Lost Abbey Red Poppy Ale

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Sour Red/Brown
San Marcos, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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UPDATED: FEB 9, 2009 Sampled from bottle at DIPA fest, graciously shared by Aspidites. Very nice flavors of some oak, tart cherries and some funkiness that is subtle. Nice aromas of smoke and oak. Very smooth on the palate with a nice finish. A nice break from all the DIPAs and it could still stand up.

375, corked and baled. Dense, grainy brown with caramel highlights. Light gray filmy head with heavy swirls and some lace. Big funky sour cherry nose with dense underpinnings of malt notes (tough to individuate them). Medium body, soft carb, nice forward sourness. It’s all very harmonious and balanced and under control. Light and very softly mineral finish. Beautifully executed. Gorgeous label as well.

Pours a very attractive cloudy rusty red-brown with a small but infinitely long lasting off-white head. Aroma is an earthy sort of tart when the beers colder; reminiscent of mustard, hay, vinegar, grass clippings and such. As it warms, the mustard subsides and a subtle, incredibly unsweetened fruit takes it’s place, then becoming a bit more distinctly "cherry". Some oak barrel in there as well, very well rounded aroma overall. Very brief cherry flavor gives way to an old dry mustard earthiness, vinegar, oak, unsweet cherry; it’s certainly tart enough for me. Finishes with a bit more fruit coming out (still subtle) and then a lot of bitter oak and an almost tingling dry sensation on the back. My mouth feels a bit "cloyed" but I tend to feel that way with sour beers. Almost light bodied texture, medium to high carbonation, but the beer feels nice and full, whereas I find that sours tend to feel "empty" bodied sometimes. Very good stuff overall.

Bottle from HopHead84. Color is a lightly foggy brown ruby with a thin off white head. Aroma is lightly sour, with cherries, oak. Taste is fairly sour, light caramel, light black cherries. Originally when I saw the description it seemed like they were going for something similar to Supplication. Seems similar to batch 002, but nothing compares to batch 001 of Supplication.

UPDATED: AUG 5, 2008 First beer of the evening for the 2/9 D-Metal tasting with jarspag. Very hazy amber-red color with lots of big spotty white lace and some of those bigger bubblies hanging on the sides of the glass. Great aroma of sour funk, it has that whole wet hay, barnyard, horsey thing going on. Also toasted bread, raisin, with tons of cherry and oak presence in the aroma as well. The flavor follows up the character of the aroma very well, with notes of plum, leather, oak all over, brett yeast and citric phenols. The sourness is well-balanced and not overly puckering. Dry and yeasty finish with medium carbonation. Very nice! ....Rating update from the Ratebeer Summer Gathering tasting at Lost Abbey. This was the 2008 batch sampled from the barrel. No carbonation, fantastic palate and a huge oak barrel note finish. Subdued tartness with more earthiness. Rating bump!

Same bottle as Irish Boy, from Goldtwins! (thanks!!!!!! Good nose, very 3Font. Nice tartness, only lacking in long dry finish, the only thing keeping me from a 4.5 score. A very well made beer that I would imagine could age very very well.

Bottle shared by aspidites; Cloudy red with a big off-white head; Nose of brett, cherries, and woodiness, flavor is tart cherries, oak, and light spices.

Pours a reddish-brown. No head at all. Aroma reveals notes of vanilla, acetic acid, cherries, plums, oak, roasted nuts (oddly enough). The flavor is elegant. With just enough tartness shining through. The oak is even more evident here. Yet again, Lost Abbey and Tomme deliver the goods.

UPDATED: FEB 16, 2008 375 from the Sinners shipment. Wonderful aroma, but kind of falls a little short of expectations on the tongue. It’s just a notch below Supplication... close though. Quite tart and sour on the nose. Loads of new oak as well. Pours dark, murky brown with lots of chunky yeast floating around. Not nearly as tart on the tongue as the nose. Some bready malt, tart cherry and wet new oak. Tart grape tannin and a kiss of vinegar as well. A hint of funky yeast. Medium on the tongue. Just the right amount of carbonation. Finish didn’t last as long as I had hoped. Overall, this is a fine beer, but I was hoping for a bit more sour funk.

reminds me of RR supplication...but just one notch below. the pour produced zero head with a cloudy reddish brown pour. tart up front, with a light vinous quality and a bit of the cherry flavor followed up by some woody oakiness. excellent brew...but i dont think its at the same level of the RR sours just yet.