Lost Abbey The Angels Share (Bourbon Barrel)

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

GBBF, Trade Day, 2008 Gravity cask. 2nd beer. Wow! Very smooth - velvety. Fresh oak and vanilla ice-cream. Faint twiggy bitterness. Nothing overdone, and a lovely flavour. Top notch, and a pleasure that this has lived up to the hype. A great start to the day.

Bottle. Poured a cloudy brown (worse than normal...really looked like crap) with a one finger beige head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla and toasted malt. Flavor of molasses, chocolate and bourbon. Medium/full body with soft carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel.

This was a beer that I have been wanting to try for a long time. My buddy Ross hooked me up with that opporotunity. The beer poured a murky dark brown, nearly black, with a small brown head. Aroma is sweet toffe malts, caramel, and a touch of vanilla. However, the burbon was so strong it was a stretch to pick out the small subtle smells. The taste was big, almost too big of bourbon, any more and I would have called this beer a mess. The oak flavors really struggled to come through over the bourbon and sweet raisin like flavors. This beer was good don’t get me wrong but it could be amazing with a touch less bourbon, perhaps some more aging would have helped this one?

Cask at GBBF08 with uber party shack disco dance bruno’s bast mates dance off boyz. Alround rating: Big toffee malt character, big bold sweetness, some fruity berry raisin character, quite drinkable stuff actually. Tastier than the ordinary, but still a bit big and sweet for me.

Bottle at O’Brien’s SD a while back. Interesting mix of sour and burbon. Dark rich ale flavor, malt, sweet oak / burbon flavor that provides a complex and long finish that I have not experienced before. Still young and I feel it can age for several years. Lots of yeast in this one, but don’t pour it out. The last small glass, cloudy and chunky, was outstanding!

Thanks to SoLan for the taste! It poured a brown color with a beige head. Sweet vanilla, burbon and toasted malt aromas and a nice malty chocolate and molasses flavor with a little date. Overall, a great beer.

Bottle, big thanks to kmweaver for this. Opened this Fin, Loz and Traci at the "Welcome Home Frank" tasting. Deep thick brown, fine tan head. Full dense gingerbread aroma, chocolate, toasty cracker edge, rummy fumes. So much aroma volume, and so nicely integrated together. Bourbon woody chocolate flavor, a rich sweetness that is deep and satisfying but never sticky. A nice warming presence after the swallow. Hard to picture a barleywine being nicer than this. Thanks again Ken!

Bottle, courtesy of SoLan. This pours brown with a lightly fuzzy tan head which leaves some lacing on the glass. The nose on this is fantastic, huge sweet oak and vanilla laced bourbon whiffs dancing around caramel almost bready malts. Not over the top or harsh with the bourbon at all, very balanced. In flavor the bourbon is even more subdued, though still apparent. Malty, bread pudding, praline nuts, some tannic oak and hints of vanilla and maple. Smooth and lucious in the mouth while slightly drying from the bourbon and oak. Wow! What a treat.