Dropping the Big Bucks: Lost Abbey Night at Toronado

Man! I have never seen a bottle-buying frenzy the likes of which was taking place at Toronado last night.

When I arrived at 10 minutes after 6pm, there were already guys at the bar with hordes of bottles lined up in front of them like bowling pins. As I sidled up to the end of the counter, hoping to procure a few myself, I heard the bartender say to the guy next to me, “That will be one seventy five, please.” Not one seventy five as in, “This can of PBR is $1.75 during happy hour on weeknights” (not that they serve PBR at Toronado), but one seventy five as in, “These four bottles of beer will be $175 dollars.” Phew!

The Cable Car (American Wild Ale) was the priciest, at $40 for a 750 mL bottle of the 2008 vintage (if it’s beer instead of wine, does that make it a brewage?), and $80 for a 750 mL bottle of the 2007. Now, I love me my sour beers, but damn that’s expensive! I’m not saying it’s not worth it, and I can’t really comment on that for the 2007 as I’ve never tried it, but as someone without a job at the moment, I’m not really in a position to drop $80 bucks a bottle. Plus, as a nice alternative for us somewhat thriftier drinkers, they were serving the 2008 Cable Car on tap, alongside the year-round brews. I got an 8 oz glass for $4.  It was a hazy golden color with a small, foamy, white head.  It was easily one of the most drinkable sour beers I’ve ever had, not nearly as bitingly tart as the Deschutes Saison I had in San Diego or the New Belgium Foedre #3, but pleasantly sour.  It also hit the carbonation level just right, being more relaxed than at least the Foedre’s, such that it brought the flavors up through the beer without being distracting.  I might have liked a bit more prominent ‘wild’ funk or oak character.   I think the De Proef Signature (also a Lost Abbey beer of sorts in that Tomme Arthur helped brew it) beats the Cable Car out on funkiness, both quantity and quality, though I’m going to reserve final judgment on that until I taste Cable Car again, or taste Cable Car and DP Signature side by side.  My estimation of the DP Signature has gone up each time I’ve drunk it, so I ought to at least give Cable Car the same chance, provided that I can afford to.  I also think I like Russian River Beatification and Lost Abbey’s Isabelle Proximus slightly better as funky sour beers, though it’s hard to say since last time I tasted Proximus it was the eleventh beer of the night.  In the meantime, I’ll say that I think Cable Car was perfect on sourness, but narrowly beaten out by just a few other beers (two of which being other Tomme Arthur beers) on funkiness.

I made two separate trips last night, first to buy bottles and hustle them home, and then to go back for glasses.  I’ve got a stash of 4 bottles that cost a whopping $95, though only two of them are for me and the others have happy homes waiting for them with Rob of Pfiff! and Jeff of Beer Stained Letter.  Jeff’s getting a bottle of Judgment Day in return for generously offering me some Troeg’s Nugget Nectar and Victory Baltic Thunder after I missed out on these bigger brews while in Pennsylvania.  Rob’s getting a bottle of Isabelle Proximus I was authorized to buy on his behalf.  And for myself I picked up: Gift of the Magi and Cuvee de Tomme.  There were no bags for the bottles, so I had to grab two-per-hand and walk them the one and a half blocks home ever so carefully, as a broken bottle would have been an expensive and devastating loss.

When I got back, I had the glass of the 2008 Cable Car described above, and then later a glass of the Judgment Day ($4 for 12 oz).  I still love the Judgment Day, but I have to say that it didn’t quite measure up to the taste of it I had on tap at the Lost Abbey brewery a few weeks ago.  I was thinking this and keeping it to myself until my friend Bryan, who had also been with me at the brewery, said the same exact thing.  I don’t know what it lost in transit, or if drinking the sour Cable Car first was a mistake, but the flavors just weren’t as pronounced as they were last time around.

The more I write about all this though, the more I’m starting to get tempted to run back to Toronado to see if they have any bottles left of the Proximus, or the Red Poppy, or the Angel’s Share.  I regret not buying them all, though if I had, I never would have gotten them all home in one piece.