Is This A Cool Name: Yes. The "angel's share" of a barrel of aged spirits is said to be the amount that is lost to evaporation or absorption into the barrel. Plus there is a connotation of this beer being good enough for an angel, which is kind of cocky and I like to see if beers live up to those kinds of claims.
Style: Barrel-aged strong ale
Consumption Method: 6oz draft pour (sorta); goblet glass. The "sorta" is necessary as the beer was first poured into a measuring cup and then into my goblet. At $2/oz it sorta makes sense. The Bad Apple was not about to let a single drop of this beer go to waste. I can only imagine what their 5gal keg cost.
Alkyhol: 12.5% (!)
Why I Bought This Beer: I've read a lot about Angel's Share, mostly negative (carbonation issues in bottled versions, namely). This caused me to not really pay this beer any mind when I've seen bottles of it. Oh, and the bottles are typically in the $30 range. I'm not about to drop that kind of coin on a beer that could very well suck. I guess in reality any given beer could very well suck, but this one had a history of sucking. Anyway, I was persuaded by a friend who had consumed this very beer from the very tap that mine would come off of, and a cute bartender who swore this was one of the best beers she had ever tried. And she tries everything. So I paid the cost as I may never see it on draft again.
Is This Beer Any Good: Hell yes it was good. But my opinion of it was immediately tainted by a beer and a description that I had heard just a couple of weeks before (read on below)...
What Does This Beer Taste Like: Twix bars. Fucking Twix bars. Any bourbon barrel aged strong ale or stout now instantly triggers one flavor recognition in my brain: Twix bars. It's the carmel and chocolate notes, no doubt, but I can't get the description out of my head and it's ruining some great beers that would surely be more excellent if I were really able to taste them beyond a note of mediocre candy (maybe I just suck at drinking beer?). A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to enjoy a glass of Firestone Walker's Parabola, a barrel-aged imperial stout. Upon first sip, my tasting conspirator for the day blurts out "TWIX BARS!" and from then on that is all I can taste. No caramel, no oak, no tobacco, no fucking Pakistani tumeric- just Twix. From then on, any combination of vanilla/carmel/malt/oak has had me Chewing It Over.
This Beer Would Pair Well With: Anything but a Twix bar...maybe Heath? Ugh. I'm actually at a loss at what to pair this beer with, although I think that I'd like to drink it overlooking a river.
Sudoku Difficulty Rating: ***** This beer is hard.
Straight From The Source: http://www.lostabbey.com/lost-abbey-beers/non-denominational-ales/the-angels-share/
Style: Barrel-aged strong ale
Consumption Method: 6oz draft pour (sorta); goblet glass. The "sorta" is necessary as the beer was first poured into a measuring cup and then into my goblet. At $2/oz it sorta makes sense. The Bad Apple was not about to let a single drop of this beer go to waste. I can only imagine what their 5gal keg cost.
Alkyhol: 12.5% (!)
Why I Bought This Beer: I've read a lot about Angel's Share, mostly negative (carbonation issues in bottled versions, namely). This caused me to not really pay this beer any mind when I've seen bottles of it. Oh, and the bottles are typically in the $30 range. I'm not about to drop that kind of coin on a beer that could very well suck. I guess in reality any given beer could very well suck, but this one had a history of sucking. Anyway, I was persuaded by a friend who had consumed this very beer from the very tap that mine would come off of, and a cute bartender who swore this was one of the best beers she had ever tried. And she tries everything. So I paid the cost as I may never see it on draft again.
Is This Beer Any Good: Hell yes it was good. But my opinion of it was immediately tainted by a beer and a description that I had heard just a couple of weeks before (read on below)...
What Does This Beer Taste Like: Twix bars. Fucking Twix bars. Any bourbon barrel aged strong ale or stout now instantly triggers one flavor recognition in my brain: Twix bars. It's the carmel and chocolate notes, no doubt, but I can't get the description out of my head and it's ruining some great beers that would surely be more excellent if I were really able to taste them beyond a note of mediocre candy (maybe I just suck at drinking beer?). A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to enjoy a glass of Firestone Walker's Parabola, a barrel-aged imperial stout. Upon first sip, my tasting conspirator for the day blurts out "TWIX BARS!" and from then on that is all I can taste. No caramel, no oak, no tobacco, no fucking Pakistani tumeric- just Twix. From then on, any combination of vanilla/carmel/malt/oak has had me Chewing It Over.
This Beer Would Pair Well With: Anything but a Twix bar...maybe Heath? Ugh. I'm actually at a loss at what to pair this beer with, although I think that I'd like to drink it overlooking a river.
Sudoku Difficulty Rating: ***** This beer is hard.
Straight From The Source: http://www.lostabbey.com/lost-abbey-beers/non-denominational-ales/the-angels-share/
