Lost Abbey Saints Devotion 08

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

Name: Devotion Saints 08
Date: December 12, 2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: muddy yellow, wispy white head
Aroma: sweaty leather aroma with a sweet malt background
Flavor: flavor starts off sweet but then the big funk kicks in, very earthy, touch of sweetness is quickly balanced by lots of drying earthyness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **+/4

Bottle thanks to a trade with Hank1980. Shared with Tyler and the folks at the Bruery. Pours a hazy golden color with a small, off-white head, good lacing and decent retention. Aroma is similar to Devotion, with dryness and a bit of fruit and a touch of brett earthiness. Taste is very different from the regular Devotion, quite phenolic. Tons of strong brett-iness that is very earthy and only slightly tart. Dry mouthfeel with light carbonation.

750ml at O’briens. Shared with AlohaC, wetherel, and some other people. After trading for this beer with ratman, and bonused by Hannont I get this at O’brien’s for $12. 12 bucks, damn, I couldn’t pass this up. Pours yellow orange with a bright white head with a ton of lacing. Nose is sweet light and somewhat tart. There is some tobacco in the air that muffled the nose. Taste is tart funky and light with some barnyard which is nice. Bret is there and this will certainly get better with time. Nice.

Bottle. Pours a hazy pale orange color with a nice white head that settles into a thin lacy one. Smells of herbs/spices with a slight tangyness to it. Tastes similar with the tangy funkiness coming out more. Really a steller beer.

Served at ~58°F / 14.4°C into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip. The beer starts out with a four-finger thick, dense, tan-tinged, off-white colored head. The head leaves lots of lacing sticking to the sides of my glass and it also forms some rocky & mesa like structures as it slowly recedes. The beer is a pale-red tinged, honey color that shows a brilliantly clear orange-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma is nice and hoppy with notes of hay, lemon grass, a touch of pine needles and a nice herbal note. Underneath this the Brettanomyces is noticeable; it is still pretty subtle, but contributes aromas of rubber, a touch of muskiness, and a soft barnyard note. There is also some sweet, grassy grain character and some cracker like malt that I noticed as I was trying to figure out the Brett aromatics.

The beer has a dry, grassy and herbal character to it up front. The middles sees a peppery carbonation and the Brettanomyces kicks in with some tongue coating phenolics that remind me of rubber and musk. A light malt sweetness in the finish helps accentuate (or maybe it is the other way around) some fruit notes reminiscent of pear and apple. This beer is quite light bodied, which is very nice, though there is a certain palate fullness to this beer that seems to be wrapped up somehow in the Brett phenolics. This has an almost velvety texture to it that is quite nice in a beer that is this dry, light and effervescent as this is. The hop character provides a nice bitter hop bite as well as a touch of lemon zest citrus character that morphs into a Meyer lemon note and then even tart orange (this moves more towards orange as the beer warms, though it never loses the lemon zest entirely); there is also a nice herbal component that mixes with the Brettanomyces phenolics. There is a hint of cracker like malt flavor to the finish as well as a grassy grain note that gets wrapped up in the hop character.

I definitely like this a bit more than the standard Devotion, the Brett adds that little something extra to this nicely hoppy Belgian’esque ale. The sharp Brett notes actually compliment the hop character. I really wished I hadn’t missed out on picking up a couple extras of this beer, one is simply not enough.

Very funky. The brett changes this beer dramatically from a nice ale to a funk bomb. Almost like an old school farmhouse style with some hint at the Devotion we knew before.

Appearance: Pours a hazy, pale yellow body with a frothy, delicate, snow white head. Smell: Let’s see what we have here. Lightly malty, pleasantly floral aroma with fruity notes of pear juice and melon and encapsulated by a restrained, funky Brett component. Taste: Slight pale malts and a meager sweetness. Floral, fruity aspects with a distant hint of spiced sourdough. Sip of still mineral water. All the while, lightly funky Brett tastes weave in and out of the flavor, imparting cotton, dust-covered cobwebs, and old leather bound books. Belated pithy, herbal hops and bitterness. Finishes bone dry and rather crisp. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Moderate carbonation. Drinkability: A tasty upgrade to the standard Devotion. The somewhat more subtle Brett addition allows for some fine penetrating complexities without losing sight of the original beer or suffering from lack of drinkability.

Bottle. Aroma and flavor dominated by brett. Flavor of citrus, bread, hay, and brett. If you are a fan of regular Devotion and the flavor brett adds you will love this.