Lost Abbey The Angels Share

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

Dang, this is good stuff. Pours dark black with brown highlights, like cocoa powder. Very flat, a thin head only lasts for a minute. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel, very flat but it’s perfect for this beer. Chocolate. Mmmm! Sour, roasted, hmmmm. Does this help: flat and dull yet somehow exponentially vibrant and interesting. Impossible to have too much, because you’ll always want to taste just a little more. Seek this out, I hope to locate a bottle or two. Great beer that defies categorization. At least one thing makes me proud to be an American: the craft brew industry! Cheers!

Brown bottle, 1 pint 9.4 ounces, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savoured on October 28 2007; eye: dark brown with burgundy reflections, nice creamy coffee head that remains throughout the sip, opaque, some lacing; nose: black licorice, whisky, woody, small berries, vanilla, caramel, candied fruits, smoke, scotch; mouth: liqueur-like, enjoyable alcohol carpet that remains throughout the sip, pepper from the alcohol, wood, caramelized malt, good presence of licorice, candied fruits, light vanilla, Amaretto similarities, peat, scotch, smoke, long finale in a nice balance of caramelized malt, whisky and wood with a hint of hops, full body, mildly bitter and sweet, creamy and velvety texture, superb balance of the various savours, average carbonation; overall: exceptional FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 1 pinte 9,4 onces, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savourée le 28 octobre 2007; œil : brune foncée avec des reflets bourgogne, belle mousse crémeuse café qui se maintient tout au long de la gorge, opaque, légère dentelle; nez : réglisse noire, whisky, boisé, petits fruits, vanille, caramel, petits fruits confits, fumée, scotch; bouche : liquoreuse, agréable petit tapis d’alcool tout au long de la gorgée, poivre de l’alcool, boisé, malt caramélisé, bonne présence de réglisse, petits fruits confits, légère vanille, petit côté Amaretto, tourbe, fruits confits, scotch, fumée, finale en un bon mélange de malt caramélisé, whisky et boisé avec une petite pointe de houblon et une petite pointe d’amertume, corsée, moyennement amère et sucrée, texture crémeuse et veloutée, superbe balance de toutes les saveurs, carbonatation moyenne; en résumé : exceptionnelle

The pour reveals a dark brown color with a thin light brown head. Complex, superb aroma of whiskey, oak, fruits, vanilla, chocolate and caramel. Complex, amazing and classy flavor of oak, whiskey, chocolate, fruits, vanilla and caramel with a bitter finish, the alcohol is not apparent. The body is medium with a luscious, liquorous texture and moderate carbonation. Even for Pizza Port and Tomme Arthur, this is an impressive achievement, the elements are well blended and exist in harmony, the barrell aging was done masterfully.

Vanilla, oak, bourbon, dark fruits, and big malt aromas. Pours amber brown. Dark malt flavors, bourbon and oak, very nice caramel malt flavors.

750ml bottle, Batch 1, sampled October 2007
The beer pours quite a bit darker than I was expecting. It is an opaque burnt amber color, that shows a brilliantly clear, light chocolate hue as I pour it. The head starts out a fat two-fingers in height and is frothy, rich amber tinged, dark tan color. Quite barrel influenced; some fruity, brandy-like notes are noticeable at first (including some slightly hot notes, that seem alcohol induced, but are really from the oak character). The nose soon picks up notes of oak-derived vanillin, touches of butterscotch and some spicy oak notes. The underlying beer is still noticeable though throughout all of this, though it does play a secondary, supporting role; aromatic notes of deeply caramelized malt sugars, some chalky cocoa notes, touches of toasty malt / dark bread, hints of dark grain notes (chocolate and something like Special B malt) and some fruit notes which meld with some probable brandy-induced aromas. The combination of the brandy & malt produce aromatic notes of raisins, a touch of cherry and some dried fig character. At times the aroma has me convinced that a mix of vanilla & hazel nut extracts has been added to the brew, or at least it seems that way. This is a very nice aroma, while it is certainly highly barrel influenced, it is not so much that it is detracting for me. I could wish that a bit more richness of the base beer came through though.

Soft, creamy, malt textures up front yield to a light spritz provided by the carbonation, but the beer really doesn’t lose that creamy texture. In fact the malts cling to the palate, even coating the mouth in their velvety touch even after the beer has left my mouth. As I was sort of expecting, the oak plays the secondary role in the flavor to the combination of beer & brandy flavors (opposite to the aromas balance). The malt & brandy contribute a nice level of fruit character here, including notes of concentrated raisins, figs, and a very slight cherry note. The fruit notes seem to be slightly roasted in character; the dark malts used here contribute a slightly chalky roast grain character, touches of chocolate & really something that seems like burnt raisins. The oak really provides an incredible balance & contrast to the flavors of this brew. As the beer warms, flavors of sweet nut extracts start to become quite prominent; touches of hazelnut, almond and something much like amaretto become quite pronounced and enjoyable.

The oak flavors are very well integrated here; soft notes of vanillin are noticeable at times, and towards the middle through to the end is noticeable a subtle butterscotch note. Spicy oak flavors are noticeable throughout, but especially show up in the finish; in combination with the hop bitterness, these notes provide a balance to the sweet malt & fruit notes. I get the feeling that this beer has a nice hop influence to it, but for some reason (other than the fair amount of bitterness) I can’t separate these contributions out from the rest of the competing flavors. As the beer warms up, the vanilla flavors really become much more prominent.

While I was expecting this to be at least good, I really am impressed how good this really is. This beer really works quite well with the brandy barrel. This is truly and enjoyable sipping brew, as the label states, 750ml is definitely a good size for slowly sipping & savoring amongst friends. I really like the flavors found in this brew as well as the silky textures of the body / mouthfeel; the two really compliment each other quite well. I can’t actually imagine the texture of this beer being any better for this particular set of flavors. I really think more brewers need to explore this particular barrel type, as I just transferred a bunch of a Belgian-style Quad from a Heaven Hill Brandy barrel (same type of barrel used here I believe), that is shaping up to be quite phenomenal as well. Speaking of which, the brandy character really seems to move this beer into the realm of a strong, dark, Belgian beer like a Quad; ultimately, I think this is why I like this beer so much, barrel & barley wine did not really excite me that much, but little did I realize that the combination would evoke the complexity & fruit character that I like so much in a really good Quad. Quite surprisingly (at least to this lover of funky beers), this is easily, objectively (removing the situational aspect) the best beer I have ever had from Tomme. I really wish I had at least a couple more bottles of this batch as I have a feeling it is going to age quite well. Without the barrel character (brandy & oak derived), this beer would merely be at most good and more like just decent; really it is the marriage of all of the components of this brew that make it so incredible.

Pours watery-caramel colored with very slight tan head. Aroma is hugely brandy and dark fruit, caramel, oak. Taste is slightly harsh and overwhelmingly brandy. Actually, overwhelms the barley wine aspects of the beer initially, but does develop some deeper complexity after a few sips. Very nice. ---- Re-rate bottle: 11/20/2007 Much better impressions of this beer after having it in the bottle versus the GABF version. The brandy is much more smooth and blends very well with the English Barley Wine aspects of this beer. I still think that it is predominantly a boozy beer, but it works so well on this one. As if the beer was made as a base to showcase the brandy aging. Very smooth, caramel, sweet brandy. Finishes slightly boozy, but not overwhelmingly so. Just very, very well balanced in its flavors.

nose is scotch bourbon malt and alcohol also so oak , brown black color good tan head flavor combined all of the above in a very easily drinking beer for the percentage, good bitter finish but really nice, would have enjoyed a little more hops at beer bistro.

Poured black with a creamy tan head. Aroma of vanilla, bourbon, and caramel. I could smell this all day! Big vanilla taste with a smooth bourbon kick. Caramel, oak, and some fruit present. Very smooth. One of the best.