Lost Abbey Lost and Found

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

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.

750m courtesy aspidites. Pours hazy dark copper with a pale yellow head. Aroma of brown sugar and figs. Tastes a bit like fruitcake with hops and carbonation: lightly spicy, fruit, bread, nuts, molasses. Sweet, but not overly so.

tap at the brewery - Pours lightly hazy reddish-brown with a thin head. It has a good malted fruit aroma with a similar flavor that also includes some mild hops. A medium bodied brew, the dark fruit notes in the background are probably the high point.

750ml bottle. Darkly sweet, richly fruity aroma, vinous and full of toffee, cocoa and raisin, with notes of date, blackcurrant, yeast esters, faint hazelnut and earthiness. Deep mahogany color with a lasting, very fine, off-white head and thin sheets of lace. Flavor is comprised of a good blend of sweet, lightly toasty, nutty dark malts, dried fruit and mild but insistent spices in the background. Some lingering milky chocolate, orange peel, hop bitterness and very slight medicinal, alcoholic tinges. Smoothly creamy on the palate with a full body. Some stickiness late. Very agreeable interpretation.

From a 750 ml bottle purchased at By The Bottle in Vancouver, WA--Poured a dark brown-amber body with a big off-white head. Esters of yeastiness, fruitiness, and medicine. Caramel, dark fruits (raisins and figs), and a boozy candied bite. Very easy to drink and quite delicious! Not as yeasty as the nose indicated initially. Very subtle flavor complexities that ruminated for sometime. Yum!

Pours a muddy caramel color with some yeast in the glass. Nice beige head. Smell is oddly refreshing and minty with some alcohol presence. Taste is rather mundane with perhaps a hint of belgian yeast, light malt flavor, and again an alcohol presence that comes through as almost minty again. Drinkable, and not really offensinve, as the flavor is so mild, but nothing really screamed great beer about this one, to me.

Bottle thanks to OhioDad: Hazy brown color with a tan head. Aroma, some fruits, brown sugar, molassas, and yeast. A hint of alcohol. Flavor, bready with some brownsugar, fruits. Dry finish, interesting stuff.

Bottle from BevMo. Pours a very deep dark ruby color. Has a sizable tan head. Slightly sweet yeasty aromas, along with some earthy/dusty notes. Very rich dark fruit flavors right up front. A fair amount of yeastiness. Really smooth, flavorful dubbel. More earthy and less sweet than most dubbels I’ve tried.