LOST ABBEY’S “CARNEVALE” – A SAISON FOR ALL SEASONS

Second in a trio of LOST ABBEY beers I “imported” from Santee, CA last month, total liquid gold that could probably fetch me $60 per bottle on eBay, but that I instead drank in the comfort of my own home while images of dollar bills with wings flying away danced in my head. LOST ABBEY CARNEVALE is another knockout from one of America’s top 2 brewers. It’s a saison/farmhouse ale, but given the old 1-2 and souped up with American hops. It’s an unfiltered beauty with a real subtle complexity, very crispy and “snappy” and quite light-bodied and soft on the tongue. It pours a nice golden color, not that murky brown you’ll see in some saisons, and it retains this pillowy head of foam for a nice long while, so much so that it’s a little infuriating waiting for it to calm down so you can drink the damn thing.

It seems almost a shame to have so many single-batch beers being created by this brewer, barely distributed and never to see the light of day again. I obviously wouldn’t care, but these are seriously among the world’s great beers (GIFT OF THE MAGI, anyone?), and a couple of them even put LOST ABBEY’s own difficult-to-find regular lineup to shame. Not even a mediocre beer yet by these guys, and CARNIVALE’s a 9/10 in my book.