I'm not really a number chaser, nor am I a genuine ticker. Furthermore, when entered onto databases such as BeerAdvocate or RateBeer, numbers of reviews can be fluid, as beer listings get morphed together for various reasons, and the occasional lost review to a server crash. Nonetheless, I still tend to celebrate those "odometer" moments when I hit another double-0. Last night, I had the beer that will shortly be entered on BeerAdvocate.com as my 3000th review. That's a big one. I feel I may need to edit it for them, so here' the unexpurgated version.
The Lost Abbey 2009 Cuvee de Tomme, brewed and bottled by Port Brewing Company, San Marcos, CA, malt beverage brewed with raisins with cherries added, aged in bourbon barrels.
Here goes. A word ahead: I hate, hate, HATE the ramblings, and natterings-on in their back label descriptions. Verbatim: "You are holding in your hands one of the most elusive and sought after small batch beers known simply as Cuvee. Our Cuvee de Tomme is a blend of Old World Brewing Traditions and New World Brewing Processes. It is made from Judgement Day DArk Ale which then aged in AMerican Bourbon and French Oak Wine barrels. We add some fantastic wild yeasts and Sour Cherries to the barrels creating a secondary fermentation. After one year, our brewers then get together to work out the final blend, This means that each batch of Cuvee will vary slightly between bottling. Yet, the result will always be a memorable drinking experience. Pour into a wide glass and let the beer breathe. Notes of juicy cherries. Luscious Vanilla and Supple Tannins integrate in a smooth finish. We think like most, you will find our most creative energies on display in this unique and style shattering beer worthy of the title Cuvee."
Alc. 11% by Vol.
I like this label, the Dali homage. I'm a sucker for that.
I chose this for Beer Advocate review #3000 because I've been after it for years. At least 6, maybe more. Finally got it in trade last year, saved it for now. Why not, 3000, that's something to hoot about, right?
Well, here we go: I turned off the TV, and put on some Trane, hoping that music will inspire me to come up with words for this. Off goes the cage, then the cork, into the glass…Dark brown body, no head at all…no points off, yet, but it is disappointing. I pour again, and there's something, which dies down immediately. Okay, so looking dark, but unimpressive, let's move on…
Aroma: Wow. Intense. Bourbon, cherries, raisins, badda bing, badda bang, badda boom. What else you want, hot shot? Sourness, hugeness, then sweet. Deep, immense, incredible, …it's all going on.
Taste: big sour! Intense puckeration, pulls back the lips and tongue with raw abandon, sour cherries giving no mercy, softly, slowly relenting. I calm myself, relax, and lean back to raise the glass to lips again…ah! There it is, again, and it's big, and brutal. Maybe more than I'd like. And I like sour flavors, love lambics and Flemish Reds. Love bourbon barrels, love raisins, and cherries, but also love balance, integration, and something a bit more mellow, a soft unfurling of flavors. Did I hit this one too soon? It is over a year and a half old, at least.
Drink more…and think more of the same. Very juicy, very boozy, not getting anything from hops, not expecting it, not getting much from malt, either. This is mostly flavor coming straight out of the fruit and barrel-aging, the base beer is completely disguised. The tannins are kicking in, surely as described…"vanilla"? over-used, very minor…it's mostly cherry and raisin, though slowly softening, and letting in other flavors. Yeah, it's getting cool and calm all of a sudden. Awesome, as frantic, devotional Trane turns into measured and mournful, heading into beatific.
My opinion changes now…raisins and sour cherries still dominate the flavor, tart is king, but it is cool, now, very mellow. "Lush Life" come on, …"I used to visit all the very gay places, those come what may places, where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life, to get the feel of life, from jazz and cocktails. …"
I'm getting a lushfull feeling right now, starting inside and spreading through my extremities. Oooo, yeah.
Ah, this is better than any 12 0'clock tails, for certain. Would be lovely if something as nice as this were as readily available as a bottle of this wine or that cognac or the other blah-blah-blah. But special beer is special for a reason.
Mmm, sweet, ahhh, sour. And there are those whiskey barrel edges hemming it in.
"And I'll live a lush life in some small dive, and there I'll be, while I rot with the rest, of those whose lives are lonely, too…"
Plenty of sweetness, well matched by plenty of sour. Plenty puckeration, huge fruition. An extremity, well balanced. Bigness, terrifically maintained. The alcohol slowly creeps in.
Wait, another song comes on…
"You are too beautiful, my dear to be true, and I am a fool for beauty…"
I dedicate this to 3000 beers, some good, some not so good, some so beautiful.
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