Lost Abbey Veritas 002

Formerly brewed at Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
San Marcos, California USA

GABF, Draft at brewery. Dark reddish pour with smallish head. Lots of fruity tartness on the aromas. Flavors are still very vinious with sour raspberry and cherry flavors. Very very tasty.

2007 PP SAF VIP session: Deep purple with a last head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of heavy chocolate, caramel, red raspberry and raisin, fig, cardamom. Very vinous and a bit woody. The taste has a sharp raspberry and prune fruity notes over an oxidized and malty toast base. Funky and earthy with herbal notes. Additional notes of chocolate and phenols. The mouth feel is warming and lush, very smooth for it’s strength. A lovely brew but not as good a Veritas 001.

On tap at the 2007 GABF: Pours a transparent dark mahogany with a well-lacing light tan head. Aroma has some light caramel malty sweetness and earthy funkiness. Body starts fairly full and has a light caramel maltiness, but also has some soapiness and bitter bite along with a touch of cherries and acetone. Interesting and fairly complex, but pales in comparison to the Cable Car I tried just before.

Tasted at the Angels’ Share release, rating from memory since it looks like, sadly, there’s little chance of tasting it again. Brown beer with a small head, who cares what it looked like, the smell is the thing, sour and fruity, sweet like ruby port, tart like currant juice, like fresh berries and fermented fruit at the same time, like good sangria made with berries but not too citrusy, also chocolatey but not overwhelmingly so, sweet toasty malt and just a little bread, not really a strong Belgian yeast character, the Avant Garde is the most subdued in the aroma, can’t really say I got much funk in the smell. The taste is a beautiful sweet-sour-smooth-roasty-chocolate covered cherry mix. Not at all sticky or cloying, the sourness is more complex in the taste than the smell, some bitter and slightly funky notes. The mouthfeel is very smooth and rich but not at all heavy. A truly amazing beer that I wish I could get more of. Thanks for making this one Tomme.

at JimMack’s Invitational ’07. auburn chestnut color, fiery copper at the edges. medium tan thick foamy head. aroma is sweaty tangy barnyard and cheesy like a gueze. flavor starts sweet malty and fruity - sweet cherry, plum-like, and also tart like the skin of a pluot. flavor gets tart like sour cherries and then the finish is dry and tart. Thanks for this one, Mike!

This was truley a treasure to have and I will probably never sample this again to my dismay. Samples at the Angel’s Share Release 11/10/07. They were only supposed to serve samples of this but I convinced Gina to let me have a pint of it since I came from South Carolina! Pours out a dark muddy brown with a few bubbles here and there but no real noteworthy head. What came next was amazing THE SMELL. Imagine a blend of raspberries, honey, chocolate, and just enough tartness to round out the sweetness. Add on top of that, the unmistakable smell of a decent farmhouse ale and there you have Veritas. One sip surrounds you with flavors! Dark berries crash with a bar of chocolate and a dry tartness that can’t be beat. THEN you get the full oak flavor from the barrel.... a godly beer. This beer is genius, pure genius. A taste and smell that is unmatched with the biere de garde, raspberry mead, and barrel aged stout all in ONE! They need to bottle this quick!

on tap at the brewery - this has t obe a drunken concoction. who in their right mind thinks that blending a biere de garde, a mead (a black raspberry mead at that), and a strong dark, imperial stout-ish beer. i guess tomme does and thank god for that. a subtle blend of roast, fruitiness, with some spice and funk. wasnt much to look at, but honestly, who cares if it tastes great.

Draft. Multiple samples at BA Belgian Beerfest, 10/27/07. Poured hazy brown with some ruby highlights, with a small khaki head. Tart aroma with notes of wild yeast, oak, chocolate, and dried fruit. Complex flavor with chocolate, dried fruit, yeast, some wood, and caramel malt. Raspberry flavor comes through towards the end, giving a sweet-tart finish. Nice blend, but i was a bigger fan of the 001.