Lost Abbey Lost and Found

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

From the bottle, pours dark ruby with mahogany tones and a small khaki head. Rich sweet nose of chocolate covered raisin, cherry, port, and vanilla. Flavor is sweet, but never cloying due to the higher carbonation in the finish, palate remains crisp and light, getting away from the syrupy body that could have been. The depth really shows in the flavor, picking up the the raisin and almost prune sweet flavors up front, followed by chocolate, vanilla, and faint dark rum quality. This beer just keeps getting better as it warms, more fruit and subtle spices show. Very enjoyable beer.

750ml bottle: This one pours an opaque, reddish-brown color. There was a decent sized tan head on the pour, but it dropped away rather quickly. Very nice nose. Raisins, rum, caramel, slight spiciness, a mix of some other fruits and some other unidentifiable sources of sweetness. The taste is very good. There is a lot going on in there, but you can pick out some raisin, caramel, dark fruits, and I believe a touch of roastiness just trying to peak out. Very Nice!

Sample from 750 ml bottle at the Mondial, Montreal (May 2007). Dark, hazy caramel body with a decent jigger of head, nicely lasting and with thick lacing....wonderfully rich, sweet, decadent aroma, fine herbs and a bit of hardwood smoke, caky and juicy....the body, however, is fairly dry and yeasty-cobwebby, the sugars much subdued....hints of dry grape/wine character grow stronger towards the effervescent, lightly tart finish....quite supple and airy on the tongue, but never for a moment feeling thin or watery....this is quite an interesting take on the dubbel, beautifully constructed and uncompromising, just lovely.

750 ml bottle shared by grant. Thanks. Metallic, sweet, fruity, peaty aromas present. I detect some brown sugar/molasses as well. Mildly hazy dark amber/garnet body with a small, delicate yellow-tan head. Rather attractive. Malty sweet start, becoming vinous, chewy, fruity, with some molasses-like flavors. Nice bubbly, spritzy carbonation in the middle. Finishes roasted and chewy. I’m a big fan of this stuff.

Bottle sampled on 12/2/06: Pours a transparent deep copper with an airy, light tan head. Aroma of sweet dark biscuity Belgian malt with some toasty caramel and authentic yeasty character. Sweet, dark caramely malty flavor has nice complexity and a full bready body. Well-balanced, very authentic and enjoyable.

Bottle: Dark mahogany color with a ruby tinge through the light. A nice creamy thick tan head rests ontop with a lusterous ring of lacing around the outside. The nose is initially raisins, fig, other darker fruits along with molasses and brown sugar. Some muscovado and musky earthy hops. Plenty of thick body and yeasty esters. Leather and dates dance with cherry and vanilla. Creamy balanced finish, smooth mouthfeel. Quite good!

Bottle traded by Sean in person at the knoxville tasting, thanks BB. After drinking angels share and being disappointed, I figured I might as well try this one too, to see if it was good. I drank the Avant Garde or whatever a few months back, and remembered it being very good, so whatever, off goes the cork. Pours out a dark brown color with a thick head that tapers out around the glass into just a little ring. Heavy carbonation. Smells fruity, full of raisins, malts, some figs, really good smell. Smells like a bottle of beer straight from Belgium. Taste is sweet and thick, pretty high in carbonation, typical mouthfeel for a belgian style beer. You can really taste the sweet fruits and biscuit malt in this one. Yeasty and very smooth. Certainly a good experience, way better than the angels share. Thanks for this one Sean, now work on getting me the red barn ale!

I once was lost, but now… It delivers as promised in the description: aroma and flavors of figs, dried fruits, raisins, and notes of bread dough. The finish is spicy but slightly dry making you want more, which I do. This is a well made beer.