Lost Abbey 10 Commandments

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
San Marcos, California USA

One of the most wine-like beers I’ve had, and though that’s usually not a compliment coming from me, I thought this was very interesting and good. Pours deep red with almost no head. Aromas of Belgian floral and some fruity herbiness. Very drinkable with a nice balance of raisins, honey, that pervasive Belgian floral quality, and herbiness. An interesting and largely successful experiment, and a delicious change of pace.

750ml bottle. 2008. I bought two of these, one to age a year, and one fresh. I believe this is a couple months old now. Pours almost completely flat, brownish red color. Some very faint swirls appear and a tiny ring of bubbles but this is more or less flat. At first I think I get an Orvalish brett component but fairly quickly I figure it is just normal spices. Aroma shows raisin, chocolate, fruity spicy esters of saison origin, peppery. Rosemary is present but much less pungent than it is in normal herb form. A complex and intriguing blend of aromas. The warmer this gets the more the rosemary comes out. Some oregano is also present and general pizza stuff. Taste is more traditionally saison like than the aroma with a hint of dark caramel, light chocolate, and dark fruits intertwined with the spicy, phenolic yeast. Mouthfeel is slick, neither sweet nor dry though it somehow feels young. After all is said and done I get no wild yeast component out of this. I will certainly rate this again in a year when I crack my other bottle. As for now I think this is a fairly solid beer and a good example of a dark saison.

Bottle: Toooo sweeet, lots of honey and fruity notes. Lacks any head or lacing.

pours a dark brown with a medium size caramel-tan bubbly foam head, looks almost like a coca-cola only with better lacing. smell is of dark fruits, some caramel, some spice, a little sweetness, and some malt. taste is sweet up front, raisins, grapes, prunes, spice, some cocoa, sour malt, finishes nicely, the sweetness dies down a bit and the fruit flavors come through.

My Bottom Line:
Rosemary and brettanomyces intertwine and flutter within deeply caramelized cereals and raisins for a portly and sovereign Belgian-style Strong Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the burgundy-hued dark brown.
-This tastes like a spiced Abt; I find it more complex than their Judgment Day Abt, as a matter of fact.
-The finish is nicely dried out by the spiciness and wild yeast.
-Some light roast adds to the complexity.
-This has a lot more body than I expected!

Bottle.

<i>750ml bottle:</i> Pours thick, dark brown. Quite menacing. The aroma is filled with ripened fruits - lots of plum, raisins and apple. The body is just as packed with flavor, cramming heavy caramel, sweet plums and anise into the mix. Becomes too big and too much to enjoy. Very sweet and over the top.

Bottle shared with fellow ba kplynch, thanks pal! Apperance: Deep black/red with almost no head. Aroma: Port wine, Molasses, Caramel, Spices. Flavor: Spices (cardemom, rosemary), Dark Caramel, Hint of yeast, Brown Sugar. Palate: Pleasantly carbonated with plenty of spices. Long aftertaste. This beer is quite similar in taste to "underlig jul" by Nögne. A perfect beer for christmas! I like!

750ml. Cloudy, dark brown body with a small, o0ff-white head, mostly diminishing. Strong aroma of overripe fruit — plums, raisins, orange. Notes of licorice, caramel, candy. The flavor is moderately to heavily sweet and lightly bitter. The finish is moderately sweet and lightly bitter and moderately acidic. Flavors of licorice, juicy plum, orange. Medium body with a syrupy texture. Soft carbonation. If you like sweet flavors, you’ll like this. The aroma is the best thing about the ale.