Lost Abbey Avant Garde Ale

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Bière de Garde
San Marcos, California USA

This offering from Lost Abbey pours a foggy orange with tiny carbonation bubble leaving a strong brown eggshell head on top of this beauty. The aroma is yeasty, fruity, dough, hay and grass. The taste starts sharp tart and lovely with enough sweetness to balance that bitter tartness upfront. The alcohal is warming and in control in this one. Followed by a bitter herbal hoppy and grass notes, hay, lemon grass, orange, citrus rind tarness, refreshing high carbonation make this finish fantastic and one helluva beer.

Pours a murky looking yellowy tan color with a long lasting white head. The first glass’s aroma is a deep bread and earth, while the second glass is significanty spicier with a slight bitter pepper note. Taste bready and slightly sweat at first, but not sugary, and soon joined by a dry yeast flavor and light but noticable hopping. Occasionally there’s a slight lemon rind taste poking through, but it’s picked up more by the sense of smell than taste. These tastes carry the beer in the finish, making it even more dry, and that spicy pepper from the aroma comes back to finish this beer nicely. Rather dry, but the body is really nice and creamy and drinkable, despite the full flavor. I barely have any experience with biere de gardes, but this is pretty nice.

750mL bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD. The initial pour was almost clear... the final pour was some thick stuff... lighter golden with a healthy cap of white head. The aroma was of sweet bready pils and caramel malts, dusty floral hoppage, and a citrus twist... more floral and spices as it warmed up.. quite nice. Flavor had sweet and alcohol-laced lighter fruits at the core.. dried herbal and floral accents surrounding.. dry citrus and herbal notes highlight the finish.. rather sweet. Just about medium-bodied, dry, and refreshing. Good stuff! Thanks Jon!

Big fluffy loose head. Dark yellow and gold. Light peppery aroma seems quiet but somehow fills a room. Soft may be a better word for the aroma. Ahhhh and hops. Spice is more complex in the flavour than the pepper. Long lasting flavour. Good carbonation. Malty and sweet. Smooth with a hint of vanilla.

bottle-pours hazy orange with a foamy soapy white head. grainy nose, but with a touch of funk on these grains. definately a sour mash here! grains of paradise, lite grape notes, lite toasted malts. definately has a thing all its own on the nose. Its no true Biere de garde, but for an american sample, pretty respectable. flavors show the sour grains and lite toasted character here. body is medium with soft carbonation. good and definately one of the best if not the best american version of this style!

Bottled. Hazy golden coloured with a small head. Sweet and kinda malty with notes caramel, spices, citru and fruit. A bit too thin.

Bottle shared, courtesy, slob. Poured a murky cloudy gold-orange color, nice white head with great retention. Solid lacing. The aroma was coriander, wit-like in many ways, light floral notes at higher temperatures, orange-citrus overtones. The flavor wasa caramel, very light apples, malty, yeasty, bready, citrus, full and hearty mouthfeel, light spicing, the alcohol a little too noticeable, especially at only 7%ABV. Mouthfeel finishes with a slightly dry accent, but not extremely dry, as the malts keep this thing a bit wet. Bert, thanks for sharing!!!

Bottle sampled from Capone’s. Pours hazy, orange golden with a decent white head. Aroma of fruit, spices, and floral. The flavor is slightly sweet caramel, spices, fruit, floral, ,moderate carbonation, traces of floral and herbal hops.