The Lost Abbey: Special Offer July 2018 We’re doing something a little different and unprecedented for this latest Rare Club special offer. Tomme Arthur and the team at The Lost Abbey were recently tasting through the brewery’s archives to discover what was at its peak, and, given the long history between Tomme and the club—we’ve been loving his beer since the Pizza Port days—he reached out with some of the very best of The Lost Abbey’s rarest vintage . Five of the six offered score 100 points over on RateBeer (the other one’s a 98)—and this is ultimately one of the best collections we’ve ever been able to put together. A chance to taste Lost Abbey history.

NOTE: This the first time we’re offering 375mL bottles within the club! We want to be able to expand on the rare beers we’re able to offer our members going forward, and this seems like the best possible time to expand into smaller-format selections. Lost Abbey has less than 100 cases of each of these releases—for the 2017 Deliverance and 2018 Bat Out of Hell, for instance, there are less than 40 cases left—and once they’re gone, they’re gone. The final two beers offer up the great opportunity to try 2015 and 2018 Number of the Beast side-by-side. Ghosts In The Forest | 2017 vintage Style: Oak-Aged Wild Ale ABV: 6% Serving Temperature: 40–45° F Suggested Glassware: Tulip, Teku, or Chardonnay Glass

This special offer is kicked off by the 2017 vintage of Ghosts in the Forest, which is tasting perfect right now. 2017 was the very first year that this beer was produced, and this one has a 2.5-year-old sour golden base aged in the brewery’s first foeder, and includes a blending of beers our notes refer to as ‘Baby Cable Car’ and ‘Baby Duck Duck’. Less than 75 cases left.

Ghosts in the Forest pours a hazy, golden-orange color capped by off-white foam. Vibrant tart lemons and salinity in the aroma: mouthwatering, complex and funky. While this lands with assertive lemony tartness, it’s a very softly orchestrated sour overall, and a pleasure to dig into right now. Toasty oak, firm citrusy goodness; it’s a generous blend of wild ales that stays refreshing and complex. Bold acidity. Touch of lime. This had us thinking of lambics.

Red Poppy | 2016 vintage Style: Barrel-Aged Sour Ale w/ Cherries & Poppy Seeds ABV: 6.5% Serving Temperature: 50–54° F Suggested Glassware: Tulip, Teku or Pinot Glass Red Poppy begins its life as an English-style mild called Dawn Patrol, which gets barrel aged and combined with cherries and poppy seeds to form a delicious, cherry-forward sour ale. The 2016 vintage is at an ideal spot, with expressively tart cherry and bold citrus throughout. This pours a ruby-brown color that seems a touch darker than we recall fresh versions, with fresh cherries and strawberries, dried caramel, and a hint of black pepper leading the aromatics.

There’s a burst of tiny-bubbled carbonation that lands on the tip of the tongue, and this beer is just packed with cherry and ripe berry character: strawberry, tart blueberry, a hint of cherry pit. There’s bold fruit to dig into here, with a subtle undercurrent of dry caramel and raisin-y and date-like sweetness coming through. As this warms, look for more notes of dark berries, as well as a firmer show of tannic oak underpinnings. Down for even a bit more cellar time. Deliverance | 2017 vintage Style: Blend of Ales aged in Brandy & Bourbon barrels ABV: 12.5% Serving Temperature: 50–55° F Suggested Glassware: Tulip, Tulip or Pinot Glass Deliverance is an especially complex blend that combines brandy-barrel-aged Angel’s Share and bourbon-barrel-aged Serpent’s , and the 2017 vintage is tasting great right now. We have fewer than 39 cases of this for the club, and Deliverance is one of those beers that, due to the age of beers needed for the various blends that go into it, isn’t produced every year. We’re pretty excited to get a chance to offer this release while it’s tasting right at its peak.

(Continued on reverse) Deliverance | 2017 vintage (cont’d) Deliverance 2017 pours a deeply colored, viscous deep brown that goes to cherry cola at the edges. The aroma shows exceptional depth courtesy of the extra aging, with dense dried fruit and brown sugar and caramel. It’s warming and super rich from the get-go, but really easy to dig into at this point. Light carbonation couples with warming fruity alcohol to keep this one at just the right impact on the tongue. As you’d expect from the base beers, there’s just a ton of stuff going on here: intricate oxidative character, layered caramel, maple syrup, rich cocoa and chocolate, and a fruity, warming presence from its barrel influences. It manages to bring together its stout and barley-wine constituents seamlessly—in an effortlessly massive release.

Bat Out of Hell | 2018 vintage Style: Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout w/ Coffee & Cacao Nibs ABV: 13.5% Serving Temperature: 52–57° F Suggested Glassware: Snifter, Tulip or Pinot Glass

Some Rare Beer Club members might remember this beer as Track 10 in The Lost Abbey’s Ultimate Box Set: it starts as the huge Serpent’s Stout, and gets aged in bourbon barrels for a few years while incorporating special additions of coffee and cacao nibs. There were 37 cases of this release remaining in The Lost Abbey archives. This exceptional barrel-aged offering is tasting great right now, with the additions of coffee and cacao at their most brightly expressed.

This one pours perhaps even a bit darker than the Deliverance, which also includes Serpent’s Stout as part of its makeup. Dense, dark chocolate-brown, with a good bit of viscosity. Milk chocolate and cocoa land clearly in the nose, alongside notes of brownie and fudge, with the sweet barrel notes rolling out underneath. Those coffee notes are well roasted throughout.

For 13.5% ABV, this is super smooth. There’s medium-light cardonation and welcome hints of warming bourbon, and the imperial-stout base is actually secondary to the barrel influence and well-rounded caramelized notes present throughout this beer. The Serpent’s Stout lands as rich fudge and a dense range of chocolate, with well-roasted notes and sweet espresso. A firm edge of tannic character from the lengthy time in barrels is present thoughout, and the rounded bourbon-barrel influence adds in notes of brown sugar, vanilla and some nice char. This is tasting super bright and inviting at the moment, though definitely up for further age.

Track #8 / Number of the Beast | 2015 vintage Style: Bourbon-Barrel-Aged w/ Raisins, Cinnamon & Chiles ABV: 13.7% Serving Temperature: 52–578° F Suggested Glassware: Snifter, Tulip or Pinot Glass

Number of the Beast, aka Track 8, is a huge bourbon-barrel-aged quadrupel with cinnamon, raisins and chiles added, and at Lost Abbey is referred to as the ‘oatmeal raisin cookie beer’. We’ve managed to get both the 2018 and 2015 vintages allocated for this special offer, and the opportunity to try two vintages of this provides a great window into how much these beers can develop over time. This pours the color of unfiltered dark maple syrup, with dense aromatics landing as brown sugar, caramel, raisin and cotton candy. Generous from the start.

Where the 2018 version is brasher and more upfront, the 2015 vintage settles into a perfect gear: well-rounded caramel and dark fruits, alongside the touches of chili heat and cinnamon. The warmth adds a good bit of lift to the mouthfeel with lingering heat, and this feels like it’s at its peak: soft oxidation adding in sherry notes, cotton candy, and a welcome mellowness.

Number of the Beast | 2018 vintage Style: Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Quadrupel w/ Raisins, Cinnamon & Chiles ABV: 13.7% Serving Temperature: 52–578° F Suggested Glassware: Snifter, Tulip or Pinot Glass

Alongside its 2015 version, 2018’s Number of the Beast brings forth a very different profile overall, and a nice baseline for how this beer develops over time. This poured for us with a bit more carbonation than the 2015, kicking up some light-brown bubbles on the perimeter. Ripe red fruits, dates, and assertive bourbon barrel aromatics land at the center of things.

Where the 2015 emphasizes the barrel and oxidative elements, the 2018 vintage of Number of the Beast lands more firmly on that quadrupel base, bringing forth its clear expression of dried fruit, candied orange, and red-fruit-forward, vinous alcohol. Like the 2015– and like all the later hefty beers in this special offer—the alcohol’s well-integrated and a secondary thought to everything else going on: effortless layers of caramel, spun sugar and endless dried fruit.