Lost Abbey Red Poppy Ale

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

375 ml bottle from padrefan98, thanks Jon. Just had this back to back with Sanctification, yeah good night. Poured a murky muddy brown with a small white head. Very funky aroma, hints of wood and cherry and a slight touch of earthiness as well. Flavor follows suit with solid funkiness but not quite as much as the aroma. Nice stuff I just wished I had the will power to sit on it a little longer to let the sourness really take over, alas I am WEAK.

Big thanks to Degarth for sharing this! Pours a light amber color, with a light white swiryl head. Smells of explosive sweet tart fruits, and sour tannins. Malts and sweet grapes are there for some support. Delicious smelling. The flavor is much of the same. Had some good sourness, but not overwhelming, very pleasant with its blend of fruits and malts. Some sweet caramel comes in towards the finish, and ends tart and sweet. Pretty good balance for a sour beer. Very good recipe. Enjoyed it alot. Thanks Joe!!

Distinctly tart and funky aroma and taste are easily shocking to the unprepared. Taste is sour with earthy undertones, cherry pit nuttiness and weird band-aid flavors. Not my favorite genre of beverage, but certainly a solid example thereof.

375ml bottle - I took a bottle to a tasting and sampled it, but tonight I had my other bottle to myself. It pours a murky reddish brown with a very thin head. There’s a LOT of yeast on the bottom of this one. I thought I was pouring slowly but still ended up with big yeast flakes. Not that I mind, but it was a bit much when I actually plucked a huge glob of yeast off the top of the liquid in my glass. It looked good until that happened in the 2nd half of my pour. Anyway, it smells of wild yeast and tart cherries. The flavor is led by that wild yeast with some malt presence and quite mild cherries. There’s a hint of oak character that I noticed mostly in the finish. I actually found the body just a little on the watery side even after letting it warm. It finishes dry. Is it good? Yep. Is it $15 per 375ml bottle good (that was at the brewery)? No, I’m afraid not. Maybe I should have aged it for a few years.

12.7 oz bottle from South Bay Drugs & Liquor. Thanx to Joey for breaking a bottle out for me. This poppy ale poured as a dirty opaque brown that had a soft pillow of head. As for the aroma, I found a presence of malt and a minimal amount of cherry but enough to hint to the fact there really is added cherry. The flavor is particularly tart and sour with a thin and low profile of cherry. From what I do taste, I would guess the cherry used was a freshly picked and unripe red cherry with a fat hard seed inside. I’m just glad I had a chance to give this a taste and experience another Lost Abbey release.

Unlabeled 375ml at a private dinner with the Lost Abbey crew. Thanks! Pours light brown with no head. Bottle had not conditioned yet so there was no carbonation. Sour cherry aroma dominated by oak and brett. I smelled this one for 20 minutes before tasting. WOW! Nice tart taste with a slight sweet background flavor. The Dawn patrol is showing through. Light candy sugar plays well with the sour cherries. Thick mouthfeel holds up well even without the carbonation. This is one amazing beer that will hold it’s own for years to come. After being told this was the same recipe as Le Woody Brune, I am amazed at how well this turned out. I am glad to have a few bottles to stash away for a few years.

Thank you Sinners Club. 2008 375 bottle. Pours out thick and viscous. Small bright white head. Nose is chewy, sour and tart with medium carbonation. Beautiful ruby red color. Taste is totally sour, bitter and tart. Cherry flavor predominant. Quaffable and smooth drinking with aging this bottle helping out on overall taste, palate and finish.

Sinners release. Man, can we talk about how friggin’ hot the bottle is? Gorgeous design, handsome and sleek. A more dusty brown pour than I was expecting, with abundant carbonation and a lovely (and subtle!!) dark cherry scent. Faintest trace of citrus rind too, and that’s your hint that you are about to enjoy an exquisitely dry sour ale, with some of the finer qualities of a good geuze and a rich sour. The oaking seems understated to me, possibly because of the beer’s relative youth (even though the 6 months makes me question my analysis), but I favor this. Just superb!