Angel's Share - Bourbon Barrel
The Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Regular|
Score
8.23
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Admin Note: There are unique entries for Angel's Share aged in Brandy Barrels, Bourbon Barrels and Scotch Barrels.
Down in Kentucky and across the pond in Scotland, distillers who age their whiskeys for many years refer to the evaporation of the spirits from their barrels as “The Angel’s Share.” We couldn’t agree more. Each time a barrel is filled, a measure of liquid seeps into the oak and is lost for good.
This striking Strong Ale is brewed with copious amounts of Caramel malt to emphasize the vanilla and oak flavors found in freshly emptied bourbon or brandy barrels. The beer spends a year in oak before it is packaged for release. The beer is 12.5% ABV and is available in 375ml bottles and on draft at inspired locations.
The Angel’s Share Story
It’s warehouse #5 built in 1886 that gets the most attention. The other four weren’t built so well and succumbed over the years. On the outside, to most #5 is a rather unremarkable white washed building. That is until they pass through the weathered doors and are easily consumed. Here in the hallowed halls it just oozes history. Inside this three story building, they find row after row of whiskey slumbering away the days until the distiller calls their name and they are called into action.
It’s a weathered building with a timeline of over one hundred and twenty years of continuous service. Looking around, there is a warm orange glow from all the wood inside. On both sides of the room for as far as your eyes can see, there are wood racks with carvings, nicks and dings. It smells sweet in here. Could that be the Whiskey breathing? Perhaps it’s the angels doing their work? Or is there just something sweet about 200 year old wood that intoxicates your sense of smell.
Imagine the history that belongs to the wood in this “shed.” It comes from seeds that were planted when the idea for the Revolutionary War was just fermenting. And it’s still here, every single day telling the story of this distillery. This warehouse has seen it all. It survived the harsh winter of 1913. There was the Tornado in 1956 and who can forget the flood of 1973? But, it’s still here. Still working, living and breathing whiskey as great grandpa designed it to do.
Sure, there are more cobwebs and spiders than there used to be. It’s an old building after all. One of the family members proclaimed it to be a grand old warehouse of monumental importance, so now it’s on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. Yet, the premise has always been the same. We need a place to age those spirits. And #5 has always been there.
Ask the family members to describe #5 and they all tell you the same thing.”The angels get more than their fair share from #5 but we don’t care. To us, there is nothing finer than the whiskey that comes from old #5. We wish they drank less. But then again, we really don’t need an excuse to drink more?”
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Tasting at Tokyo Midtown. Pours hazy brown, not really any carbonation there. Soft toffee nose, sweet milk chocolate, not really roasted, more like going into molasses direction. Taste has lots of sweetness, dried brown fruits, figs, some plums and lots and lots of molasses. Some measured barrel booze is there but still works. Caramelly milkshake. Light booze bitterness in the finsh. Totally drinkable and I like how bitterness is balancing its sweet flavor. Pair this with vanilla ice cream.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle from Beergium. 2016 Vintage. Hazy, dark brown beer with small and quickly vanishing head. Strong and nice aroma has vanilla, dried fruits, raisins and some whisky alcohol feeling. Taste has dried fruits, raisins, toffee malts, vanilla, oak and whisky alcohol. Full body, sweet. Whisky feeling overall, but not too much. Also sweetness in good balance. Low carbonation. Nice one!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Butelka 375ml (vintage 2016). Barwa ciemna, wpadająca w brunatną, nieprzejrzysta. Pianę tworzy cienki, beżowy kożuszek, niezbyt trwała ale cienki pierścień wokół ścianek szkła utrzymuje się bardzo długo. Aromat zdecydowanie beczkowy, intensywny z nutami drewnianymi i słodkiej wanilii, słodowy, bardzo przyjemny. W smaku przyjemna, słodka, waniliowa słodycz z lekko szczypiącym na języku alkoholem i wyraźnym pieczeniem w przełyku plus solidne rozgrzewanie od środka. Piwo solidnie słodowe, gęste, świetnie zbalansowane, gładkie nawet mimo lekkiego alko, który całkiem dobrze się komponuje z całością mimo swojej wyraźnej obecności. Nie przeszkadza a po kilku łykach już go nie czuć w ogóle, jak dla mnie w granicy tolerancji. Piwo zdecydowanie może sporo zyskać na leżakowaniu.
Boskie piwo tylko powinno trafic na lezak bo alko. Wiec teraz tylko ocenka jw, figi, rodzynki, wanilia.... ale mi i tak b pasuje, mimo alko
rami-pl (12993) ticked Angel's Share - Bourbon Barrel from The Lost Abbey 8 years ago
Migdaly, wanilia, susz, rodzynki, karmel, kandyzowane cuda, ciut uszczypliwe alko, geste, lepkie, slodkie i ciut kwaskowate, super skomponow
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
375ml bottle from Super Deli & Grocery, Seattle. Vintage 2016. Pours a very dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is bourbon, sweet fruits. Taste is chocolate, bourbon, dark fruits, some bourbon barrel. Slightly hot. Very nice.