Lost Abbey Veritas 003
A blend of Angel’s Share, Amazing Grace, and Cuvee de Tomme [retired 2/16/09 -mj]. Editor’s note: We’ve received several corrections pointing out that this beer is now sour. When the beer was current, it was not a sour ale so that is why the style is listed as it is. It will remain listed as Belgian Strong because that is the style of the beer.
4.1
193 reviews
San Marcos, United States
Community reviews
dark ruby, large frothy white head, little lacing. Definite lost abbey malt, chocolate, light metal and infection, cinnamon, bit of acetic cherry at the nose back. Messy chocolate malt and citrus, bit of balsamic, paper and playdoh coming with warmth. Flavor is off, carbonation over strong, comes off as that metallic unintended infection because of contrast between the styles.
Bottle. Dark amber in color with a white head. Peach/nectarine nose. Amazing taste with flavors of white nectarines, sour cherries, stone fruit, and oak dancing on your tongue. To date my favorite batch of Veritas, but of coarse 004 & 007 are still waiting patiently in the cellar.....
Bottle. 24.5 oz. Split with James the morning after Explosions in the Sky for my 900th and his 1800th rating concurrently. This massive beauty hisses to life with the pop of the cork, pours an electric, trubid, hazy, abrasively beautiful brown cherry amber with an initially massive, loosely bubbled cream head which fizzled to spotty tracing across the surface, and left substantial fizzy ring around the edge of the glass. Aroma of soft, moist, dank oak, with hints of cherries, strawberries, peaches, Cabernet grapes from the Amazing Grace, musty Rye bread, toasted honey, soft lemon zest, and tons of wild, Bretty notes. The beer tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before; full strawberry and cream notes burst forth before a wave of carbonated raspberry, oaky cranberry sweet tartness washes it back with a wave of tremendous sourness. This beer is full of complex, intricately interlaced flavors. This is, without a doubt, one of the best sour ales I have ever had the pleasure to try. Cheers to 900 more beers!
Bottle split with Pat after doing a flight of every mikkeller breakfast beer. Wow. Pours a murky brown body with thick hazy and thick fluffy brown head. Aroma is the most insane complexity of sour and tart I have ever had. Mouthfeel is slightly aggressive carbonation with insane flavors of tart cherries, wood, citrus, lemon. What an insane brew. Literally one of the greatest beers of my life.
Bottle. Thanks to a good friend out west. Been waiting to get my hands on this one for quite some time. Pours a cloudy brownish maroon. Head is unreal, off white with three finger thickness and shades of darker brown tiny bubbles sprinkled in to the regular off white bouquet appearence. Lacing is sporadic and lasting on the glass. Aroma is sour funky lactic notes with brett, vinous curants, figs, cherries, bourbon, vanilla. Really leans towards cuvee de tomme in aroma. Taste is muscat grapes sourness, chocolate covered maraschino cherry, walnuts, caramel, lemon zest, french oak from the Amazing Grace. This beer left an almost vanilla icing aftertaste. So much going on here that its hard to pinpoint individual notes. Very balanced and slightly dry finish. Amazing brew but I like the three beers that made this better on their own.
Bottle shared by bmanning, my first veritas, Thanks!
Beer is murky and on the red / brown border in the beer spectrum. Forms a thin head of tiny bubbles that rally but fail form a proper head or decent lacing on the glass. Its a sour so all is forgiven in the head dynamics department.
Definitely some citric and acetic in the nose of this one. There is some sweetness and tartness from cherries or stone fruits in there as well. Mild funk.
Beer is thin and weakly carbonated on the mouth. The sourness from the acetic gives the beers a brightness and the lactic is the lead off. There is some tartness at the backend of the whole thing and it finishes cleansingly. Its a good beer, a very good American sour. The finish is mildly dry but its not too dry. Its a good beer. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Serving type: bottle
The beer pours a medium cloudy brown, with a medium tan head, ok retention and lacing.
The aroma is dominated by oak, you can really pull out mostly the cuvee de tomme here, which to me isn’t a great bear. You get a little sour but mostly oak.
The taste is the same, mostly oak, finished with some sour. Its not very balanced and totally lacking a little sweetness to balance things out.
Overall, a decent ale, nothing to search out, and not at all on the upper echelon of ales.
Murky Brown Dishwater. a bit of an orangish bronze hue.
smell is pungent, acetic acid, woody/musty cellar, some lemon. a touch of wine/cherry/grape.
there is a hop bitterness and an acidic dryness like that of wine. a bit of malt sweetness balances that out. grape notes/red wine. sour cherry, oak. good deal of funk with a bit of silage/cheesiness. Acetic acid rounds it out. nice complexity with all the blended beers in this bottle.
mouthfeel is a bit dry from the acidity and barrels. enough viscocity to balance that out, decent amount of carbonation for pallet scrubbing, typical of the style
definately not a punch you in the face sour, fairly easy drinker, alcohol is hidden.
Bottle shared with drowland. Pours clear dark brown. Nose of basement mold, sour funk and tart cherries. Taste is chocolate covered cherry, sour funk, toffee and tart cherry.
Thanks to bmanning for bringing this to a recent tasting.
Pours a moderate mahogany with a thin tan head and a bit of lacing. Nose brings forward lactic and acetic character alongside cherries, dark fruits, oak, and a bit of wet leather. Taste carries forward some of the Belgian elements along with some cherries. Nice lactic and acetic balance with a bit of funk and oak as well. Mouthfeel is nice and dry, yet isn’t too thing. This drinks really well. This dark wild ale is one of those small substyles that I really wish would catch on a bit more.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 10-06-2010
Wale weekend in Vermont- this bottle courtesy of Gn0sis.
Pours a dark red brown color with a medium slightly brown head. Smell is tart with dark berries- blackberry, rasp, blueb. Taste is rich with dark berries, pretty sour kick. mouthfeel is sour and dry/ tannic overall. no sweetness. overall this is a good sour. reminds me of captain lawrence barrel select.
[22oz bottle courtesy of cgarvieuk] Pours amber brown with a large, fast dispersing white head. Extremely carbonated. Massively sour aromas – balsamic vinegar, gooseberries, pickled onions. Puckeringly sharp mouthfeel – one for the sour fans only I think. Just too much for me – I like the sour fruit notes on the taste, but not the sour vinegar ones [28012010]
Bottled @ tasting cgarvieuk. Hazy dark orange colour, tan head. Aroma is sour, bit of vanilla?, fruity and yeasty. Flavour is sour fruits, yeasty and malty and a bit of candy.
LIght brown w/ reddish hue.
very sharp, tart fruit nose, but pleasant sweet balance
thin/med body and moderately fizzy
tastes like a gueze but slightly sweeter.
nice!
Bottle at home .... home tasting 280111... dark brown ... thin lacing ... sweet balsamic vinegar nose ... sharp sour front ... little balsamic vinegar...tart.. woody light toffee not for me... but ok
thanks to thirdeye11 for securing the bottle. poured murky brown with an off white head. aroma was oak, funky, cherry, and raspberry. flavor was pretty much the same as the nose with a light body and fizzy carbonation.
Bottled. Thanks to Marsiblursi
Dark brown colour with bubbly pale brown head. Dried fruits, higher alcohols in aroma, along with oaky vanilla and burnt sugar. Sweet meets sour in flavour, there is oaky vanilla, vague coffee, caramel. Behind the sour, lightish mouthfeel a heavy maltiness can be sensed in the background. Juicy, acidic mouthfeel, bit astringent but still rounded.
(Bottle) Pours a beautiful deep mahogany reddish brown with a small nougat coloured head. The aroma is super complex with notes of dark yummy caramel, creamy cookies, dark cherries, apples, subtle dried fruits - plums, figs and raisins, over ripe mango, buttery, vanilla-ish oak, white peppery/nutmeg/cardamom spices, sour lacto, light cheese, gun powder, soft cocoa, and coffee candy. The fat malty character plays well with sourish aroma profile. Everything is well integrated on the nose. The only downside is a tiny medical note. The flavour is dry, near heavily acidic and light bitter. Cherries, heavy citric, light dried fruits, light spices and tiny earth. The mouthfeel tart but soft and round at the same time from the robust AS malt. Light to medium carbonated. Tart finish with citrus and unripe apples. Medium (to full) bodied. Fantastic.
Bottle. Poured into a tulip glass a murky cider color, extremely hazy, with a light tan head that collars around the glass. The aroma is interesting with notes of sour tart fruit, woodiness, and an underlying acetic flavor. Light mouthfeel with surprisingly good carbonation. The taste is pretty interesting as well with lots of barrel flavors, red wine characteristics (dryness and red wine flavor), some bitterness. Starts off with some sweet tartness and then moves into the barrel, wine, and funk flavors. All of this is blended with a fairly mild sour taste with a dose of funkiness. The alcohol isn’t really apparent. There are so many flavors going on in this! Pretty easy drinking.
Overall, this is a very complex beer with so much going on, in a good way.
Looks about as unpleasant as a beer can look; muddy, murky, a bit like sewage. Nose is low on tartness, which is a nice change of pace, and the flavors are similar. A good blend of rich malty caramel, slight woodiness, delicately sour cherries, and a bit of brown sugar. This was probably my favorite Veritas (other than 4).
(750ml bottle thanks to thirdeye11 and co.) Super hazy brown drain water, but oh how delicious the drain water is. Smells of balsamic, apple cider, spice, wheat malt. Taste (and aroma) is super complex- vinegar, caramel, tart, funk. Good good stuff.
Viscous red/purple color. Aroma very similar to CDT. Really complex flavor with a dry finish.
(750ml bottle) cloudy red, ring of tan bubbles. Nose of tart cherry, pipe tobacco, capers, raspberry jam, mossy, funky and mildly acetic. Taste of light alcohol and hops, some background earth, tart black cherries, a bit of caramel, caper berry, peppercorns, complex and very unique. Tart pipe tobacco linger. A good sour, but the least of the Veritas I’ve tried.
bottle, thanks to thirdeye11 for securing this, poured a muddy turbid looking brown with wine, leather, library stacks aroma, flavor is a dirty martini with some sour cherry and cocoa powder
huge thanks to everyone that went in on this one. deep amber pour with a cream head. nose is wood, cherries, tart, lacto?, bugs, slight vanilla in there as well. great on the palate, flavor is sour, cherry skins, bourbon, wood, smooth finish.
750ml Bottle - Pours a hazy amber color, with a nice off white head. Smell is sour cherries, caramel malt, toffee, oak, vanilla, and some funk. Taste is nice sour cherries, sweet caramel malt, brown sugar, with some oak flavors. Medium mouthfeel, and good carbonation. Overall one of the best sours I have had.
Glad I finally got to try this beer. Rating No. 1,500.
The beer pours a hazy brown color with a white head. The aroma is outstanding. I get a lot of tart cherries, with some oak and bourbon notes mixed in. The flavor is similar, but even more complex. I get a lot of tart cherries, oak, vanilla, whiskey, brown sugar and barrel characteristics. The tartness is about medium and compliments the flavor very well. Medium carbonation and medium aroma.
750 ml corked and caged bottle, courtesy Fogdog. Pours a very dark and cloudy reddish brown color and topped by a small, foamy tan colored head that leaves scattered lines of lace on the glass. The aroma is really nice and complex showings notes of sour, old oak, dark cocoa, subtle bourbon, raisins, figs, and sour cherries. The Cuvee realy shines through, but the Angel’s Share imparts some caramel and vanilla sweetness to round things out. The flavor is just as nice as the nose elts on with the cocoa and caramel up front blended perfectly with the sour notes and subtle bourbon. Sour cherries and figs push through with some nice funk while the vanilla from the oak ties everything together nicely. Medium bodied and very smooth on the palate with good carbonation to go with a soft sour cherry finish. Really nice beer that I can only hope to have again some day.
A: The pour is dark amber/brown in color with a finger’s worth of off-white head and plenty of carbonation bubbles.
S: A blend of acetic and lactic acids on the nose along with some sour cherries and other dark fruits such as plums and berries. Quite a bit of oak as well.
T: Sour cherries and blackberries up front provide quite a bit of tartness along with some red wine vinegar and tannic oak. A slight citrus quality at points, too.
M: The body is medium with plenty of carbonation and a dry and puckering finish.
D: A nice sour ale, though leaning a little bit more on the vinegar side of things than I would prefer, but still in balance.
Bottle at the brewery. Clear reddish brown pour, off-white, tannish head. Sour cherries, grapes, dark fruit, apple, funky barnyard, musty malt, and some acidic vinegar. A very nice sour, glad to have tried it.