San Diego Brewed: Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

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Gift of the Magi

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

Gift of the Magi, the Christmas seasonal from The Lost Abbey is a beer I pick up a bottle of every year around this time of year. As a beer it doesn’t blow me away, and I usually only have it once or twice a year, but there’s something about it that causes me to pick it up each year.

I don’t think The Lost Abbey ever defines the beer style (they refer to it as a “Golden Ale”) but general consensus (at least on Ratebeer and Beeradvocate) seems to be that it’s a Bière de Garde.

Lost Abbey describes it as such

It seems that everyone knows the story of the Three Kings. Sent to follow the star in the sky each brought a gift for the baby they sought. One King brought Gold, the other Frankincense and the other Myrrh. Many breweries produce a Christmas Seasonal beer and this is our beer to celebrate the holiday season.

 

Gold in color and bittered with the bark of Frankincense, we have even used the smallest amount of Myrrh which is an herb that has roots in ancient winemaking as well.

 

A massive Golden Ale fit for a king (or Queen) we offer the Gift of the Magi each holiday season.

At 9.5% Gift of the Magi makes a nice Winter beer even though the style isn’t the first thing I think of having this time of year.

A dark reddish brown (I wouldn’t call it Golden in color) with a small white head, an earthy smell is the first thing that stands out. I’m pretty sure there’s Brett in there, but this beer is pretty fresh so it doesn’t stand out much. I’ve heard great things about 2-3 year old Gift of the Magi, but never aged a bottle myself (note to self: pick up another bottle). There’s also a slightly sweet, berry-like smell in addition to the earthiness.

It’s pretty bitter, I’m not familiar with Frankincense so I can’t pinpoint that specifically, but it is an earthy bitterness. There’s some toasty grain sweetness and a strong alcohol kick at the end of each sip. There’s no denying this beer is close to ten percent alcohol, making it a sipper. There’s a long bitter after taste which is somewhat plastic-tasting. I expected more spice but just didn’t find it.

Gift of the Magi isn’t my favorite beer, but isn’t a bad beer. I think I’ll put one away for a year or two to see how it changes.

Photo: CC Flickr:the_photographer

Hamilton’s Second Saturday and Toronado 23rd Anniversary, Saturday August 14th, 2010

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'twerp, Abandon Ship, Bad Boy, Barmy Ale, Barrel Aged Black Marlin, Barrel Aged Piper Down, Barrel Aged Sea Monster (nitro), Barrel Aged Three Sheets, Big Daddy IPA, Big Eye, Black Marlin, Brother Levonian Saison, cable car 2010, Calico, Cocoa nib Black Marlin, devotion, Duet, Exponential Hoppiness, Fathom IPL, Gift of the Magi, Great American Brown, hamilton's second saturday, hop 15, lost abbey cable car, Mongo IPA, Night Rider Imperial Stout, Oktoberfest, port brewing co. 547 haight, Road to Helles, russian river toronado 20th anniversary, san salvador saison, sculpin cask, sculpin ipa, Sea Monster Stout, Sour Wench, speakeasy ales and lagers, Three Sheets Barley wine, toronado 20th anniversary, toronado 23rd anniversary, Tuatara, Tuatara Session, Victory at Sea, wahoo, White Knuckle IPA, Yellowtail

There are plenty of great beer events going on this weekend (click on over to our events calendar to see them all) but two of them look to be extra special so we thought we should highlight them.

Tomorrow being the second Saturday of the month means it’s Second Saturday time at Hamilton’s Tavern. This month they’re featuring San Diego’s own Ballast Point Brewing Co. They’ll have Sculpin IPA and Brother Levonian Saison on cask, as well as the following Ballast Point beers on draft: Victory at Sea, Barrel Aged Sea Monster (nitro), Barrel Aged Black Marlin, Cocoa nib Black Marlin, Sea Monster Stout, Abandon Ship, Fathom IPL, Sculpin IPA, Barrel Aged Piper Down, Sour Wench, Brother Levonian Saison, San Salvador Saison, Barmy Ale, Oktoberfest, Three Sheets Barley wine, Barrel Aged Three Sheets, Yellowtail, Calico, Big Eye, Black Marlin and Wahoo.

As with most (all?) Second Saturday’s there will also be food: San Diego Back County Buffalo Burgers (gardenburger for veggies), housemade sour wench brined pickle chips, Sea Monster BBQ Sauce and Sculpin Beer Mustard, Black Marlin Porter Texas Beans with Chorizo Hop Sausage, Yellowtail Potato Grautin, Housemade Salt –n-Vinegar Chips, and Summer Fruit Cups.

We’re looking forward to trying San Salvador Saison, the San Diego inspired Saison, Ballast Point recently brewered with the help of The Linkery.

Tomorrow also happens to be Toronado’s (the original in San Francisco) 23rd anniversary. They’re having a big party up in San Francisco, but lucky for us Toronado SD is also celebrating. Starting at 11:30 am they’ll have Lost Abbey 2010 Cable Car and Port Brewing Co.’s 547 Haight on draft. They’ll have plenty of other great beers including: Night Rider Imperial Stout, Great American Brown, and ‘Twerp from Pizza Port Carlsbad. Mongo IPA, Devotion, Gift of the Magi, Road to Helles, and  Hop 15 from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey. As well as Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, Duet, Bad Boy, and Tuatara Session and more White Knuckle IPA from Marin Brewing and Speakeasy’s Big Daddy IPA.

If all that wasn’t enough, they’ll have some bottles of Russian River’s Toronado 20th Anniversary in the cooler.