June 1, 2009: Angel's Share Ale

Beer is good. Free beer is better. Free beer that is actually handcrafted to perfection like a liquid work of art, well it just doesn't get much better than that in my opinion. Yesterday afternoon while I was engaging in my usual Sunday routine of playing video games and avoiding the huge stacks of writing projects that have been collecting on my desktop over the past couple of months, I heard a knock at the door. Assuming it was just a kid trying to sell me some crappy newspaper subscription, I remained fastened to my seat but the knocking persisted. I looked through the peephole and noticed my upstairs neighbor standing patiently outside my front door. "Great... ' I thought 'he probably needs to borrow a cup of sugar or is inviting us to some sort of ill conceived dinner party of some sort". When I opened the door, I was surprised to see the shining bottle of Angel's Share Ale in my neighbor's hand, and suddenly I was more than happy to welcome him into my home. As it turns out, my neighbor is actually a good friend of my older brother, who told him about the ever popular 365brews project. He explained that he had recently decided to quit drinking, and his loss turned into my gain because he gifted his unopened bottle of Angel's Share Ale to me.

The neighborly gesture was surprising enough for me, but I was floored by the bottle that he was simply handing over to me without asking for anything in return. This isn't like hooking one of your buddies up with a 40 oz. of Old English; Angel's Share Ale is a super premium, gourmet beer that represents some of the finest craft brewed ale to come out of Southern California. I'm not exactly sure how much this bottle must have cost, but it was clearly above the $30 range. This is a premium beer that deserves the same treatment as a bottle of fine wine, so I decided to cancel my plans for the rest of the day, pop the cork, put on a little Elvis Costello, and just take it all in.
Angel's Share Ale is unique because of the oak barrel brewing process that it undergoes before being bottled. The name Angel's Share is actually a reference to an old whiskey distilling phenomenon that causes a small amount of whiskey to seemingly disappear from the barrel. The whiskey in these barrels wasn't taken by the Angels as their share as popular legend once held, but the aged oak barrel absorbed a bit of the whiskey, infusing with the grain of the wood and creating a unique taste. This is essentially the same process by which Bourbon and some varieties of scotch are still produced today, and Angel's Share Ale follows the same process. The result is a beverage that is highly fermented, creating a sort of hybrid between a tradition beer and a stronger, liquor like super beer. Angel's Share Ale is similar to many of the so called "extreme" beers that have huge amounts of alcohol by volume, and as such it isn't a beer that you're meant to pound in a game of beer pong. The sweet, complex flavors of Angel's Share are offset by the strong taste of alcohol that permeates every sip, so it's best to sip it slowly. You're never supposed to recork a fine alcohol, so if you decide to track down a bottle of Angel's Share, be sure you have plenty of friends to enjoy it with. Thanks again to Brandon for the free beer, it was truly appreciated!

Cheers!
Ian

http://www.lostabbey.com/lost-abbey-beers/non-denominational-ales/the-angels-share/