The Lost Abbey - Judgment Day

It's always nice to pop open something a little out of the ordinary for a special event. For a wedding, maybe it's champagne. For a date night, maybe it's some wine. And for Cinco de Mayo, maybe it's some crappy beer. But what does one do for a rapture? Since this is a beer blog, I think it's obvious that I decided not to go the "champagne" route. But there are so many beers to choose from. Which would be perfect for a day like today? Hmmm, maybe a beer called Judgment Day? If the name doesn't do it for you, maybe the label adorned with the four horsemen of the apocalypse will.

Judgment Day is Lost Abbey's take on the Belgian Quadruple style and another beer in their Good vs. Evil lineup. I'll go out on a limb and say this one is going to fall under the "evil" category. And at 10.5%, it's sure to sweeten any rapture.

Judgment Day pours a dark and murky brown color with some slightly reddish tinges when it's held to light. A smallish light brown cap of foam coats the top of the beer. The aroma wasn't huge off of this one, but I picked up some raisin skins, yeast and brown sugar with the yeast really standing out as the beer warmed. On a side note, there are good yeast smells and bad yeast smells. The yeast smells coming off the Kennebunkport Wheat I had a few weeks back were awful. This beer had a pretty nice yeast smell as it was a bit more earthy and subdued.

The taste starts with some malt sweetness and some prickly carbonation. The middle has some notes of raisin and prune along with some brown sugar. Sadly, the beer started to go wrong for me right after this. While the beginning and middle flavors of this beer are sweet and a bit malty, the finish suddenly turns bitter with an earthy taste that almost tasted a bit dirty. It seemed totally off from where this beer seemed to be heading. The worst part about it is that it doesn't do what a finish is supposed to do- leave you wanting more. It was a little disappointing for a beer that showed a lot of promise off the bat. I'm still glad with the choice of beer, but I'm hoping to drink some better stuff before this whole reckoning business goes down.

Happy rapture!

Final Grade: B

Top 100 Beers Tasted: 22

The Lost Abbey - Avant Garde

For a few months now, I've been wanting to try some of The Lost Abbey's beer. Lost Abbey was started by two of the head brewers from Pizza Port (a really awesome pizza and beer place down here in San Diego) who wanted to start a brewery that specialized in Belgian style beers. Most of their beers have pretty amazing names (Duck Duck Gooze, Judgment Day, 10 Commandments, etc.) and I had heard nothing but good things about all of their beer, so it was time. On Sunday, I found one of their beers, Avant Garde, at Bristol Farms and it was go time.

There are some beers that you have to drink fast. Usually, these are beers that taste terrible once they get warm (A.K.A.- Anything with "Lite" in the name, almost any beer that would be good with sushi, PBR). Avant Garde is not one of these beers. As soon as you pour it, you just know that it's a beer that you'd like to spend a little time with before it's gone. The beer pours a hazy gold with a fairly large head that recedes lazily to a light foam cap. The aromas coming from the beer are wonderful. Light malts and freshly baked bread make up the majority of the smell, but there are other things present and it takes a while for them to come out.

The flavor of this beer was wonderful. I can't pinpoint why exactly, but this reminded me a lot of a saison but without the "funk." There was something very earthy about the taste that had "saison" written all over it. The hops were present but pretty subtle and very earthy. There was also a little sweetness from the malts and a lot of that fresh baked bread flavor that was present in the smell. There is so much going on in this beer that drinking it too fast would be a sin. It's a wonderful beer, but one you need to have some time to drink. I can't wait to try some more of their brews. This one was special.

Final Grade: A