The Angel's Share - Bourbon Barrel-Aged
The Lost Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

Nice whiskey barrel flavors compliment a base ale.

 

 

Muddy brown strong ale, no head whatsoever, and absolutely no more disappointment after that. Great silky mouthfeel, vanilla flavor mildly allowing bourbon and even brandy notes to overtake it. Nice caramel malt finish, smooth from top of the glass to the bottom. Brandy flavor is more at the top, bourbon predominant through last sip. Superior effort!

2009 Vintage courtesy of acurtis.
(12 years old!)
Dark fruits,(prune, raisins), toffee, leather, wood, slight oxidization.
99% flat. No booziness. Smooth.
Overall: Though definitely old, this ages pretty well. Those melded flavors only age can produce. Ages better than most beers out there. From what I’ve read Lost Abbey was probably flat even when fresh.

The Angel’s Share is from 2016. Pours dark, dark brown. Almost black. Very little carbonation during the pour, and then a bit after it was all poured. Immediate aroma of bourbon. I was surprised it was so strong after 4-5 years. Taste follows - big bourbon presence, which makes me happy, because I love bourbon barrel aged beers. Between the color being almost black and the bourbon dominating, this is very close to a bourbon barrel aged stout instead of a barleywine. If given in a blind tasing I might think it was. There’s very little barleywine characteristic: it’s not sweet, don’t get any caramel or toffee. It’s still a bit boozy, but I like that in beers like this.

 

 

 

Viscous, opaque garnet-brown with no head; strong bourbon nose with hints of wood, cherry stone, candy sugar, moss, plum and oak smoke; fig, milk chocolate, red currants, a whisky hit with a big thread of vanilla, sweet comeback + warming end; medium-full, chewy, round.

3.75 4.5 4 4 4.25

Sat on this for 5 years.
No looker, but smells like a humidor - once you get past the booziness, the complexity of the aroma drips down the back of your throat.
The taste is dried dark fruit more than any caramel sweetness. And then that bourbon drops in… while among the most harmonious I’ve encountered, it does take over more than complement the base beer.
Not perfect: it’s flat + boozy - hard to avoid at 12.5%, but it should've mellowed with age. I see lots of good ratings for this, but some are a decade old - maybe this beer jumped out more before everything was getting put in barrels.
Overall, this has more in common with treacly English strong ales than anything else. But with a lot of bourbon.

More an advertisement for bourbon barrel aging than a complete beer.

Cork didn't want to get out, no pop. Pours dark brown, flat. Smells bourbon. Smooth mouthfeel, but could do with some carb. No alcohol to speak of. Taste is dry, woody, with some bice bourbon. Bit herbal, that old leather tobacco flavour from good barrels

Vintage 2016. Poured into a tulip glass. No head to speak of, just a full murky ruby brown. Aromas of fig,barrel, and caramel. Taste is similar, no hops semblance at this point. And that is ...Ok. I’ll give you six dollars if you can name where that quote came from. The heft was surprisingly light, carbonation low, mildly sticky as everything warmed. Delicious and coating.

vintage 2016 poured from a 375mL corked & caged bottle into a snifter. pours light brown but gathers in the glass a bit darker, almost chestnut, with the tiniest amount of khaki colored head that dissipates leaving small khaki swirls. nose is a combination of dark fruit, figs, toffee, chocolate, vanilla, oak and bourbon. taste is a little more oak and bourbon forward followed by sweet toffee and caramel. it suffers from a little oxidation but that’s my own fault for letting this sit so long. mouthfeel is medium to full. it sits on the tongue fairly full then finishes a little thinner. overall, pretty stellar bourbon barrel-aged barleywine. need to track down a fresh vintage as it was not my intention to try this for the first time with so much age on it. very much enjoyed it though.