2009 The Lost Abbey Bourbon Angel’s Share Ale
Last Summer the girlfriend and I took a trip to San Diego. She wanted to go to Disney, the zoo, and the wild animal park. Well guess what I wanted to do? Yeah you guessed it, visit the breweries in the area. As soon as we landed, we got settled into the rental car and took the 40 minute drive to The Lost Abbey. Usually I wouldn’t mind waiting to go to the brewery but it just happen to be the Christmas in July celebration. Oh and it was Duck Duck Gooze release day too =) The first beer I tried that day was this beer you see right here. But I believe on tap. Yeah I probably should of started with something a little lighter then a 12% beast of a beer but I was so looking forward to trying it. The beer blew my mind. Huge on taste and aroma this was one of the better beers I tried that week. I say that because well I was in beer mecca know as San Diego.
Last night I popped open my bottled version of this beer. The one I got from belonging to the sinners club. Now if you read the Beer Advocate forums or maybe even the Rate Beer forums you’ll know the issues with Lost Abbey/Port Brewing brews and the lack of carbonation. It seems a lot of the higher ABV beers from last years batches have zero carbonation. I experienced it first hand last year when I opened up a bottle of Older Viscosity and was greeted with basically nothing when it came to carbonation. The beer was still amazing but would of blown my mind if it had some carbonation. I felt sorta of the same with this beer but not to the same degree.
When I pulled the cork on this brew I was actually greeted with a nice “pop”. A good sign of some carbonation. I was even more surprised that when I poured it some head came out with some fizzy bubbles. But that was very short lived. In a matter of like 3 seconds everything was gone. Just what I expected really. So no surprises. A dead beer. The color of the beer is a deep dark brown with lighter brown highlights around the glass.
The smell of this beer is just simply amazing. It’s a assault on your nose. Huge amounts of bourbon, caramel, toffee, dark fruits, vanilla, and oak. I really can’t describe this smell. I mean I just did but it’s something that needs to be experienced first hand. Simply awesome.
The taste is world class too but a little bit muted compared to the aroma. Maybe it’s the little bit of age I put on the brew. I don’t know but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fantastic taste. The bourbon flavor is king here. It lingers in your mouth. Every other flavor is balanced perfectly between the caramel, toffee, dark fruits ,etc. Alcohol burn plays a big factor in the mouthfeel on this beer. It burns the mouth, throat, and stomach. Need a great beer on a cold night, here it is. It will keep you warm. The mouthfeel is also thick, syrupy, and coats the mouth.
This is a big, complex, and flavorful beer. The lack of carbonation doesn’t hurt this beer that much. Not like it would hurt a lot of beers. Don’t be afraid to pick up the 2009 version of this brew. Oh and keep the lookout for Angel’s Share Grand Cru this year. It’s a mixture of 6 different barrels of AS. Some brandy, some bourbon, one mixed in with grapes, and from different years. I think the earliest barrel is from 06 or 07. It’s sure to be awesome. I got my 4 bottles on order.
Found: The Lost Abbey Sinners Club
Price: 15 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.lostabbey.com/
What the company says: Story on this one is way to long. You can check out the full story here
ABV%: 12.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery:The Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, The Lost Abbey Avant Garde
Other beers to try within the same style: New Holland Dragons Milk, Stone Double Bastard
Rating: A+
4 bottles? If we don’t see it at the store, I may talk to you about one.
I’m getting two bottles from the club. I’m also allowed to order two bottles extra from the club. Let me know.
Dave, just so you know, instead of writing “would of”, you’re trying to say “would have” in sentences like “The beer was still amazing but would of blown my mind”. I’m on a mission to correct everyone’s grammar so I had to let you know.
Robert. Well thanks for bringing so much to the site. I never said I was any good with grammar. If I got paid to write for this site I think I could care. But hey thanks.
It’s a worthy mission, Robert, you pedantic dork. I’m on a similar mission to write perfectly grammatical sentences telling pedantic dorks that they are pedantic dorks. I had to let you know.
I have a Judgement Day from the Lost Abbey. I will be popping the cork on it for the super bowl. I’ve never had anything from them before, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll look for angels share too. Sounds like the bourbon influence is great!
Dave,
What’s the cost on one of the Grand Cru Bottles? I might some beers worth trading and I’m keenly interested in the Grand Cru. Let’s dialogue on this because I think I want to do it.
Michael,
I don’t have the bottles yet. They are 20 bucks a pop for 375ml. I’ll let you know when I get them.
Cool! That’s really not that bad. I just bought the normal one for 15.99