Lost Abbey 10 Commandments

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

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

UPDATED: OCT 5, 2008 Brown beer, an unremarkable appearance. Aroma has toffee and malt. Flavor is more malt and bitter hops. It is interesting enough, but a medium bodied, rather ordinary beer overall. I have no idea why this is rated so highly.

Dark, thick brown with yeast sediment and a thick tan head. Raisins, dark fruits, yeast, coriander, and malt in the nose. Little to no carbonation, silky mouthfeel. Roasted malt and chocolate prevalent up front, then turn to muted raisins and bready malt. Sourdough, cocoa, and a vinous grape flavor finish. Unbelievable beer.

Visible yeast particles cloud a dark russet body. A thcik, well-retained head is tan and cream colored. Spectacular webs of lacing are left behind. The appearance reminds me of Mackenzie’s Dark Saison. The aroma is lovely, presenting an array of scents that include raisins, charred cocoa, prunes, dates, apricots, yeast that’s really in turmoil, coriander, clove and sour malts. Hints of wheat and sweet alcohol bring in the rear. The brettanomyces is mellow, though I suspect that will eventually dominate the nose and warrants a few planned future revisits. The flavor is the star of the show. Malts are sweet and sour and gargantuan in proportion and intensity. The might of the toastiness and funkiness combination does succeed in enveloping the aforementioned fruit notes, but it also hides the alcohol and provides a soothing character from first sip to last. Further sips reveal lush chocolate and burned caramels. Bitterness is relatively accessible for such a sweet beer and is a welcome addition, forcing the malts to disperse across the tongue and opening a passageway for complex spices to set up shop on the miniscule canyons of the tongue. The finish is grainy, sweet and warming, lingering notes of raisins and chocolate remaining. The mouthfeel is medium-full to full bodied, sexy, jazzy and very upbeat despite it’s weight. Carbonation is perfect; I’d expect nothing less in bottle conditioning from this brewery. Very, very good, and I’d imagine this will turn into the masterpiece that was SPF 8 with adequate and careful aging.

Clear brilliance with a mahogany amber hue and a fuzzy tan cleft in the center of the head. Aroma is resoundingly beautiful. Broiled beets and caramelized raisins drum up the aromatic dark fruited nature. Prunes, dates and figs portray the very aromatic essence of ale. A touch of rye and burnt chocolate are aided by concord grapes in the distance. Flavor fulfills to the utmost degree. Campfire cackled chestnuts merge into fig filling, chocolate prunes and rustic cocoa batter capping toasted walnuts. Sweet beets meet brandy fig pudding. The sweetness is there, but it’s amazingly balanced by a dry and signature finish, lest not sweep away the astounding full-bodied, whole mouth affair. Chocolate rye treaties meld with slightly burnt pumpernickel, with a blackberry-concord jam to perfectly cover the rough spots of the loaf. A touch of blackened, French roasted blueberry coffee grinds hint in the finish, as the charred caramel crème brulee cap puts the finishing touch on a beer sent straight from heaven. Many thanks for the bottle, tpkenned!!

This brew is amazing! Pours like malted leather juice w/ it’s hazed, dark amber brown colors. Froth is medium sized w/ spattering and recedes slowly. Residual lacing consists of a full fluffy ring. Aromas of sweet malted dark fruits and cocoa. Full nectar w/ soft and fluffy creamy residual effers. It’s like the effers overcome the liquid and turn to fluffy cream. Nice! Big spicey malts w/ a dash of bakers cocoa. Mildy sweet w/ nuaces of pine, bitters, roasted coffee bean, black cherry, raisons, leather, steak. This brew has a mild roast component and delivers a peachpit style bittering that sets in mid palate and sticks. The finish is long on flavor w/ a mild sweetness and bittered perfectly. During the session I was reminded of a texture that took me a while to place. A texture so amazing and that isn’t readily produced in but only one other brew that I have had. That brew is the Westy 12. It took me two thirds of the bottle to finally remember where I had last felt that. The best thing about the W12 is it’s texture, full on cream. Perfect! 10 Commandents has that texture. Good job guys. Connoisseurs choice! Highly recommended.

750 bottle shared with friends. Corked popped calmly and the pour was a deep brown with a head that struggled to appear on the edges. The aroma is quite intense, really differnt and really interesting. Like dark fruit (raisings, figs) soaked in alcohol. The flavor is much the same with the fruit/raisin flavor dominating at cellar temp, but the alcohol shining through at room temp. This was a very different but a very nice beer and I look forward to popping the cork on my other bottle a year or so from now.

Opaque hazy brown (chestnut?) Raisin underneath, sour, toasting. Late finish ends a bit muddled. An interesting blend of flavor experiences. Soft, tingly palate.

Approximately 1.5 oz. sample at the Grand Tasting of the RateBeer Summer Gathering 2007 in the Twin Cities, MN on July 23, 2007. This was the twenty-fourth of 26 beers that I sampled and rated during the tasting. This is a really good beer, and I tend to write extensive reviews of such beers. However, it was getting toward the end of the night, and I had had a lot of beers, so my notes are not nearly as detailed as I would like them to be. Port-like aroma features raisin and grape scents (I suppose that’s a little redundant). Pours a hazy brown with yellow-beige head. Port-like flavor, consistent with the aroma. Hoppy, spicy background. Light bitter aftertaste. Medium body. Sharp and lively in the palate. 10 Commandments doesn’t taste as raisiny as I expected, given that it is brewed with raisins. It is a delicious beer. I tasted it right after I tasted The Lost Abbey Judgment Day. While Judgment Day is good, I liked 10 Commandments even better.

Sampled at the RBSG 07 Grand Tasting. Dark brown body with a grainy malt nose. Vaguely nutty character in the body with spices in the body.

RBSG 2007. The beer pours to a murky brown chestnut body with a very thin light tan head. The aroma is oatmeal, barley, and clean grains. Very simple. The flavor is an oatmeal, barley, brown ale. Not overly impressive. The palate is medium bodied, silky, tart, and creamy. An average beer.