Lost Abbey Veritas 003

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

Hazy brown with a small but dense light beige head that leaves some nice lazework on the wine glass used. Aroma is very interersting, original and inviting of fairly sour cherries, minty brightness, bubblegum and candy alongside various fruit and subtile funk. Flavour is similar but what strikes me as most impressing with this beer is it’s smoothness, crazy clean with a perfect amount of carbonation, full yet extremely slick and easy to drink, too easy to drink actually without ever being close to thin. A really nice brew that manages to bring together all sorts of fruit (both sour and sweet) into one well composed flavourbomb.

Several bottles. Pours a clear read with a beige head. Was really curious what this would be all about given the interesting blend of beers involved. Really nice, smooth brett, some sour cherries, quite a bit of funk. Beautiful flavor. Lost Abbey can do an amazing job with sour beers. This thing is so smooth, it’s a dark sour like Consecration but better, even smoother than batch 2. It just has this awesomely-melded sour cherry and brett element without being overly heavy like the straight Cuvee. Amaing in that it manages to carry a hefty malt component, a graceful sour cherry, and a beautfully funked brett all in a light, fizzy package. Love this one, but if you have a bottle I think it should be drank soon as this might not get better with more time.

Bottle at the RBSG09 grand tasting thanks to Cquiroga. Opaque red-brown with a thick head. Bretty and sour aroma with lots of funk and lemon juice. Big, fruity, and sour flavor. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Dryer and more sour than I expected. Nice, but the brett and acidity seem to cover everything else up.

Bottle from Cquiroga’s BCT at the San Fran GT 2009. A pretty unexpected result from the three listed components. Nose is a nice tart, funky wooded vibe. Color is a deep gold with plenty thick haze. Flavor was quite nice: a tart beer - strawberry, lemon - but really hearty and well-founded. Was expecting more of a dense beer with evident booze, but this was just a great big tart beer like Consecration. Really enjoyed it.

Bottle courtesy of fatboyjim1 poured into a tulip. Big pop of the cork with this one produces a huge creamy beige head on top of a deep, clear copper that sits as a dark reddish brown in the glass. The head refuses to go away quickly and leaves delicate lacing on the way down. The aroma takes a while to open up as it warms and the initial whiffs are of tart cherries with hints of sugar coated raisins. There’s a faint bourbon character and some oak tannins as well. There is a sourness that weaves itself though all the aromas and the Cuvee de Tomme is the more evident aroma in this blend. As this thing warms, I’m getting much, much more sweetness with the Angels Share starting to come out. Completely fascinating aroma that changes every time I pick it up. The taste follows the aroma fairly closely and has a tart cherry kick up front with the sugary malt backbone becoming more prevalent, probably more so than in the aroma. I actually get hints of caramel and even chocolate in the taste as it warms. The finish is a mix of sour fruits, wood and definitely some red wine dryness. The mouthfeel is lively with good carbonation and medium bodied with a very vinous character, especially the dryness of the finish. This is one very complex beer with tons of stuff going on. There are hints of all three different beers in there with the Cuvee de Tomme showing out the most initially, but as it warms the character starts to lean more toward the Angels Share. I’m certainly pumped I was able to try this rarity.

Pours dark brown with plenty of khaki head. The nose is just sour with a brown sugar sweetness. All I taste is sour. Medium body and bone dry. I really don’t think there’s any thing special here.

Copper colored pour. Sour aroma with some sweet fruits and oak. The flavor is dry oak, lemons, and a hint of cherry. Solid body, with medium to high carbonation. Tasty--I would love to have a bottle in a few years.

750, corked and baled. Thanks, RiversideAK! Pours cloudy reddish brown with a lacy off-white head. Sour cherry nose. Medium body and carbonation. Sweet-tart cherry, caramel lemon taste. Woody tart finish.