Lost Abbey The Angels Share

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

I don’t get this beer at all (or maybe barley wines in general). 2008 vintage. Flat as water. Strong aroma and flavor of alcohol. Just awful.

I’ve been looking forward to popping the cork on this one for a while. I was a little nervous about the buzz over the flatness of it, since I usually don’t like flat beers, but in my mind, it totally overcame that. It pours a dark muddy brown with loads of sediment. Of course no head to speak of. The aroma was special. Chocolate covered cherries, wood, vanilla, anise, kalua. The taste had a little carbonation, but not much. Very thick with a strong bourbon like flavor of oak and vanilla. What I liked was that every sip yielded a different flavor. Thats the sign of a top notch beer. Caramel, toffee, licorice, maple syrup, molasses... I could go on and on. Big alcoholic burn with a slight bitterness in the finish. Overall- a great beer, but only in smallish samples due to its massiveness. More carbonation would have been nice too.

Bottle. 2008 vintage. Rating #1400. Is this the vintage people have been complaining about? God damn, if you don’t like it send it my way, I loved it. Pours dark brown with almost no head. Loads of bourbon and dark fruits in the aroma. Plum, molasses, and vanilla. Smooth body. Yes the relative lack of carbonation is a bit unusual, but really it’s not that bad, and it does have some carbonation. The flavor starts with sweet notes of bourbon, whiskey and oak. Loads of dark fruits carry on the sweetness throughout. Raisins, plums, toffee and caramel feature. A long finish recalls more notes of sweet bourbon and whiskey. I thought this would be a bit rough to get through the whole bottle, but it was surprisingly balanced and drinkable. Very good.

08 375ml bottle, the "flat" vintage. Pours flat and syrupy dark brown. Nice aroma of brandy barrel, brown sugar, maple syrup and hints of vanilla. Taste has big flavors of chocolate, vanilla, brandy and toffee. Little hints of alcohol burn and some chocolate. Obvious world class brew that had some problems, otherwise the interplay of flavors is outstanding and very complimentary.

The bottle looks incredibly good. The beer in the glass deep black, almost oily, no head. Wonderful malty-old aroma. Starts fiery-malty, very complex, very woody notes, very strong, modest alcoholic. Very nice finish, warming, well balanced, prickly, very long. Wonderful beer! Big thanks to scrizz for sending that beer to my house!

25.4 oz bottle, 2007. Dark brown with a tan haze. Nose is caramel, raisin and brandy with unfortunate notes of moldy wood and butter. Kind of milky with high acidity and a sharp tang. Taste is sour plums, crabapples, bitter greens and earth. Dry, cardboardy finish. Needless to say a major disappointment.

2007 bottle. With all of the talk of infected bottles and under carbonated 2008 bottles, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The pour was deep reddish copper almost brown with a small beige head. The nose was big caramel malt, dark fruit, vanilla, brandy and oak. The flavor, which got better as it warmed, was moderately sweet caramel malt, vanilla, brandy infused oak, earthy, alcohol, and some Belgian chocolate. Mouthfeel was medium-full. Although there was a lot going on that was good, it didn’t always work well for me. I had a sample from an 07 bottle at DLD 09 and it was definitely infected. The rating does not come from this sample.

2008 bottle courtesy of DuffmanSW. Pours dark brown and still. Smells of dark fruit, brandy, oak, cognac, some molasses. Tastes dry and earthy with some nice fruity undertones and a dry finish. Restrained and enjoyable.

Original Rating of the 2006 Batch:

Last year’s batch. I received this as an extra in a trade sometime last year. Pours dark brown with a thin light tan head. Smells oaky with lots of dark fruit and cherry hints. Tastes cloyingly sweet with some dark chocolate hints and bitterness. Not really sure what to make of this. Warming alcohol present on the finish along with some peppery splashes. Mouthfeel reminded me of the inside of a resiny whisky barrel. A nice experiment by Tomme who is a great brewer, but not one of his masterpieces.

Ar: 8 App7 Fl:7 Pa: 2 Ov: 14