Lost Abbey The Angels Share (Bourbon Barrel)

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

Vintage 2008 Ap: Midnight brown with an inch of sudsy head. Aroma: Vanilla, bourbon, cookies and graham crackers. Taste: Cocoa powder, vanilla, bourbon, hops and oak. Mouthfeel: Sliky. Overall: ****1/2 out of *****

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.

Sampled at Port Brewing at room temp. Prune brown color with just a wisp of a halo of light tan foam. Aroma is dark fruit with a little alcohol. Flavors are burgandy, vanilla, bourbon and a little oak. Finish is rich and smooth with a little alcohol and light bitterness. Full bodied and velvety with gentle carbonation.

Bottled, thanks Marsblursi! hazy dark ruby, rich firm head. Caramelly nose with bourbon and higher alcohols. Seemless soft caramelly body where spun sugar meets grapefruit and bourbon. Really full bodied, still the softness makes it drinkable and pleasant. Whereas the bourbon opens for new experiences it also detracts a little from the seemless malt. Still overwhelming and fantastic.

Tasted on tap at the 2007 Bistro West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Festival. The barley wine poured a deep amber color. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is oak, bourbon, brown sugar, molasses and a touch of vanilla. A full-bodied barley wine. The malts are caramel, fruity, sweet. There are pronounced brown sugar and dark fruit flavors in this one, which combine with the bourbon sweetness. Very complex beer. Very smooth tasting. The 10.5% alcohol is slightly noticeable. Excellent beer. Contrasted nicely with the 2007 version at the fest as well. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Barley Wine #100. I definitely can’t thank BDR enough for this one! Black color with a large head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla and a little fruitiness. Dark and sweet malt flavor. Moderate bourbon, vanilla, oak. A bit of chocolate and coffee. Almost tastes closer to a stout than a barley wine. Delicious.

Black beer, very persistent beige head. Bourbon jumping out of the glass; alcohol, dark malts, brandy and grapes. Very Bourbonflavoured as well, some roasted malts, dark fruit, dark wild mushrooms, fusel alcohols. Not really sweet, but sweet enough. Extremely sticky and viscous, oily, totally full-bodied, notwithstanding that it remains very pleasing. Superb difference, same difference.

5/5/07. On cask at Lost Abbey 1st Anniversary Party in San Marcos, CA 5/5/07. Cask! Muddy dark brown color with a creamy tan "malt ball" Whopper-like spongy head that is amazingly well retained. Despite this and the well-integrated carbonation that lasts way longer than it has any right to, I still cursed the use of the sparkler they served it through. A beer this intricately nuanced certainly deserves better. But otherwise this cask was in peak condition. Aroma is wildly different from the regular Angel’s Share, with a succulently fruity cherry-bourbon medley and other assorted dark fruits, like candied figs and bourbon-drizzled dates (yes, THAT decadent). The sweetness is apparent but wonderfully checked by the bright cherry-like fruitiness, a raw wood hum and the gentle warmth of fine bourbon. The lone downfall is a shade too much bourbon, but this is markedly different from your sleazy TGIFriday’s well shit. The bourbon has a softness to it that keeps it from taking over, and allows the base beer to show a whole different expression than the brandy barrels will allow. The flavor is incredibly wonderfully malted, mostly of molasses, dates, and hints of sweet tobacco. Rich vanilla and still some striking fruity wood notes. But once again the bourbon leaves a little too much heat behind, masking some of the subtlety even as it ramps up the complexity. It’s a trifle of a complaint, but it sadly keeps this from being completely out-of-this-world. Full body with a warm woody texture and lovely dry caramelized sugar in the finish. Long, great malt depth. A surprising improvement on an already outstanding beer. I can’t wait until they release this in bottles. If the bourbon intensity can mellow out a bit with extended age (and I’m not really talking about alcohol heat-- moreso just intense bourbon FLAVOR), this beer could be simply incredible. As it is, it’s damn close.