Lost Abbey The Angels Share (Bourbon Barrel)

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

An explosive opening burst out the heavenly aroma. Lots of caramel and dark fruit with underpinnings of bourbon. The beer is a very dark and slightly murky mahogany colour with a thick fizzy brown head. Vanilla, caramel, bourbon, and alcohol are prominent in the flavour. There is a bit of oak and yeasty flavour n there as well. One of the more drinkable big barley wines out there though I think it’ll improve a bit with age.

Bottle shared by alexsdad06. Poured hazy reddish brown color with an average frothy brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate to heavy dark fruity, toasted malt, alcohol and wood aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Moderate to heavy dark fruit bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy dark bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a complex standout beer.

(2006 batch on tap @ the bistro)brown body with a huge brown head.small bourbon notes along with some citrus hops,cotton candy,and brown sugar.very well balanced and no alcohol is detected.(2008 bottle from the sinners release)uber-dark brown.in fact,you cant see through the beer even when its held up to light.nice big light brown head that leaves some lacing on the glass.the aroma is simply awesome.bourbon,vanilla,oak,cotton candy ,pine hops,and bubble gum.the thing that i like best about the aroma is nothing is overpowering.the flavor is pretty much the same.again,everything is very well balanced.i think the 2008 has more flavor,although its a tad bit overcarbonated.

Bottle. Aroma of Bourbon and wooden barrels along with some caramel malt. As Ipopped the cork had a gusher to deal with kind of took me by suprise with the foam stain still visable on the pool deck. Decent lacing and some setiment found on bottom of glass. Dark body with foamy head a puor to remember. Carmael and bourbon alcohol flavors are most prevelant. Sweetness lingers on a dry palate yearning for some water. Solid brew may of just maded he price of sinners membership which I thought was little high worth it.

Dark brown...significant head. Aroma of dark chocolate, dark roasted malts, bourbon. Flavor includes a wonderful blend of molassas, toasty malts, brown sugar, wood, bourbon, slight coconut, raisins, chocolate...absolutely delicious! On tap at Port.

Thanks for sharing this with me bro. I was a bit perplexed when I was smelling and tasting this. I had no idea what style it was. I thought it was an impy stout and was thinking it was ’’meh’’. Then my brother told me it was a barley wine and at that point, I was very impressed. It pours out one of the deepest brown colors with light tannish head. Aroma is intensely bourbon, caramel malt and mild chocolate and smoke. Taste is vanilla, intense bourbon, caramel malt and light toffee. Very smooth for the ABV and everything is well balanced. Awesome stuff!!!

This rating for the original 2007 Release.
In short: A big earthy malt orgy the American way, nothing more, nothing less. Excellent.
How: Bottles 375ml. Original bottling (2007). Bottles sent to me by doubleO, hapjydeuce, WeeHeavySD. Thanks to you all guys.
The look: Near black body topped by a small tan head
In long: This is not a normal rating. This is a comparative rating from a blind tasting of the original Angel’s Share (2006 bottling) and the original Bourbon Barrel aged (2007 bottling). Complete description in my Angel’s Share rating which I had on many occasions. This Bourbon Barrel version has a slightly stronger carbonation, soft in the regular Angel’s Share, medium in this one. The Bourbon Barrel has a little more caramel and the alcohol is a bit more present. This Bourbon Barrel aged feels a tiny bit more roasted than the original. But to make a long story short I was surprised at how similar the regular Brandy Barrel and the Bourbon Barrel were. The barrel character was hard to identify in both (very subtle or very well integrated) and during the blind tasting we kept changing our mind about which was which. I really wanted to pick a favourite at the blind tasting but I kept changing my mind. The truth is that it was impossible for me to pick a less excellent. I felt like a father who has to chose which of his two sons to sacrifice in order to feed the starving family. With both sons looking equally delicious.

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!