Lost Abbey The Angels Share (Bourbon Barrel)

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

’09 375ml bottle thanks to kegbear and smokepot23!
Dark brown, conjured a thin tan-bubble head by pouring from about a foot above my snifter. Oily after that dissipates. Bourbon, vanilla, tobacco, and hints of caramel are found in the nose. Flavor is some dark chocolate, nut, some dark fruit, more bourbon. The thin palate again makes the alcohol too prominent, but there is some carbonation here unlike the Brandy Angel’s Share, and the flavor is more vibrant. With carbonation, this would be a masterpiece.

375mL 2009 bottle. Dark nearly black pour with some mahogany highlights and no carbonation.. Very rich dark fruit with notes of vanilla bean, oak, and alcoholic bourbon. There’s also some hints of tobacco and black tea. The flavor is almost too rich at first but as it rolls past your tongue it leaves wonderful notes of dates, oak, cognac, vanilla, bourbon and a nice alcohol kick on the end. The body is oily and full with no carbonation and strong alcohol warming.

375mL 2009 Bottle thanks to a great friendship with danielcurtis81. Shared with Ben and Trevor. Pours dirty murky solid dark brown with no head or bubbles or life to be seen. Awesome heavy bourbon aroma that instantly tells you this is going to be stong in all aspects. Flavor is delicious rasin/plum, dark red fruits and heavy bourbon with an alcohol burn that warms the chest. Much like enjoying a fine bourbon liquor, this is far from a typical beer tasting experience and I salute the brewers for that. Sticky and syrupy throughout. Hats off to this spectacular treat.

The bottle looks really, really good. The beer in the glass is deep black, not very zippy, creamy head. Starts strong-malty, quite alcoholic, very complex with notes of chocolate and liquorice. Finish prickly-scratchy, still well balanced. Warming aftertaste. A great beer! Thanks to hapjydeuce for that bottle!

2009 750ml bottle. After anxiously twisting off the cage, the cork pulled out with amuted, anticlimactic "pup" sound. Shit. Poured a still deep brwon into a brandy snifter. Definitely some nice, big bourbon on the nose, with rich dark chocolate, tobacco, plums, and figs. Good nose. Flavor is big, rich, and decadent. Dark unsweetened chocolate, plums, a bit of a vinous grapey character. Tobacco and leather in there. A bit of hot bourbon around the edges. Good flavors, but this thing is basically near flat and the palate just does not properly carry the flavors. Shame, this would have benefitted greatly by some carbonation.

375ml 2009 bottle. Aroma is incredibly pungent, with very strong vanilla notes layered atop dark, dried fruit such as fig and raisins. The bourbon is also quite evident, smooth, sweet, smoky and creamy. Color is dark brown with some violet, no head besides some bubbly wisps after the pour. Flavor is WOW. Really strong woody vanilla on the entry, coupled with bourbon notes and raisins. Oh my, the finish. There is more sweet in the finish -- vanilla, some licorice and bourbon – but in a wave of ridiculously delicious complexity, I also got robust earthy, almost peaty notes in the finishing essence. Angel’s Share just evokes all of the human senses in ways I have never experienced in a beer. And to add my two-sense to the LA carbonation debate: the 2009 bottle is basically flat, BUT I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. The richness and sweetness of this brew actually successfully complements a low-carbonation rate, in my opinion. It also helped bring out the earthy notes in the finish in ways I definitely appreciated. Enough ramble, I’ll sleep well tonight.

Call me crazy, but I was wholy unimpressed with this beer. 375ml popped 6 months or so after release. Poured exactly like a coke with a thin bubbly head that fell in second and left a body reminiscent of a coke. Nose was bourbon... ....just bourbon. Taste was big on bourbon, slightly watery, just tasted like a poor barleywine that was oddly roasty and douched with bourbon.

Bottle. Pours hazy red amber with a small beige headNice lacework. Nose of roasted malt, vanilla, dried fruit, caramel and a notes of bourbon. Flaourwith roasted malt and dark fruits, vanilla and again notes of bourbon. Full bodied. More dry and alcoholic finish.