Lost Abbey The Angels Share

Courtesy of After4ever, thanks Tom for this stunning beer :) It is black with a red hue and a huge, creamy head. It is a vintage 2008 and now it is April 2009. The aroma has notes of whisky/bourbon, oak barrel, prunes, caramel and vanilla. The flavour has sweetness and notes of bourbon, prunes, oak barrel, caramel, raisin, vanilla and the alcohol is completely hidden. It is vinous, smooth and incredibly harmonic – I believe I did share this with an angel...

2008 caged and corked 750ml bottle. Pours murky brown with very little carbonation. The pour is very unappealing. Aroma is of brandy malt, sugar, grass, and oak. Aroma is insanely boozy, and takes a few sniffs to get anything more out of it than alcohol. Taste is immediately of brandy and chocolate. There is lots of chocolate, vanilla, and oak. A huge alcohol presence overwhelms everything, and takes a few sips to get used to. This beer is insanely harsh, until you warm up to it and the malt and oak start to take hold. Each sip finishes extremely hot. Lingering oak, and grass flavors. Finish is boozy beyond belief, and takes several minutes to get past. To say that this beer is a sipper, is an understatement. This beer has very few characteristics of an actual barley wine. Did I mention the alcohol? A very enjoyable beer, but too much of a sipper so it loses a few points. I can only imagine what this beer is like with more carbonation.

Hazy dark brown, dark tan head. Aroma of sweet malt, hints of barrel. Flavor is amazingly smooth, Big Malts. Big Hop.

750ml caged and corked bottle (2008 vintage) served in a snifter. Still, ruddy brown pour with no head. Yeah, this isn’t low carbonation, this is totally flat. The aroma had strong brandy, caramel, vinous red grapes, woody vanilla, some molasses, and also some alcohol. The flavor consisted of burnt caramel, brandy, raisins, vanilla, some underlying chocolate notes, and warming alcohol. The mouthfeel was full-bodied and had no carbonation. Almost like drinking the remenants of something that had been left out overnight. Hard to finish a whole glass. I had been looking forward to having this for quite some time, but the lack of carbonation kind of killed it for me. Even some "low" carbonation would have greatly improved this beer.

brandy barrel.Dark brown with no visable head.Wonderful aroma fruit caramel and brandy During the 30mins it took me to drink this one I ascended into heaven and joined the angels..

2008 Brandy Barrel Angels Share 2008. With all the hoopla about this beer going on, I figured I would give it a try and see how bad people are saying it really is... Appearance - An aggressive pour renders no head, just some bubbles that begin to cling to the edges of the glass quickly. This is a very dark brown color with hints of red and orange. A swirl of the glass gives me a slight coating with maybe 2 bubbles appearing out of nowhere. This is definitely a flat beer... Smell - Strong brandy and tart cherry comes through on first whiff. There is some vanilla and dark chocolate in there as well. Whoa, last whiff just gave me dirty toilet, what the hell? The alcohol stings the nose a little bit. There are some oaky characteristics coming through too. Taste - Lots of brandy and man it stings like its brandy. The alcohol is definitely noticeable in this young beer. I taste some blackberries and cherries as well. I am trying to pull out more levels but that alcohol sting is just too distracting. Just got a huge shot of vanilla with that last gulp. Mouthfeel - No carbonation makes this feel lifeless. It isn’t creamy, or viscous, or light; it just, "is." It doesn’t really coat the mouth like I like, but I can feel it trying to hang on for dear life in my mouth. Some carbonation would have made this a hell of a lot better. Drinkability - That burning alcohol just kills it for me. It doesn’t feel all that good in my mouth. The taste really isn’t anything to write home about, but it is its only redeeming quality about this beer. I really wanted this one to be better than a lot of people have been saying about it. To have this on tap would probably be a great opportunity to redeem itself, but I have no chance of that.

This beer is a joke. Lost Abbey should be ashamed to release it in this state at any price, but at 30 dollars a bottle this is obscene. This flavor is full and full of potential, but it’ll never be lived up to. A totally flawed product that should not be on the market. Glad I only sampled from someone else’s bottle.

Had on tap at Publick House in Brookline, MA. Definitely one of the best beers I’ve ever had, certainly the best barley wine. I also have two bottles, but will be keeping them cellared for several months given the carbonation issues.