Posts tagged The Lost Abbey

New Belgium Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO

The Lost Abbey (Port Brewing Co.) - San Marcos, CA

Lips of Faith: Brett Beer American Wild Ale

7.5% ABV

In my recent review of Brux I talked about collaboration beers and how they give drinkers a chance to sample something from a brewery they might not otherwise get to try. One of those beers was the Lips of Faith Brett Beer, an American wild ale cooked up by New Belgium in Colorado and The Lost Abbey in California. (The version brewed by Lost Abbey is called Mo’ Betta Bretta.)

Brett Beer is - surprise, surprise - brewed with Brettanomyces, a yeast strain any beer geek worth their salt knows all too well. For a brewery with “Belgium” in its name, it’s not surprising they decided to give the finicky Belgian yeast a chance to shine, along with Sorachi Ace, Target and Centennial hops for added pop. The result is a bready, Brett-y and juicy beer.

The pour is a really nice deep golden yellow color. It’s a bit hazy as a beer of the style would look. Topped with a finger of a head, though it dissipates quickly, and some really nice lacing and alcohol legs.

The nose is unmistakable. There’s definitely a strong Brett funk that hits first. It’s that classic wet hay kind of smell backed with a bit of tartness. You definitely get a good bread character to it, as well a sort of a sweeter green grape and citrus note as well.

There’s a nice wash of carbonation over the front of the palate first, followed with just a very mild tartness that pinches the front of the tongue and back of the throat. The taste buds really open up, and the flavors really pop on the end. Big juicy fruits - orange, a bit of apricot, some papaya - are the most prevalent. There’s also a nice lemon note to it as well. The sour notes aren’t around too long, and the solid mouthfeel mellows into a juicy aftertaste.

I was expecting a bit more funk or sourness, so it was kind of a letdown that it didn’t have that bite to it, and it sort of falls flat on the end. But those are minor inconveniences compared with the rest of the beer. The nose is great, the juicy tropical fruit flavors are delicious and it’s an all-around solid beer that really shows what Brett can do.

The Lost Abbey

San Marcos, CA

Judgment Day Belgian Quad

10.5% ABV

My fiancee and I celebrated our two-year (dating) anniversary this past Monday with a nice surf and turf dinner with roasted potatoes. I wanted to dip into the cellar and grab something I thought would work well with a meal, and a Belgian quad seemed to be a good fit.

Having only tried a few beers from The Lost Abbey in the past and not being very familiar with them - aside from the fact they specialize in Belgian-style beers - I tend to just grab a couple random offerings and see what works. A recent trip to Atlanta yielded a bottle of Judgment Day, a quad (or strong ale, depending on who you ask) brewed with raisins. They have yet to disappoint and this definitely continued that trend.

It starts with that classic quad appearance: Deep ruby color, almost brown with dark purple tint. There’s a pillow of a brownish head on top, about a finger’s length, and it sticks around for a long time..

On the nose are hints of a ton of things: molasses, plum, raisins, banana and fig. It’s kind of a subdued smell, but you can tell it’s just really rich and complex.

The first thing you get on the mouth is a strong hit of carbonation with a real slight slight bitterness. That carbonation continues throughout the mouth. It’s like Scrubbing Bubbles on your palate, and you can feel it washing over everything. Those really rich, sugary flavors come through as well. There’s plum, molassas and raisins. On the back is a big of tartness which is cut nicely by the sweetness of the raisins. It’s a really big, complex beer, but one that’s still surprisingly drinkable.