Hello! Alright, got the salutations out of the way... So my buddy came over last night and in the course of the evening he grabbed a bottle of Lost Abbey Inferno Ale from my fridge... or so we assumed. Inferno is listed as a tripel (both here and *ahem* on some other similarly themed sites), the label -- while avoiding listing specific style -- describes a tripel (or at the very least a "straw yellow" beer), and all of the reviews/descriptions I found here (and *elsewhere*) described something that was, if not strictly tripel-y, was at least a recognizable variant. The bottle we opened was a dark chestnut brown, and was much more traditional dark sour (plums/cherries/etc...), with absolutely zero hints of tripel-ishness (banana esters/yeasts/etc). This is not a problem. The beer I drank was delicious (unsurprising considering the source), and I am absolutely glad to have had the opportunity to try it, however I am fairly convinced that it is not actually what the bottle suggests it was supposed to be. Again, not a *problem*, I'm just curious. Is anyone out there aware of any bottling issues/etc? I thoroughly enjoyed the beverage I imbibed (actually moreso than the description [both on the label and on the web] of the 'actual' Inferno would lead me to expect), it's moreso just that the barely contained OCD side of me is curious as to what I actually drank. Ticking aside, I'd love to know what to keep my eye out for in the future (aside from just ALL THE LOST ABBEY BEERS IN GENERAL)! I realize this is probably a needle in the haystack type question almost on par with the post about someone's wife trying a beer in a release line, and yes, I've already reached out to The Lost Abbey via email, but it's the middle of the night on a weekend, so I'm not surprised that I haven't heard back yet, and I figured I'd send out some feelers to the BA community to see if anyone had any insight or suggestions. Here's a picture: Ultimately the take home is: whatever was in this bottle was delicious, but I'm quite skeptical that it is what the label says!
It's listed as Belgian Strong Pale Ale here, not Tripel. Just did a quick Google Image search. It could be Agave Maria, Red Poppy or others. Did it have any barrel/oak taste to it?
Hmmm... yeah it definitely says BSPA here, not sure where I got tripel from (probably from my sleep-deprived brain...), but either way what was in my glass and what was in your glass are very definitely not the same thing. I reached out to Lost Abbey about the bottle and I got a really friendly email back basically saying that this was the first they'd heard of such an issue, so they weren't completely sure what might have actually been in the bottle, but that they were looking into it as my bottle definitely didn't contain Inferno. They even offered to send me a tshirt for the inconvenience. Well, there was no inconvenience, but I'm not going to say no to a free shirt! Reading through the reviews for the suggestions y'all made, my guess would be Red Poppy. I think I may have to just buy a bottle of that and see if it tastes the same! There was maybe a bit of wood, but definitely much more sour cherries and other dark fruits. Thanks for the suggestions so far!
I have had this beer many times and it is one of my favorite Belgian style pale/tripel, whatever it's characterized as. And I must say if it poured like that I would literally think I was tripping and question reality
BSGAs are nice but I think you stumbled on a gem. Could be Red Poppy or Cuvee de Tomme. I recently had a Red Poppy that I bought from the brewery. The cork exploded out of the bottle when I took the cage off and the beer was pretty carbonated. I have never had Cuvee de Tomme but from the Tomme Arthur's tasting notes video the beer appears to be less carbonated than Poppy. Your pic would suggest a beer that was on the more still side of things. If in fact you did get Cuvee I'm envious. I really want to try some.
