BetterBeerBlog

Lost Abbey is a line of beers brewed by Port Brewing. Port Brewing, as you may or may not know, is a sister company of the Pizza Port brew pubs. Tomme Arthur is the master brewer and he’s come up with some really interesting beers. Many of his specialty beers sell out as soon as they become available with many of them selling for much more than their purchase price on eBay. Yeah, these beers are that sought after.

Lost Abbey is a production facility. They don’t serve any food and generally aren’t open to the public except for certain hours of the week. When you first walk into Port Brewing the first thing I saw were racks and racks of beer aging in wooden barrels. The brewery portion is in the back area but we didn’t get a chance to take a tour. I believe that they’ve set aside a separate area for their beers that are brewed with brettanomyces to limit cross contamination.

The bar is the center of attention in the brewery. We pull up to the bar and take over some recently vacated “seats” and join the 30 or so people who are already there. I tried 5 beers and here are my notes:

10 Commandments, 9% ABV

10 Commandments is a Belgian-style quadruple that is an impressive 9% ABV in strength. Brewed with honey, raisins and rosemary, this beer has a complex aroma and flavor. 10 Commandments pours a dark brown with ruby highlights with a tan head. Sweet malt and dark fruit notes (raisins!) split the aroma characteristics with sour and tart elements; the balance leaning toward the malt spectrum. The beer is slightly acidic with spicy, Belgian yeast characteristics. There’s a tartness that dances with sweet malt flavors. Hop flavor and bitterness is of moderate level. 10 Commandments is full bodied with medium/medium-high in carbonation with slight acidic tinginess rounding out the mouthfeel.

Devotion (Belgian Blonde), 6.25% ABV

Devotion pours out a clear, gold in color with a white head. Spicy, peppery and fruity aromas are rounded out by an earthy hop characteristics. I taste what I think is a predominantly sweet pils malt flavor with moderate hop bitterness and flavor. Slight spice and pepper characteristics are in the finish.

Hop 15, 9.7%

Hop 15 is a Pizza Port branded beer. Lots of floral, citrus and piney notes in the aroma supported by a clean, sweet malt presence. Hop 15 is clear and amber in color with an off-white head. Aggressively hopped, Hop 15 assaults my tongue with with an intense hop flavor bitterness. Clean malt flavors play in the background of this beer. Hop 15 is a medium bodied beer with medium high carbonation.

Witch’s Wit, 4% ABV

Lost Abbey’s interpretation of a witbier. At 4%, this is their lightest beer available. Despite the session-level strength, this beer is by no means a lightweight in flavor. Witch’s Wit is hazy, pale, straw in color with a white head. Sweet wheat malt, honey, citrus and a slight spice comprise the aroma profile of this beer. This is an effervescent beer with a smooth and sweet wheat malt flavor and a touch of honey and spices.

Judgement Day, 10.5% ABV

Wow. Talk about drinking out of order. I go from the 4% ABV Witch’s Wit to this 10.5% Judgement Day. Despite its very dark brown color, this beer is remarkably clear with ruby highlights and virtually no head. As in the 10 Commandments, this beer is also brewed with raisins. Raisins are apparent in the aroma along with hints of vanilla, bourbon and slight wood characteristic. The flavor of this beer is really complex. Dark fruit flavors such as raisins are noticeable. Sweet malts dance with melanoidic qualities and molasses flavors. This is a full-bodied beer with very little carbonation and a smooth alcohol warming sensation.

The staff at Lost Abbey are exceptional people. They are knowledgeable and very friendly. Almost offensively so. I’m no stranger to getting my balls busted by my friends and almost immediately I’m having my nuts busted by Terri, Tomme’s assistant and fellow beer blogger. Sage, Terri’s husband, is a super friendly guy and gave us some pretty good advice as to what breweries to hit up next and where to eat. In the end, I came away extremely impressed by everything about Lost Abbey. Just as Russian River Brewing Company is a “must visit” whenever I head up north, Lost Abbey is now a “must visit” whenever I am in the San Diego area. It just goes to show that behind every good beer, are good people.

This past week the class covered the Amber Hybrid and Belgian ale styles. I forget now but at the time, I remember contemplating whether or not I should go to class. I am very glad that I decided to go as the Belgian ale portion of the class was really enjoyable. Talk about complexities! There’s a lot of beer going on in the Belgian ales. You could, literally, take an entire college semesters going over just Belgian ales. While there are a few broad categories, the sheer number of variations within those categories is staggering.

We’re talking about a country where beer is as much a part of the national diet as soda is for the United States. Sure, Germany has long been known for being the “beer capital” of the world but I think the ales that Belgium produces have so much going on and are consistent. There’s the subdued malts and hop flavors, the fruity esters and spiciness, the aromas and flavors… wow. Good stuff.

I know I used to do do individual beer reviews but they took a lot of time and effort. I get… reviewed out by the end of class and by then, I just really want to crack open a cold one for the sake of enjoyment and not because I have to work on it. I’ll bring the individual reviews back after the BJCP classes are over but for now, here are my tasting notes from class.