Carnevale
The Lost Abbey

 

 

Pale copper color, very heady. Very nice aroma: honey, caramel, ripe fruit. Mildly sweet with a hint of bitty & sour. Nice flavor: apples, caramel, pepper, grapefruit, tangerine, malts, spices & some funkiness. Feel is thin, low carbonation & a little heat on the tongue. A very good saison.

 

 

A corked and caged 1 pint 9.4 fl. oz. bottle, vintage 2018. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.

Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that had decent retention but eventually settled to a thin layer, while leaving nice lacing.

Aroma: Pear, apple, bubble gum, Belgian candi sugar, yeast, with floral and spice notes.

Taste: Sweet-ish, Belgian yeast, brett, bubble gum, pear, grapefruit, notes of spice and a touch boozy.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Sweeter and more boozy than I normally prefer, but still very drinkable.

 

 

750mL (2019) into a Hennepin glass. Pours a beautiful pale golden color with a big fluffy Bretty white head that lasts forever. Lovely patch clumps of lace cling to the side of the glass, defying gravity. Beautiful.

Aroma is bright grassy earthy Brett funk, but clean. Bready and enticing.

Taste is good, clean bready yeast and malt with a light honey sweetness tempered by a hint of bitterness. Crisp and sharp, a nice citrusy twist from the hops. It's been too long since I've had a saison and this one is hitting the spot.

Mouthfeel is—there's that word again—clean. Medium bodied, nicely balanced, soft on the palate with a nice satisfying finish.

Overally a really nice saison, I could drink this again happily.

 

Rating from notes. Consumed July 2014. "A complex, dry, and fruity saison with a subtle funkiness and huge drinkability. Worth seeking out in my humble opinion."

From notes 12/26/12: Pours a near-clear and very effervescent deep gold producing a huge 3-4+ (depending on the pour from this bottle) fingers of shaving cream fluffy, off-white, insanely lasting head that leaves a thick and sticky coating of lace. This brew is very hard to pour due to its carbonation. Aroma is white fruity Belgian yeast esters with a Brett mustiness present, lemon zest with a little grass, cloves and a very faint hint of banana. Taste is sweet, dominated by the fruity yeast esters of apple, peach, pear and white grape. Brett must is there and some cloves but far less than in the nose. I do not detect the faint banana of the nose. Sweet and fruity with a lightly dry finish that quickly dissipates to a somewhat fruity and mildly astringent aftertaste. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and alive with carbonation but lacks much of the spicy prickliness one would expect from such carbonation.

 

 

 

Brett all along. But lacks a bit of character

 

 

 

It's been a long time since I've reviewed a beer, but brett saisons are at the top of my favorites, so here I go. 750ml bottle.

Pours a clear golden orange, little fizz, only a half finger of fluff on the surface, but it's persistent and sticky.

Smell is not what I was expecting - light and very grainy. If I did, I get the brett funk and some floral aromatics, but it's not bowling me over.

Taste is fairly thin, again pretty grainy. Where's the yeast, the pungency? A dry bitterness in the finish. Okay.

Feel is fantastic. Light and airy, with tons of small-bubble buzz that fades at just the right time, and dries out taking any remnants of the beer with it.

Some high points, some low points. Most of all, I want more yeast presence!

 

On tap into a pint glass. A slightly hazy golden color with a medium white head. Great aroma with loads of hay, white bread, lemon pepper, and grass. This was delicious. A huge Brett presence with all of the above notes mixed in. Brett for days. A clean, dry finish. Overall possibly my favorite straightforward Saison with the bit Brett element.

 

 

 

 

Vintage 2018. Purchased at the Bruery Store in Washington, DC. Corked and caged. Poured into a small stemmed tulip glass.

A bit heavy for a saison. 3.75

A - Pours a clear golden yellow with a three-finger dense/mousey white head. Excellent carbonation. 4.0

S - Clean aromas of farmyard, bubblegum, very mild acetic, but dominant funk and farmyard. 4.5

T - Funk, minor citrus notes, a bit malty (too heavy by style), crackers, faint sourness as well. Herbal hoppiness as part of the dry finish. 3.75

MF - Medium bodied with a start-to-finish dryness. 3.75

 

 

Poured into a tulip glass it pours hazy gold color and has a massive 3+ finger thick white head that was packed with bubbles of all sizes, dissipating stupidly slowly, dropping over a 5 minute period and leaving excellent foamy lacing. It was like a soft puffy cloud that wanted to torture me and not go away so I couldn't drink this beer. All good though.

Aroma starts off with funk, brett, peppery spices, malty sweetness, yeasty and some caramel and/or candied sugar. Then I got wheat, biscuit, coriander, orange peel, very mild booze, citrus notes, flowers and herbs. Trailing lemon zest and a white wine essence mix with earthy notes to balance this out.

Fruity and zesty, the flavor like the nose completely masks the 8% ABV and allows the funk, brett, peppery spices, biscuit, coriander, orange peel, malty sweetness, lemon zest, yeast, light caramel, flowers and candied sugar balance malts, spices and mild hops. The brett and barnyard funk give off a tartness which tame the spices and help this go down easy and refreshing. Really good representation of the style, I'd definitely have it again.

 

 

 

 

On tap at Meadhall in Cambridge. Pint with square angled sides. Transparent golden. Yummy saison, almost like a tripel!

 

Poured from the tap into a tulip glass. the appearance is a fairly clear golden yellow Colo with a small white head. The aroma is malt, orange and some pepper. The taste is a nice blend of malt, grain, clove and pepper.

 

Designed to be a dance party for the mouth, The Lost Abbey brings out big palate rewards not only for the Lent season but for anyone fortunate enough to find their farmhouse saison any time of the year.

Carnevale draws the nose with a burst of citrus and estery aromatics that lead with lemon and herb yet also tingling the nose with white wine, pepper and grain. Bright straw, the ale is woven with a mild haze and a billowing eggshell froth for an appetizing upstart to a racy session. Raw grain sweetness invites a taste of honey and the slightness of pulled candy as the early palate carries a mildly sweet tone.

As the ale traverses across the middle palate, its sweetness rapidly fades and the fruit and spice character bring a balanced attack to the tastebuds. Lemon, dried orange, pear and apple all seem tangy and of the dehydrated varieties while bracing against a late palate of peppery spice, vinous white wine, grapefruit peel and white pepper. Hints of hay and cork have a musty sensation to bring the trueness of the farmhouse to mind.

Medium bodied and creamy in texture, the beer favors a dry, spicy and earthy character deeper into the taste with the hop bitterness of grapefruit, dry grasses and straw in a uniquely pilsneresque way. A medium length afterglow of dried citrus and bitter spice favors the spice while the strong carbonated presence has the ale bouncing from the tongue with vigor and zeal.