The Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale

Today, Beer! reviews the Deliverance Ale from The Lost Abbey:

Brewery: The Lost Abbey
Location: San Marcos, CA
Style: Strong Ale
Brewery Website
Rating: B+

In my glass today is the Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale. The Deliverance Ale is an interesting blend of the Lost Abbey's Angel's Share Strong Ale and their Serpent's Stout, aged in brandy and bourbon barrels, respectively. The Deliverance Ale pours up a short, chestnut colored head. The beer is opaque and the color of black coffee. The nose detects raisins, syrup, wood and smoke.

The flavor leads with sweet notes of vanilla bean and maple. Raisins, dark chocolate and syrup are also present on the sweet side. Oak and tannins are here, along with dark rye toast. There is also a bit of wininess as well. The Deliverance Ale is medium-bodied, and is on the lighter side for such a syrupy-tasting beer. The finish has dry woodiness with lingering vanilla and syrup.

Although it is a bit too oaky for my tastes, the Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale has some great flavor. It has just the right amount of sweetness. My main issue is that the flavor and high alcohol content want this to be a sipping beer, but the body wants to be a session beer. (At 12.5% ABV, this is in no way a sessionable beer, unless your name is Rasputin.) It could really use more syrup in the body to fill it out a bit. That concern aside, the Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale is a damn tasty brew and I will be sure to snatch some for the cellar if I can still find some around.

One other point of note on the Deliverance Ale - the cocoa, vanilla and woody notes make this a perfect pair for a dark chocolate. I paired this with the Chocovic Ocumare, which has some nice woody notes of its own.