Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale

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

Cloudy golden with a small white head. Hyper complex aroma, mostly with spices that stay just on the right side of perfume-like. It’s a good sign that I noted cinnamon, cardemum and clove and none of the spices actually used. That’s elegant use of the spices. The spices are backed by bready malt, banana and other tropical fruits, and grassy hops. Sweetish spicy flavour with a good hop flavour and bitterness to match Outstanding complexity!

Pours clear golden, with a medium white head, good lasting lacing. Hay, apple, citrus, coriander, and pepper fragrance. Thin body, smooth and crisp. Tastes of sour apple, pepper, apricot, citrus, and some more subtle spices. A mild bitter aftertaste. Well balanced.

From Voldby, DK. Bottled, 040409. Light amber with white head. Aroma of spices, citrus and yeast. Flavor is malt with cloves and some caramel.

Pour is a cloudy bright yellow with a large whtie head. Aroma is very dusty but creamy with some vanilla and spice. Flavor is pepper to start out with then comes a little citrus and cloves followed by more spice. Not much funk but there is enough things that carry this one into the excellent category. Each sip brings something different.

Pours a hazy honey amber with a thick, white head. Very light, refreshing brew - crisp mandarin, apple cider, and some mild spices - ginger and cardamom. Hops come through in the flavor, as well as some yeast and very mild caramel malts with a very light - but full - mouthfeel. The ginger definitely plays a prominent part, and the effervescence does this one well. Works well, but nothing outstanding about it.

Pours a mostly clear, effervescent, orangey color with a full, creamy, rocky, white head which is mostly lasting and leaves a small amount of lace. Nose is great with ginger hitting out of the bottle; other notes of musty basement yeast, lemons, light white pepper (I know the description says black pepper but it seems lighter than that), rosemary, faint notes of what seems to be mandarin oranges, and some other spices, which I assume are the grains of paradise. Flavor only gets better; malts are soft and merely undertones while the hops and tartness lead the way with so many complexities scattered around in small doses. Spicy right from the start with hops and (black) pepper, yeast is still musty basment, lemons are still there, orange peel is now more apparent (although I still think it tastes like mandarin orange peel), ginger is dominant, some wet earthiness is apparent, a cardamom is noted but that may be grains of paradise, faint notes of clove and rosemary. The moderate bitterness is fully supported by the malts, yeast, tartness, and other complementary flavors. Palate is perfect; seemingly near lively but as it progresses it feels more soft to lively, a nearly full body, and the texture is creamy and drying with the spiciness. Finishes mostly bitter and fairly long with the spicy, almost minty or grassy hops, black pepper remaining, clove, rosemary, and dry ginger notes. My biggest problem with the beer is the overwheling ginger notes. Other than that, this may be the perfect Saison, and not even from Belgium. Everything is so complementary; the hops, the malts, the tartness, the spice additions, and the yeast. The palate was nothing less than exceptional. I am still trying to comprehend what I just drank, and even from a CA brewer. LA/PP is amazing.

Bottle courtesy of zythum. This pours a golden-orange color with a big fluffy off-white head with some excellent staying power. The aroma is banana, some cloves, fragrant yeast, and peppers. Flavors picked up are melons, banana, some barnyard funk but nothing crazy, spices and hay. What a great drink. Everything works with this and nothing at all seems out place. Very tasty, very drinkable, well-rounded, suitable for many occasions, a winner in my book! Thanks Ron!

Pours murky honey gold with a nice creamy white head that leaves bits of lacing. Aroma is dusty floral notes, citrus, basement, musty straw, decent spice notes and some citrus. Flavor is sweetness, dust, grass, lots of peppery spice, ginger and sweet bread spice, bitter greens, sweet floral notes - almost like honeysuckle nectar, finish is spicy, sweet and herbal. Palate is medium thin with a nice fluffy veil of carbonation that has just ehough bite to it and has a nice slightly dry finish. Overall this is a highly enjoyable beer that is to me a very good mellow brew.