Lost Abbey Devotion

After the past several weeks of drinking Bocks, I decided I wanted something a bit different as a counterpoint to their dark, sweet maltiness. I was thinking something nice and light, but with a punch of hops to wake me up and enough complexity to keep my curiosity piqued. To sate my desire for something interesting I picked up a bottle of Devotion Ale from The Lost Abbey.

The Lost Abbey is the Belgian-style line of beers brewed by Port Brewing Company. The owners of Pizza Port brewpub, Vince and Gina Marsaglia, decided to expand their brewing operation and in 2006 teamed up with their head brewer Tomme Arthur to form Port Brewing Company. The brewery itself in San Marcos, San Diego County, California, is the original site of Stone Brewing Company, which expanded to a larger facility in Escondido, California. Tomme has since won numerous awards, including World Beer Cup 2008 Champion Brewery and Champion Brewer in the small brewing company category.

Port still brews several beers started at Pizza Port, including HOP-15 and Wipeout IPA, but Devotion is a bit different. Devotion is a Belgian Blonde Ale, which is actually one of the more recent styles developed in the region. Blondes were created to compete with the Pilsners that took the world by storm in the mid twentieth century. This style retains some of the complexity commonly associated with Belgians, but is much cleaner so that it appeals to a broader audience. Devotion is brewed using 2 row and 15L Crystal barley malts, with the 2 row providing the basis of fermentable sugars while the Crystal provides the sweet tasting unfermentables; Dextrose, a form of glucose, is also used to spike the alcohol content of this beer. Bitterness is provided by a mix of Northern Brewer and Tettnang hops in addition to CO2 hop extract, and the yeast is a custom blend of three different varieties.

This beer should be served in a tulip or wine glass, and I think it would pair well with a lighter meat like poultry or fish. Good fruit choices would be citrus or sweet fruits like pears. I would also recommend trying the beer with Thai or Indian Curry, as the light malt character and hops would complement the spices quite well.

Devotion Ale poured a nice, clear amber, with two fingers of fluffy white heat with surprisingly coarse texture. The head, however, was quite short lived, dissipating in two or three minutes but leaving behind the excellent lacing characteristic of Belgians. The scent was surprisingly faint, made up mostly of earthy hops but also complex, with hints of spicy citrus and a bit of sour lemon backed up by a low level sweetness. The body was moderate, and the carbonation quite low, giving a nice mouthfeel initially; towards the end of the sip, however, I noticed a dry sensation which I found to be unpleasant. This is quite uncharacteristic of the style, as the blondes are typically highly carbonated, and sometimes even have a creamy mouthfeel. The taste was dominated by earthy hops with hints of orange, and a slightly sweet start that quickly disappeared for a very dry finish. The taste was more hop focused than I expected, but the initial sweetness, dry finish and the orange notes from the yeast are quite common with this style.

Overall, this was a decent beer, and most of my issues with it are either because I don’t particularly like the style, or stem from the very dry sensation it left in my mouth. I’d give it a try with a curry, or some light meat, but otherwise I wouldn’t recommend this beer for casual enjoyment.

Price: $7.99

Size: 750 mL

ABV: 6.25%

Appearance: 4 /5

Aroma: 3.5/5

Flavor: 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: 3/5