Lost Abbey Veritas 003

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is very well carbonated as a careful pour produces a tulip filling, four-finger thick head that soon grows an additional two-fingers in height above my glass. The amber tinged, tan colored crown of froth maintains its integrity though and does not overflow despite being well above the rim. The beer is a very dark, concentrated, well burnt amber color; it shows a hazy, bright cherry red color when held up to the light. This is quite aromatic, influenced heavily by both oak and funk. Fruity notes of cherries, raisins, perhaps a touch of apple are noticeable as I pour this, though a deeper inspection yields butter oak aromas, spicy wood notes, with maybe a touch of vanillin. With some warming alcohol notes this smells a bit like Bourbon. Dusty cocoa aromatics, with a backdrop of toasted malt, some caramelized malt sugar aromatics and spice notes of orange zest, clove, cardamom, pepper and ginger also are found in the nose. This beer smells tart, has a bit of farmhouse cheese character, a definite musty, damp earthiness. While barrel notes seem to be the most dominant character in the nose, I do like the distinct cherry note that is noticeable from time to time and also the funk influence is quite nice. The nose is actually quite complex, definitely interesting enough to spend quite some time on.

Fairly thick feeling as it first hits my tongue, more tart than sweet though and there is a nice fizz of carbonation that attempts to lighten things up a bit. A dusty, browned malt character sort of lingers on the tongue, producing flavors of toasted bread, dusty cocoa and a nuttiness. A bit boozy, from what must be a Bourbon / Whiskey barrel (though I suppose I could be convinced it is just heavy-handed oak), thankfully this is only one component of the flavor though. The sourness contributes / accents flavors of tamarind, sour cherries, tart raisins and even some prune notes. The lack of overt sweetness, the light tartness and the chewy body all contribute to quite a savory overall quality; this is rich and satisfying without being too strong and over the top. This really has quite a velvety texture to it, while it is perhaps light for a beer of this strength (8% my ass), it still has a texture & finesse to it that makes it a sipping brew.

So tell me, how does a mix of a 8% beer, a 11% beer and a 11.5% beer produce a beer with only 8% alcohol? Stupid one label fits all, make no mistake this is a huge beer in this 750ml bottle. This is quite a tasty beer, I could wish for a bit more funk and a little less barrel influence, but neither of these keep this from being damn good. I am enjoying this beer much more than I think I should based on the individual components, somehow the sum is just quite nice.