Lost Abbey The Angels Share

Crushed with Jakebra at BSAF. One intense mother. Just a huge barley wine with brandy added. Incredibly potent and packed with flavor. Not as good as bourbon in my opinion, but it’s still pretty amazing.

2007 bottle. The beer poured a deep brown, slighty amber body with a thick tan, almost redish hugh with some solid lacing around the glass. The nose is a bit malty, sweet and had a touch of wood and the high abve. The taste is complex and has some nice wood notes, high abv which brings out some characteritics of a port or brandy. This is a sipping beer and with a nice full body, I can see why. Another treat from Lost Abbey.

Rerate on 5-31-09. I finally had this barley wine without any funky sour feet infection stuff going on. My fourth taste! It’s flat, but it’s really good. It comes off like a really hot aged barley wine. All of the pieces are there but the carbonation. If this was a 3 + year old bw, people would be tripping all over themselves to get it and it would have the same mouthfeel most likely. My score goes up from a 3.5 to a 4.1. Finally. +++++++++++++++ On tap at the AZ Strong Beer fest. Third try – first 2 750ml’s sampled were infected. Pours a murky brown with minimal head. The nose is brandy, wood, malt and brown sugar. The taste is oak tannins, brandy and earthy sourness. Medium bodied. I have a 2009 bottle coming soon so I may rerate this, but I’m not blown away by this beer like I thought I’d be.

750ml from Lost Abbey. Deep, complex ruby pour with a dark brown center. Not much carbonation in this one, but a lively glow nonetheless. Kind of an odd aroma, with smoky malts and, of all things, coconut milk tending to dominate. Some lovely brandy in the flavor and the odd notes in the nose seem to fit somehow. But there’s a chewy, grainy, ripe bark thing happening that’s just a bit off-putting. A bit thin, too, for what that’s worth. With my next bottles on the way, we’ll see if a re-rate is merited.

Sample @ EBF ’09 - one of the best beers at the festival. Pous a deep brown with barely any head. Aroma is dark fruit, malt, vanilla, caramel, and a slight brandy tinge to it. Taste is roughly the same with the flavors sublimely shifting across your tongue. The beer is amazingly smooth, and you can barely detect the alcohol. I’m usually not one for barleywine but this is just incredible.

2008 bottle at Lost Abbey dinner. Absolutely amazing finish to a great night. Pours dark brown with no real head and perfectly still. Aroma honestly reminded me of premium blue agave tequila (weird I know). This glass was enjoyable from cellar temp all the way to room temp and the flavours constantly changed but they were all great.

EBF 09, Pours a dark reddish brown with a small off white head. Wonderful aroma of dark fruits,caramel,vanilla, brandy and some alcohol.Full bodied with some fizzy carbonation. wonderful mouth fell. Awesome beer was well worth the 5 year wait to try it.

Bonus bottle (2008 vintage) received from wetherel (Thanks bud!) Pour was syrupy dark brown/almost black with a little bit of carbonation. Aroma was of raisins, malts, and some noticeable alcohol. Flavor was mellow oak, stone fruits, a little smoke, vanilla and some warm alcohol and molasses on the finish. I’m not generally into barleywines, but this was decent.