Lost Abbey The Angels Share (Bourbon Barrel)

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Barley Wine
San Marcos, California USA

Pours super dark brownish amber with a massive rocky 3 finger head that almost overflows the snifter. Retention and lacing are excellent. Smell is wonderfully sweet with brown sugar and caramel. There is a definite boozy bourbon aroma as well but extremely well integrated with the sweetness of the malts. I actually also got the slightest hint of sour in the nose at the finish. As much as I would like to "buck the hype", this is one of the best tasting beers I have ever tasted. It’s wonderfully creamy with molasses and caramel up front with the bready malts. The bourbon is present but very subtle and plays with the sweet vanilla tastes and dark fruits. In a word, spectacular. As mentioned before, for a bourbon barrel beer this one is incredibly smooth and creamy yet highly carbonated. The bubbles just tingle the tongue...so, so good. This is my first Angel’s Share and I have to say it’s one of my desert island beers. The flavors are so big yet so well balanced, the hype is completely deserved.

375 ml bottle corked and caged from Lost Abbey Patron Sinners club. Cork opens with a loud pop, and some "smoke". Pour is deep brown, some ruby highlight. There is an expansive four inch tan head, which is quite lasting. Nice lacing left behind as it slowly retreats. Pretty pour. Aroma is bourbon oak wood barrel, vanilla and some pepper spiciness. Behind that is some smoked maltiness. It was hard to get past the Bourbon on the nose, that was most of what I smelled. Taste is a nice malty Barley wine, toasted vanilla, a bit of pine hops, then a pretty big dose of the Bourbon. I also get some cola taste in this as well. Makers and Coke? There is some graininess mid-palate. The finish is boozy, and quite sharp. Palate is right for the beer, not overly big, but sufficiently full to support the big flavors. The oak in the beer made this beer very drying. Later that evening, my mouth was so dry I felt like I had been sucking on wood chips. This beer was good, but seemed dominated by the Bourbon, and as such, became a bit one dimensional for me. As this approached room temperature things integrated a bit better, or my palate had been overwhelmed, either way it improved. I had high expectations for this beer, and was hoping for a bit more complexity.

Thanks to beastiefan2k for sharing this at Dickinsonbeer’s hoboken gathering. Dark brown in color with a tan head. Aroma: Bourbon, molasses, dark fruits, and vanilla. Taste: alot of molasses, bourbon, chocolate, dark fruits, oak and vanilla. Body is big but the beer is actually very smooth. Alcohol is moderate in the finish. I’ve been wanting to try this for a long time now, and I am glad I did. Thanks Eugene.

375ml bottle. Just short of a gusher. Pours cloudy brown color which ends up almost opaque in the glass. Large head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla and a lot of oak. Plum, fig and brown sugar. Some chocolate malts in the taste. Heavy body without much hint of the alcohol.

bottle@Hoboken#1-thanks beastiefan2k–pours a thin offwhite head and dark brown color. Aroma is medium malt, wood, alcohol. Taste is vanilla, medium malt, wood-bourbon, alcohol. Occasional. Sipping. 3.4

5-25-08 bottle
Thick dark dense brown with a good head and nice lacing. Smell is rich chocolate and bourbon with a hint of hefty dough - a nice bold smell. Nice flavor but a hint milder than I wanted - malt and roasted bourbon come through, but just barely. Not boozy at all to me. Palate is a hint on the thin side but not dreadful. The regular Angels Share is more to my liking.

A dark brown appearance with a carbonated beige head. The aroma is whiskey, chocolate, dark fruit, alcohol, and licorice. The flavor contains a slight sour presence with some chocolate, raisins, licorice, oak, and whiskey. The aftertaste is thick and sweet. Overall a nice beer!

375ml bottle from the Sinners Club. A vigorous pour, dark brown to burgundy, with a fast rising but quickly diminishing head. Crisp carbonation makes the complex nose even more rich, with not only a nice balanced wood and bourbon aroma but a subtle, vinous character that’s extremely appealing. Hard to ignore the nutty aroma and flavors in there too, a nod to the glories of the English style. It all blends together sumptuously. There are lovely hops in there, making the barrel presence light rather than syrupy and cloying. The malts are also not too sweet, but just there to add depth. Dark fruits and bourbon mellow out into something with a full, smooth mouthfeel but with a liveliness and zest that you wouldn’t ordinarily expect. So much going on with this beer. It’s truly awesome and I’ll be very curious to see how it ages.