Pizza Port Cuvee de Tomme

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

Dark reddish brown colour with a thin off-white head. Sour fruity aroma with hits of wood. Sweet flavor with hints of cherries and wood. Nice cherries in the aftertaste. A very good one.

Pours dark red. Fruit on the nose, with loads of oaky vanilla. Good fruit flavors, and acidic sourness, mellowed by vanilla oak flavors, warming and smooth. I haven’t had anything like this before. Very good.

25 oz bottle, black label, via trade w/ someone a long time ago that I can’t recall now. Pours a very dark garnet to ruby colored body under a fizzy and foamy one finger beige head that faded to a partial covering. The aroma is all over the place. Chocolate, cherry, light brett, heavy fruitiness, alcohol, plum, light oak, almost reminiscent of some Flemish Sours. The flavor is still quite fruity up front with lightly tangy sour cherry and bretty funkiness. Finishes with oak, a ton of alcohol, whiskey, and a dry lingering brettiness. My only problem is that there is way too much alcohol flavor on the finish for me, which is enhanced by the whisky/oak flavor that reinforces the booziness of it. Extremely warming sensation on the finish. Mouthfeel is full bodied and really almost bordering on sticky and cloying, but the fizzy champagne-like brett derived carbonation really cuts through it making it quite lively. Very fine pinpoint carbonation. This was really tasty and loaded with flavor, but I couldn’t stop wishing that the ABV was about 5% lower. With all the fruit, brett, and the barrel aging they just didn’t need to use an 11% ABV base beer.

GABF 06. Another winner. Beer was clear, dark brown with an average-sized, frothy, beige, mostly diminishing head. The aroma was Flemish Sour Ale-like; funky and pointy in all of the right places. It was malty with a light note of toasted grain and caramel; Hoppy with a light lemon zest note, moderate note of herb/grass; Yeasty with a trace of dank basement a moderate note of barnyard; Moderate sour cheer, sweet balsamic and strawberry notes sparkled through the back. The flavor was heavily acidic, lightly bitter, light-to-moderately sweet with a longish, lightly acidic, tounge piquing, lightly sweet finish. Lots of intriguing coconutty retros. The body was light, the texture was watery and the carbonation was lively. Again... must find more. Tasting this brewery’s work on a limited basis left me feeling like I was Prince Charming holding a glass slipper.

2008 bottle. Very murky brown pour with almost no head. Aroma is light sour cherry funk, heavy wood, and pommegranite. Flavor is sour and wood up front with a bitter bite in the middle and a nice long sour finish. If I hallucinate, I can taste some cherries in there. I like that the cherries are subtle b/c cherry/kriek beers are not always my favorite. Good stuff, wish the bottle were larger.

Very good beer, but I had such high hopes for this one. Opened this right after taking the CFA as part of my reward. Pours brown, with a thin head. Nice aroma, I was actually thinking it would be a lot more sour. Hides the ABV very well. I really liked it more as the blend in the Veritas 003. Very good though.

Thanks Tomme. I poured this into a 1.5 liter Chimay goblet and it created a wonderful yet shortlived pancake across the top leaving a sliky half moon lace. It’s a dark brownish amber color. Aromas are a bit tart pushing green apple, minerals, and citric acid forward. From the bottle I can smell the cherries but not from the goblet. Medium nectar weight with good carbonation. This is very complex and completely defies my expectations. A dry style with bushels of green stonefruit just throwing themselves at me. I’m getting nuances of cotton candy, popsickle, and cherry blush. Beautifully balanced, I never would have guessed the abv so high. We’re starting to get into the Champagne genre with this one. The finish is beautifully bittered with acidity and has a lingering green apple cherry blush kicking it forward still. Overall: a worthy specimen with superior balance.

Draft at Brouwer’s Sourfest. Opaque dark brown with honeyed toffee highlights. Big tart red wine vinegar and oak nose. Mild creamy body. Sharp tart vinegar attack. Oak and funk and vinegar mid-palate. Somehow this completely ties together into a lovelyl, harmonious, approachable, even quenching beer. Lots of dark fruits. Phenomenal.