Lost Abbey The Angels Share

Thanks Tomme. This beer is on fire. Tomme was right. It explodes with a fuming gasp and doesn’t let up til the cows come home. Theres all kinds of stuff caught up in the froth. Looks like chocolate chips. This beer rules. Aromas are mild yet revealing of it’s confidence. If I can just get this head to settle I could drink the darn thing. Medium to full nectar and well carbonated. Gets a little bubbly on the tongue. Moderately sweet with define bourbonesque flavors. This brew is sublimely well balanced. Flavors of nectarine, plumb, grapes, melon, caramel, creamed coffee, marshmallow, and stewed pineapple. The finish is refined and mildly sweetened exposing French toast. Overall: this brew is balanced and well defined in it’s genre. This brew gets my TRUMP card.

Pours a dark brown with a medium sized tan head. Malty aroma that is dominated by whiskey, oak and vanilla. I continued to smell this beer for several minutes before even taking a sip. Flavor is domintaed by whiskey, oak and vanilla, with hints of roasted malts, chocolate, caramel, dark fruit and spice. This amazingly complex beer is the greatest beverage I’ve ever had.

Dang, this is good stuff. Pours dark black with brown highlights, like cocoa powder. Very flat, a thin head only lasts for a minute. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel, very flat but it’s perfect for this beer. Chocolate. Mmmm! Sour, roasted, hmmmm. Does this help: flat and dull yet somehow exponentially vibrant and interesting. Impossible to have too much, because you’ll always want to taste just a little more. Seek this out, I hope to locate a bottle or two. Great beer that defies categorization. At least one thing makes me proud to be an American: the craft brew industry! Cheers!

2007 version. Aroma is first bewildering to me, it is very lightly sour with notes of wood, whiskey and vanilla. And there would be many other ways to describe it, let’s just say that it is beautiful. The taste is sweet and the oak agedness is present in a perfect way, playing in the background, not too rough but balsy enough to make you take note. Lovely full body and soft carbonation brings it on home to me. This beer is like Sam Cooke’s voice, as perfect as it can get.

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.

750 ml. bottle @ O’brien’s. I can’t believe they had 12 bottles of this and 1 hour prior to closing they still had 5 left. WOW. Pours awesome, dark brown with the slightest hint of amber. Aroma of carmel, vanilla, and oak. Taste is very silky, carmel, oak, bourbon, vanilla, and a little bit of heaven. Excellent.

# 800. 2006 750 ml bottle courtesy of WeeHeavySD. Pours a very dark brown (almost black) with a medium sized beige-light brown head. Complex aroma of dark fruit, roasted malt, candied sugar, vanilla, oak and bourbon. Taste is pleasantly sweet with hints of vanilla, oak, prunes, plums, dates, dark brown sugar, raisins, caramel and malt. Has a spectacular brandy finish. One of the best beers Ive had and certainly the best barley wine Ive ever had.

GABF ’06: One of my favorite finds of this session. Intense nose let me know it meant business, and it really grabbed my attention after the first whiff. Mouthfeel was divinely silky and velvety. Perfect carbonation level. Deep brown hue with a nice and lasting froth. Very complex, with notes of rich brown sugar, fresh-baked multi-grain bread, dark fruit, sour apples, dark chocolate, walnuts and bold toffee (many more flavors and aromas, too many to mention). I went back for multiple samples of this. Tremendously awesome beer.