Lost Abbey Framboise de Amorosa
I’ve been looking forward to Lost Abbey’s Framboise de Amorosa since seeing it on New Brew Thursday‘s podcast with Ladies of Craft Beer, Taylor Shaw. They all seemed to be enjoying the beer so much; I wanted to jump through my screen and join them! Two months later, I have a bottle of in in hand, thanks to my buddy Scott for sending it eastward. Hopefully this will live up to the hype I’ve built in my head. You have to remember that Lost Abbey beers are not available in NJ, so this is a 400 case brewery only release beer took a bit longer to get. So lets taste away!
Here is how Lost Abbey Describes the beer:
Framboise de Amorosa is our first foray in the world of Raspberry beers. Our brewer’s took a batch of Lost and Found Ale and aged it in freshly emptied red wine barrels. The beer spent over one year in the barrel during which time it was spiked with three additions of Raspberries.
Style: Wild Ale / Framboise
Bottle: 375ml corked and caged
ABV: 7%
Release: One off specialty
Glassware: Goblet
Appearance:
Super fizzy head, thousands of tiny bubbles just popping away, reminding me of Poprocks. The fizzy foam is a very peculiar color, a mix of brown, garnet, and purple, which also reflects the super hazy and somewhat chunky looking beer.
Aroma:
Wow, that an intense aroma. If you drink a lot of sour beers, then you know your probably in for a good one when that funky acid vinegary aroma dominates your nostrils. But don’t just take a quick whiff, enjoy it, smell it several times. You’ll find a hint of raspberries and a ton of wine barrel oak under the dominate aromas.
Taste:
After a great start with the appearance and aroma, I’m really looking forward to this beer. Jeez Louise! This beer is intensely sour, about a 9 out 10 on my scale, LOVING the puckerlicuiousness! It immediately bits into the sides of your tongue and doesn’t let go. The raspberries are sharp right up front with the sour and your mouth gets engulfed by the raspberries as this highly carbonated beer really explodes through your mouth. the back end of this beer relaxes the raspberries and carbonation leaving you with a nice lingering sour, grape, and oak. And finally finished super dry with a hint of bitterness.
Overall Impression:
I’ve said it before, great aroma can ruin a beer by getting your hopes up to high. But this is another winner from Lost Abby, it actually exceeded my expectations from the aroma. This is a great beer on this hot night with its intense sourness and dry fizzy mouthfeel. I want MORE!
Glad you got regular carbed bottle! There have been numerous reports of extreme gushers and I had one at the tasting you were trying to send your beers to.
The beer was stored in my chest freezer for on week (35F) and opened. The beer flew out at such a high rate, everyone near me was sprayed. I was left with 1 ounce yeast sediment.
Big let down for me.
Cheers,
J
the link to the tasting:
http://sciencebrewer.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/craft-beer-tasting/
Wow Jason, that really sucks. did you contact Lost Abbey? I had mine mailed to me, sat over night, opened about 3 days after I received it from CO, and no explosiveness. It did look like it was going to gush, a bit of foam up, but nothing worth even noting. let me know the next time you guys are going to meet up for homebrews. Would love to meet you guys.
So I did contact LA, and the reps were super nice. They offered to replace the beer.
All I had to do was come to the brewery and pick it up. lol….
Since I traded for it (a SH RIS no less), there really is no chance of getting another bottle.
J
It sounds good. I’m a sucker for sour beers…been brewing them a lot lately. And I’ve become a fan of the Vinegar quality.
That’s crazy about Jason’s “Gusher.” I’ve heard that on several of their beers. I remember early on in my extract brewing I overcarbonated some heff. It was quite embarrassing.
Sounds like a great drink and at 7% it shouldn’t take too long feel the effects!
Duncan, sorry for delay in approving this, it was stuck in my spam filter. It drank very well at 7%, it is also only a 375ml bottle. If you like sours and raspberry, this is a great Frambroise!