Pizza Port Cuvee de Tomme

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
San Marcos, California USA

Bottle. [thank you after4ever]
[vintage 2008]
Pours clear chestnut brown with red ruby edges. The head is small and fizzes a lot at first, but settles a a thin creamy, beige film on top of the liquid. Aroma is very complex. Lots of oak, the brett is easily discernable, as are the cherries. But there is some underlying notes of sweet vanilla, plums and... I think it is... cocoa powder. Highish carbonation, but still a fine mouthfeel. Compared to how dry it gets later, the slight spritziness is quite fine. Flavour is a bombardment of notes. Starts sweet and malty with plums and raisins. Then the cherries take over, lending it fine dryness and tartness. Then that ends and gives way to the dry oaky notes with vanilla, brett... The cocoa creeps in at the end with the lightly warming alcohol. This is really a great brew.

Deep ruby color with a small cream colored head. aroma is of tart cherries, vanilla, oak and alcohol. Taste is of oak, caramel, vanilla and some tartness.

Bottle shared by iowaherkeye. Thanks as always. Poured a dark brown color. The head consisted of a thin off white ring. Attractive aroma of red wine vinegar, subdued sassafras, cherry, brown sugar, and wet leather. There was only a whiff of alcohol. Mildly acidic on the tongue with lowish carbonation. The tobacco, red wine vinegar, cherry, and oak flavors worked well together.

bottle: pours a very dark brown colour with little to no head. aroma is very nice kind of sweet to start but a great funky sour creeps in, then a little fruit cherry and some kind of pit fruit, a little dried fig too. decent bourbon and a very good barrel aroma with great vannlla cream. wow the flavoru hits at all angles with funkiness, fruitness (cherries and figs) great amount of oak to with awesome vanilla hints a decent amount of malt lingers in the back of the palate a terrific finish on theis beer. a great choice for 700.

Very dark brown with light brown head. Sweet smell of chocolate and alcohol. Smells old and dusty. Sweet taste of berries with underlying sourness that takes over at the end. No more than average...

375ml 2007 bottle. Thanks a bunch to numbeercruncher for sending this my way. The first sniff was cherries and I expected something akin to supplication but as I poured this into my snifter I quickly realized that this is a totally different animal. Dark brown with red tints. It has a hint of cherry in the smell but there is a lot of barrel going on here, wood, whiskey. The taste is more bourbon barrel, wood, slightly sour interesting mix of flavors. Overall this was interesting but not something I will seek out again. The bourbon flavors are good but don’t seem to match up with the sour flavors and really start to wear on me after a while, I wonder what this beer would be like if they had only used wine barrels.... Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 10-19-2008 01:08:21

2008 bottle. The aroma is very nice. A mix of sour cherries, raisins, brown sugar, dark malt, oak, and a little bourbon. The pour is dark reddish brown with lots of floating yeast chunks, but little head. The flavor is a nice mix of tart cherries, oak, sour/tart funk, bourbon. Nice dry finish, tart and oaky with wine like dryness in the finish. Really good.

2008 Bottle. The beer pours a deep mahogany with a tiny tan head, that disipates quickly. The aroma is of sour cherries, dark caramel malts (raisins?), and mellow oak/bourbon. Wonderful. The flavor is well balanced between the sour/tartness from the cherries and the wild yeasts/bacteria and the deep caramel malts and vanilla like flavors from the barrel. The beer finishes with a tartness and slight tannic finish. The after taste is vanilla and sour cherries. I love this beer and this style. The mouthfeel is full yet not too big. This beer has many wine like properties in smell, taste and mouthfeel. This beer is extremely drinkable, but at 11% abv be careful. I could drink 10 of these no problem. I have to say that this is my favorite of the Lost Abbey yearly releases. Some of the special one-off sours are excellent, but I am really glad that this one is released every year. Can’t wait for the 09 due out soon.