Lost Abbey Isabelle Proximus
AKA Belle Proximus, a collaborative effort between Tomme Arthur, Vinnie Cilurzo, Lorenzo Dabove, Rob Tod, Adam Avery and Sam Calagione.
In March of 2006 five guys-Adam Avery, Vinnie Cilurzo, Rob Todd, Tomme Arthur accompanied Sam Calagione and Lorenzo Dabove The Prince of Pajottenland through a tour a tour of Belgium’s finiest Gueze producers. Many of the mysteries of Lambic production were answered along the way. They vowed to return to the states to brew a sour beer celebrating their experiences. In November of 2006 the reunited at Port Brewing to brew Isabelle Proximus.
In this bottle, you’ll find the answers to many of the questions that were first posed along their journey near the river Senne. However, like the mysteries of lambic beers, there remains one lingering question that was left unresolved. we hope like us, the next time you’re on a pilgrimage to Brussels you’ll drop by the Empire Club and let us know whether you prefer Green or Orange....
In March of 2006 five guys-Adam Avery, Vinnie Cilurzo, Rob Todd, Tomme Arthur accompanied Sam Calagione and Lorenzo Dabove The Prince of Pajottenland through a tour a tour of Belgium’s finiest Gueze producers. Many of the mysteries of Lambic production were answered along the way. They vowed to return to the states to brew a sour beer celebrating their experiences. In November of 2006 the reunited at Port Brewing to brew Isabelle Proximus.
In this bottle, you’ll find the answers to many of the questions that were first posed along their journey near the river Senne. However, like the mysteries of lambic beers, there remains one lingering question that was left unresolved. we hope like us, the next time you’re on a pilgrimage to Brussels you’ll drop by the Empire Club and let us know whether you prefer Green or Orange....
4.3
478 reviews
San Marcos, United States
Community reviews
Huge thanks to Greer for busting this one open at Campground Brewdown and making sure I got a pour.
A - Pours hazy yellow with a small half finger tall white head, quickly dissipating down to a light film, leaving very small streaks of lace on the sides of the glass.
S - Smells of light lactic sourness, lemon zest, some musty basement and barnyard funk, dash of fruit, woody oak and some lightly toasted grain backing. Softer than I was expecting it to be but still pretty solid.
T - Starts off fairly similar to the nose. The lemony lactic sourness leads things off followed closely by the pale malt, must, nice amount of funk, nice hit of fruit zest and finally some oaky dryness. Finish is a touch tart but surprisingly smooth, leaving the palate quite dry.
M - Medium body with moderate carbonation. Very nice feel, not as overly sour as I was expecting it to be. Maybe a touch of oxidation but it was minuscule compared to the rest.
O - I honestly think this one is holding up surprisingly well for its age. It may very well be a shadow of its former self, I can’t comment having never had it fresh, but I can tell you that this bottle was drinking quite well. I would love to have it again in the future.
2014-08-16. Hazy yellow body is near headless, likely reflecting the fact that I got a small pour from the end of the bottle rather more than the beer itself. Please aroma of lemon is lightly funk, mild pale malt behind. 7+ Flavour is fairly sour throughout, with a good amount of lemon and grapefruit seed astringency. 7++ Smooth average bodied palate, soft carbonation. 3+ It doesn’t quite live up to the hype for me, but that says more about the height of the expectations than anything. Very nice stuff, very enjoyable. Bottle at Campground Brewdown
750 ml bottle. My humble contribution to the epic event at Huhzubendah’s. Pours a hazy translucent yellow with lasting ring of bubbles on rim of glass. Aroma is barnyard, lemon citrus and many other vague complexities. Flavor is sour from start to finish, with notes of apricot, lemon, brettanomyces, and oak. Tart finish, world class. From notes 1/23/10 (Geist Dark Lord tasting)
Light golden color frothy white foam. Tangy very acidic. Lemony. Not salty. Delicious but probably more interesting with balance.
Hazed creamy orange pour with cramy white head and lace. Tart funk and bready. Super tart with brett and breadiness. Medium body with good carbonation. RBWG2012
750 ml bottle to half-pint glass (HUGE thanks to The BeerSommelier). Looks good; a slightly cloudy orange. Smells and tastes good too; tart , and oaky with a nice, dry mouthfeel. Great stuff!
Quite glad to have been able to sample this huge whale! Thanks to all those involved! Pours a clear golden with no head and thus no lacing. Aroma is fruity (the yellow kind), acetic and feeling overall vinous. Tasting confirms the nose: apricots, light vinegar, good acidity. No residual sugar. Lightly carbonated and light, really fun to drink. I think this one held up pretty well overall and would have liked to be able to compare with a fresher sample.
Merci à mathieuc pour la bouteille et tom10101 pour l’occasion. Elle s’assoit sur une belle colonne acétique, des notes herbales, des fruits mures (principalement poires et pommes) et une sauvagerie terreuse. Le liquide est franchement élégant avec une effervescence plus qu’adéquate. Elle semble avoir merveilleusement vieillie, superbe bouteille pour lancer une dégustation.
bottle from cparles and shared by mathieuc, many thanks dudes. pours unclear very light golden, no head nor lacing. pears, white wine, bit of acteic but also a complex array of acidic components, cheese, dust, celery, pepper. light and appreciable acidity. average to moderate carbonation - surprisingly ok, light body, grassy finish. a very nice geuze-like product, not so much akin with other american counterparts aiming for the same goal, more or less. much enjoyed!
Bottle (750 ml). From cparles and shared by mathieuc, thanks to both of you guys! Clear bright golden with light white head and little to no lacing. Aroma is pretty much lambic-like with a lot of funk and fruits (pineapples, lemon, citrus, pear), acetic notes and light earthy notes. Taste is moderately acetic (not over the top like some other american sours), lot of lambic funk, fruits, light sweetness and light earthy notes. Medium body. Low to moderate carbonation. Dry finish. Even with 5+ years on it, it’s still as good if not better than Cable Car. It’s probably the American Lambic that reminds me the most of a Belgian Lambic, which is very interesting. It’s most certainly past is prime, but it’s still a world class sour. Very complex. Nice funkiness. Very good!
Among the best sours ever. Had it at the end of a very long beef tasting session when I was already drunk. Thanks to the fake redhead who provided. Incredible sour. Balanced and complex. Fruity with everything else. Nothing more to say.
Amazing beer! Thanks to barrel fest 3013!! Aroma citrus and clean sour. Taste amazing! But can't discuss as end of amazing beer night after amazing beers. One of the smoothest, balanced sour I've ever had!
Bottle bought back in 2009 and now enjoyed for our 10th anniversary. Well chosen. This is obviously a phenomenal sour beer and worthy of the Belgian style. The most impressive thing to me was that the tart punch never transitioned into an acetic or even acidic bite; not even as it warmed to room temperature. Very impressive.
I was fortunate enough to consume this three, possibly four times. Two of those I owe thanks to Mr. Himelstein, and one of those to someone who brought a bottle to a tasting years back (Tom??). As this has plenty of rave reviews touching on notes already, I’m just going to put my $.02 in by saying this: If you can find one of these still lying around, no matter what the cost, buy it. You will see why it’s ranked the #1 Collaborative Brew. Beyond that it’s just one of those ’going down in beer history’ brews! Excellent!
De color dorado y espuma blanca poco densa, aroma acido y con trazas de vino blanco o champan. En boca es agradable no es acida tan como esperaba, es mas maltosa que otras sours, con un agradable final.
and..... bam, Izzy was shared my Cory! Again, thanks so much!!! A complex lactic tartness that is sublime, the tart cherries and other flavors in here are fantastic, I love it!
Got a slug of a glass brought to me by my new best friend from that other site :) Slightly cloudy pale straw color with lots of funky tangerine on the nose. Bright acidity, clean punch of tart apple, apricot, funky dust and horse blanket notes. Really good based on my gulp... will reassess when someone decides to send me a bottle for my dome !
750ml bottle .. . Pours a deep yellow .. . mild head, lacing is solid .. . quite a fruity sour, sourness is balanced .. . clean mouthfeel .. . an upbeat beer, has held up well, but thinking this must have been more sour when first released. .. thanks to Rick for sharing this!! .. . .
Dora The Fedora - Cartoon about a hat named Dora that gets worn by annoying morons.
Poured into north coast brewing snifter and shared with my wife stephanie and ratebeer legend daknole. An American wild ale that could pass for true Belgian gueuze - it has the Belgian Barnyard nose usually lacking in most American sours. Nice refreshing sour flavor that lingers well. An absolute treat to drink.
traded with bill, thnx dude !
yellow, hazy, no foam, no scent.
not much carbo
sour, with a very complex, wooden twist. very dry, sour. very nice , complex, good moutfeel !
22/IV/13 - 75cl bottle @ De Hopduvel (Gent) - BB: n/a (2013-375) Thanks to Bobochamp (and thus to Kraddel as well) for sharing the bottle!
Little cloudy orange beer, no head. Aroma: sour, funky, sweet ripe tangerines, orange peel, some overripe fruits, banana peel, little chemical touch, dusty, wood, hint of almonds. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: almonds at first, very sour, lemony, green apples, woody, bitter, earthy touch. Aftertaste: pretty bitter, wood, apple skin, bit nutty, sourness burning your throat, orange peel, bit spicy, earthy, typical bretta flavours in the end. Maybe a bit too sour to maintain drinkability. Very refreshing though.
75cl, as Isabelle Proximus, retired exclusive American collab. brew, thx alot to kraddel for bringing this over!, very complex sour brew, woody/sour and slightly fruity, balanced, cloudy, nearly no head, very good brew, ’This beer aged very well, yet doesn’t deserve all the hype’
750ml bottle. Clear golden with no head and lots of sediment in the bottle. Acidic, some chardonnay, oak, hints of citrus, sour, only slightly off balance. Moderate carbonation, acidic, bit lot vinegar, becomes dry, hint of lactose, little sweet at the end and then becomes intensely sour. Very happy to have tried this.
Thanks to the Braj Brogan, we popped a bunch of his rare gems with the boys before he went back to FLA to diversify his bonds nucca. The beer was really good but to be honest i was to drunk of a bunch of other legendatory brews to give an accurate rating. I’m fairly sure it was one of the best beers i have ever had, but it was for sure more about the company. Whatever the case, check it off the list.
Popped open izzy with a couple great BA’s
Poured a murky amber with a light pink HughNose was over ripe citrus and cabernet sauvignonTaste was filled with grape, grape skin, granny smith apples and barnyard funk.
Very light mouthfeel, smooth with a dry finish.
I didn’t expect much based on recent reviews stating izzy was past her prime. I could not disagree more. This has aged perfectly and was wonderful. Very happy that I have more!
Poured from a 750 mL bottle into a snifter. From notes.
I have a ton of anticipation going into this bottle. It is the beer that I have been wanting to try ever since I seriously got into craft beer, and now I am hoping it was worth the wait.
Isabelle pours a gorgeous, full tangerine color. Each successive pour is a little bit cloudier, due to all of the residue in the bottle at this point. There is a small, off-white head that pretty much disappears right away. A few stray bubbles linger.
The aroma gives my nose a full blast of barnyard funk, with some hay and grass. Just a little bit of white grape skin adds a fruit of fruit character to the smell. A acetic sourness gives a slight burn as it enters my nostrils.
Given how much time it has had to develop, I am impressed with how balanced the flavor is. It is definitely sour, but in quite a good way I am not overwhelmed with how sour the flavor is. A bit of sweet apricot, lemon, and grass are all present up front. As it turns sour, a lemony tartness turns to a slight acetic vinegar flavor.
There is a nice smoothness to the body that comes at least partially from the time it spent aging in the bottle, but the body did not suffer. American sours have a tendency to fall off and lose their body if they have been aged too long, and Isabelle shows no signs of doing that. The carbonation is light, but sufficient. The balanced acidity through most of the sip is accentuated by the acetic finish, which is great.
Overall this beer did everything it could to live up to my expectations. Too often the beers we spend the most time chasing cannot possibly live up to impossible standards we set for them, but Isabelle was worth the effort. Aside from the feeling of joy of tracking down a beer I wanted to try so badly, I was simply impressed by the beer and how well it is holding up.
Pours a milky gold with no head. Aroma of oak, lacto, tobacco and citrus. Taste is a tobacco sour, lemon and vinegar. Very sour and very good.
Bottle corked and caged that has been sitting awaiting this day for some time even in my possession. Huge thanks to iowaherkeye for sending this my way back in the day! Pour has a golden orange color and some initial white foam that fell right away. The first glass right away had a nice light carbonation though later pours fell off quickly. Aroma is American Geuze all the way. Mellow funk, dry citrus, lower acidity, faint white grape skins, fruit touches, bretty yeast, and an alluring sweet poke on the end. She is still great and mighty though I can imagine her juiciness when young and ripe. Mouth feel is light and on the initial glass there was light carbonation but it really struggled to retain it for very long. Flavor does bring more acidity than expected, dry citrus rind, countering fruit, peach hits, white grape skin, oak, and yeast. Really spectacular for the age on this now with a very drinkable level of acidity. I sit enjoying this great beer on Christmas eve with a light snow falling outside for rating #1500 and am reminded why I continue to enjoy rating and the great memories this hobby has given me. Cheers!
First Bottle at the BA Buffalo bottle share. Pours hazy golden with a white head with light lacing. Nose is all Brett. Puckering tartness slams the palate, apple and pears on the finish. Body is light and quick to consume. One of the many highlights of the night.
a bit horsey, more funk than I remember from 2 yrs ago. Citrus, apple, apricot, lemon. holding up pretty well. I remember writing hay in my notes years ago but that seems to have faded now.