummy malt, pear, peppery alcohol, and floral hop whispers. Soft fuzzy pricks of subdued carbonation. Poor attenuation is evident from the start, as banana-tinged yeast and sugary malts lead the way. Plummy and slightly raisiny from the combination of fruity esters and malt-driven sweetness, though things are far from bright. Borderline medicinal as the spicy alcohol compounds the strongly sugary qualities. Vibrant hint of bubblegum is obscured by the sweetness. Faint note of plastic imparts some unpleasantness late, and the yeast is quite prominent and dirty, disallowing the malts to thrive. The body suffers, as does the overall complexity, due to the simple malt frame which possesses little to no bready softness or refined richness. Omnipresence of yeast continually wreaks havoc as it clings to the palate and deposits a pasty film. Shows some improvement while nearing the finish, as the candy sugar and a meaty dab of molasses produce a cleaner sweetness which helps keep the medicinal notes at bay. Closes with an alcoholic bite, though the malt provides a salvaging glimpse of softness to the otherwise sweet and simple finish. While this isn’t as glaringly flawed as many other recent Lost Abbey bottlings, it’s on the sweet and yeasty side of the spectrum. Certainly not bad, but a bit basic.