The Lost Abbey - The Last Sipper

The Last Sipper by The Lost Abbey is an intriguing blend of bourbon-barrel-aged Quadrupel and American Strong ale, showcasing the brewery’s exceptional creativity in barrel-aging and blending. We eagerly anticipated this release ever since our initial discussions with Tomme about blending options. This unique combination merges two robust dark styles, naturally complementing each other with notes of dark fruit, caramel, Belgian candi sugar, cocoa, and a harmonious overall flavor profile. Exclusively available through the Rare Beer Club and in very limited quantities at The Lost Abbey taproom.

This imperial brown ale blend pours a deep, dark brown with flecks of amber around the rim when held up to light. A rich tan head caps the beer and has excellent retention, adding to the overall aesthetic. The aromas that come forth are rich and bountiful, with the bourbon barrel notes leading the way, bringing in lots of toasty oak, vanilla, and caramel. The dark malts of the two brews add beautifully developed chocolate and roasted malts, toasty toffee, dark brown sugar and molasses, and lightly sweet spices. Intertwined with this is a dense layer of raisin and blackberry aromas which adds a luscious fruity note. Past that, we discovered a nutty influence resembling pecan pralines and lightly candied walnuts. There is lots of rich specialty-malt toastiness and barrel influence in this exceptional imperial brown ale complemented by the fruity and nutty aromas that make this beer extremely inviting.

As we take our first sip of Lost Abbey’s The Last Sipper, we were glad it wasn’t our last. We were amazed at how well the aromas were represented as pronounced flavors with impactful cocoa and roasted elements of the quadruple and strong ales, and the toasty oak, vanilla, and caramel of the bourbon barrels. The Last Sipper exhibited lots of chewy raisin and blackberry flavors, and hints of dried dates as the fruity notes were more perceptible on the palate than in the aroma. It was very easy to dive deep into this blend, as highlights of deeply roasted malt and toasted nuts drew our focus mid-palate. There’s also the warming quadruple ale presence throughout, and the light char and tannic roundness of the bourbon barrel provide welcome structure. The task of trying to figure out what elements come from what part of the blend was quite enjoyable as we got to take sip after sip of this outstanding beer. The mouthfeel and character of The Last Sipper is full bodied with a rich, creamy mousse. The finish is long and smooth and left us craving more and more.

We’re very grateful for our longstanding relationship with Tomme Arthur at The Lost Abbey, and we’re proud to be able to offer this delicious new release as a Rare Beer Club exclusive celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. We hope you enjoy this beer as much as we did. Cheers!

This blend will continue to age gracefully and develop for at least a few years in the bottle, or longer. This beer is super versatile with food pairings given the way it melds the quadruple and strong ale flavors. A perfect beer for prime grilled steaks, smokey barbeque, and a variety of dessert courses that include chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and nuts.

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club, we reached out to our friend Tomme Arthur—a gifted brewer and Co-founder of The Lost Abbey, to produce a one-off special brew for us. What he came up with is a true testament to his mastery of the craft of brewing and a showcase of his talent and techniques.

Walk into the original Pizza Port location in Solana Beach, CA, about 25 miles north of downtown San Diego, expecting to take in what the wellspring of San Diego’s craft-brewing scene ‘looks like’, and you might be confused. You’ll find rows of picnic-style benches for mass seating, plus an informal, order-at-the-counter pizza place staffed by primarily college-aged kids who seem like they might be taking a short break from surfing to take your food and drink order. Looks can be deceiving, though. Were it not for the brewing vessels visible behind the counter or the eclectic list of beers and style/flavor descriptions above the beer-order counter, you might think this place was a ‘Budweiser and Coronas & lime only’ place. Instead, you see everything from younger crowds to families with kids in tow, all chowing down on great oven-fresh pizzas and drinking pitchers and pints of some truly world-class beers. All served with that distinctly Californian laidback demeanor.

The founders and owners of Pizza Port, Gina and Vince Marsaglia, set up shop in Solana Beach 30+ years ago in 1987, and Tomme Arthur started working there as head brewer ten years later (they’ve since opened up various additional locations—each with amazing beers and food). A native San Diegan, Tomme was proud to promote his hometown as an up-and-coming center for better beer, with his own work right at the forefront of that claim. While his professional brewing career had started less than 18 months prior to joining Pizza Port, he had already worked on a beer with his former employer that brought San Diego its 2nd gold medal ever from the Great American Beer Festival. In his ongoing efforts to promote San Diego as a great beer city, Tomme worked to create many unique beers, and his ongoing experiments included revolutionary techniques of oak-aging beers, incorporating fruits, herbs and spices along with numerous wild yeasts and micro-organisms. Each of these experiments further emboldened him to try new processes as he and the brewers of Pizza Port Solana Beach “sought to make the most interesting beers possible.” During the eight-plus years that Tomme was head brewer in Solana Beach, the brewery won 13 Great American Beer Festival medals. In 2003 and 2004, Pizza Port Solana Beach was named Small Brewpub of the Year.

In May 2023 Tomme Arthur decided to part ways with the Marsaglias and moved The Lost Abbey to the original Mother Earth Brewing Company location in Vista, CA. Since then the Lost Abbey “2.0” has focused on producing small batches of locally demanded beers and carries on the tradition of Belgian-inspired rarities. For more information about The Lost Abbey, visit lostabbey.com or drop by their new location in Vista, California on Thibodo Road.

The Rare Beer Club’s founder Michael Jackson—one of the world’s greatest beer writers—was a big fan of Tomme’s beers, with the club featuring a number of those early Pizza Port releases (Cuvee de Tomme, SPF 8 Saison, etc.) and the more recent Lost Abbey releases after the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club acquired the Rare Beer Club back in 2009. We think that Michael would’ve loved this month’s selection from Tomme Arthur and The Lost Abbey: The Last Sipper, a blended oak-aged Imperial Brown ale (blend of bourbon barrel-aged Quadrupel ale and American Strong ale) made exclusively for the 30th Anniversary of the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club.