Angel's Share utilizes barrel aging
Mike Partel
Issue date: 5/7/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment
I hate hot temperatures; well, unless I am at the beach, but in Philly we are nowhere near the actual shore, and I'm sweating. The breeze every few days is nice, but it is not nearly consistent enough. I do have a solution to the heat, though, and that's alcohol. Normally, I would go suggest something light and refreshing, but I feel like the only way to get anywhere in this range of temperatures is with something that will kick your ass enough to make you move. Or not care. This week, I will be discussing Lost Abbey Angel's Share.
Lost Abbey is a name I have mentioned before. It's the side brewery run by Vince and Gina Marsaglia's Pizza Port Brewing. Vince felt that America had not fully come to love the Belgian brewing style as he had, and so, like several other breweries, he created what amounts to an American Abbey to brew like the monks of Belgium. Brewer Tomme Arthur began working for Pizza Port in 1997 and has since helped craft several amazing Belgian-inspired, award winning beers. In 2006, their new facility was opened in the old Stone Brewing building in San Marcos. Since then, they have won several awards including Small Brewery of the Year, Brewer of the Year, and Champion Small Brewery. Many of their beers involve extensive oak aging and bottle conditioning.
Angel's Share is a Belgian version of the barley wine that has been thoroughly aged in used brandy barrels. Like the English barley wines, there is a large emphasis on the malt profile and layering its complexities against those derived from the oak aging. The name itself refers to the old brewing belief that the amount of beer that would disappear from aging barrels was the liquid taken by the angels. In reality, the wooden barrels had just absorbed some of the beer and, depending on the humidity, that liquid (water in dry areas/alcohol in damp areas) would evaporate off. In more humid climates, the evaporating alcohol's effects can be seen in the fungus growing near the wood and walls near the barrels.
Lost Abbey is a name I have mentioned before. It's the side brewery run by Vince and Gina Marsaglia's Pizza Port Brewing. Vince felt that America had not fully come to love the Belgian brewing style as he had, and so, like several other breweries, he created what amounts to an American Abbey to brew like the monks of Belgium. Brewer Tomme Arthur began working for Pizza Port in 1997 and has since helped craft several amazing Belgian-inspired, award winning beers. In 2006, their new facility was opened in the old Stone Brewing building in San Marcos. Since then, they have won several awards including Small Brewery of the Year, Brewer of the Year, and Champion Small Brewery. Many of their beers involve extensive oak aging and bottle conditioning.
Angel's Share is a Belgian version of the barley wine that has been thoroughly aged in used brandy barrels. Like the English barley wines, there is a large emphasis on the malt profile and layering its complexities against those derived from the oak aging. The name itself refers to the old brewing belief that the amount of beer that would disappear from aging barrels was the liquid taken by the angels. In reality, the wooden barrels had just absorbed some of the beer and, depending on the humidity, that liquid (water in dry areas/alcohol in damp areas) would evaporate off. In more humid climates, the evaporating alcohol's effects can be seen in the fungus growing near the wood and walls near the barrels.
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