Lost Abbey Veritas 003

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

Wow, this was a fantastic beer. Pours dark brown with a nice foamy off white head. Little bit of a gusher when I opened the bottle. Funky sour aroma when you open it. Great flavor and a decent amount of sour in the blend. Sour fruits, a little bit of a dry finish. I want more :)

Thanks to Marc for bringing this to the pre-DLD hotel tasting! Poured deep garnety brown with a creamy cap of tan head.. some rising carbonation.. beautiful! The aroma had a whole lot going on with dark fruits, honey, airy, dried spicy yeast, and cherries on the first impression.. more cherry with warmth.. I picked up a lot of the CdT influence. The flavor had deep, sour fruits with cherries at the core.. dry, funky sourness surrounded.. peppery spices and more funk toward the back. Well-carbonated, sour, and bone dry on the palate.. alcohol warmed up the long, memorable finish. This was excellent!

The rating is a combo of the couple of bottles tasted. Poured a hazy dark brown color with an off-white head. Semi-sweet start with a mild-moderate tartness. Notes of cherry and wood with hints of leather. The flavor was tart but had a light sweetness in there as well. Light taste of raisins. Semi-dry finish with a mildly bitter finish.

25 oz bottle, via wetheral. Pours an orangish amber body with a nice foamy off-white head with some nice lacing. A little more bretty than the 001 with less vinegar and more oakiness. Quite funky and fruity. The flavor is dry and bretty with lots of oak and sour cherry tartness, plummy fruitiness, caramel. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, very dry with a little too much fizzy carbonation. Overall, a really great beer, a touch better than the 001 for me.

Thanks to cquiroga for gettting me the bottle. A gusher! In spite of having been in a fridge sitting quietly for a few weeks, upon openiing it, it geysered... Hazy brown pour with a large off white head, which quickly dies down. It’s a bit boozy, some sour/funky. but finishes nicely. I definitely taste the influences of Amazing Grace and some of the Cdt, but not so much of the Angel’s share. Tasty brew

Fizzy as hell. Appearance is muddy brown, bubbles cling to the side of the glass and dissipate quickly, aroma is bourbony, sour funkyness . Taste is belgumy, slightly sour, oak, bourbon, definitely a little hot but not overwhelmingly so. Not as integrated as I’d like- needs a little time. Very solid.

This is very well carbonated as a careful pour produces a tulip filling, four-finger thick head that soon grows an additional two-fingers in height above my glass. The amber tinged, tan colored crown of froth maintains its integrity though and does not overflow despite being well above the rim. The beer is a very dark, concentrated, well burnt amber color; it shows a hazy, bright cherry red color when held up to the light. This is quite aromatic, influenced heavily by both oak and funk. Fruity notes of cherries, raisins, perhaps a touch of apple are noticeable as I pour this, though a deeper inspection yields butter oak aromas, spicy wood notes, with maybe a touch of vanillin. With some warming alcohol notes this smells a bit like Bourbon. Dusty cocoa aromatics, with a backdrop of toasted malt, some caramelized malt sugar aromatics and spice notes of orange zest, clove, cardamom, pepper and ginger also are found in the nose. This beer smells tart, has a bit of farmhouse cheese character, a definite musty, damp earthiness. While barrel notes seem to be the most dominant character in the nose, I do like the distinct cherry note that is noticeable from time to time and also the funk influence is quite nice. The nose is actually quite complex, definitely interesting enough to spend quite some time on.

Fairly thick feeling as it first hits my tongue, more tart than sweet though and there is a nice fizz of carbonation that attempts to lighten things up a bit. A dusty, browned malt character sort of lingers on the tongue, producing flavors of toasted bread, dusty cocoa and a nuttiness. A bit boozy, from what must be a Bourbon / Whiskey barrel (though I suppose I could be convinced it is just heavy-handed oak), thankfully this is only one component of the flavor though. The sourness contributes / accents flavors of tamarind, sour cherries, tart raisins and even some prune notes. The lack of overt sweetness, the light tartness and the chewy body all contribute to quite a savory overall quality; this is rich and satisfying without being too strong and over the top. This really has quite a velvety texture to it, while it is perhaps light for a beer of this strength (8% my ass), it still has a texture & finesse to it that makes it a sipping brew.<P> So tell me, how does a mix of a 8% beer, a 11% beer and a 11.5% beer produce a beer with only 8% alcohol? Stupid one label fits all, make no mistake this is a huge beer in this 750ml bottle. This is quite a tasty beer, I could wish for a bit more funk and a little less barrel influence, but neither of these keep this from being damn good. I am enjoying this beer much more than I think I should based on the individual components, somehow the sum is just quite nice.

Rating #400! Thanks weibull!

A nice ruby brown pour with a tan head. Aroma was strong fruit, caramel, and an inviting sour aroma. Flavor had even more tart fruit, lots of apples and pear. The brandy, oak, and vanilla kick in about midway through from the angels share. Some caramel and more sour funk round this out. 10% abv my ass. Finished sour and dry. A lost abbey that lives up to the hype!