Reports from the trenches of the San Diego beer scene

Head-to-Head: Port’s Old Viscosity Dark Ale vs. Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day

Posted December 19th, 2008 by Nate

We know this isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.  I don’t know how to categorize Old Viscosity, and apparently neither do they (from the label):

“We know you’ll come to love and appreciate everything about Old Viscosity even if we never tell you exactly what kind of beer it is”

However, we figured it would be fair to put it against another locally offered dark ale, Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day, a Belgian-Styled Dark Quad Ale.  Details after the jump.

Port Brewing’s Old Viscosity

22oz. bottle, $8.99

Chris: Incredible beer!  A blend of the best flavors that include a great smoky flavor, a little coffee and plenty of chocolate.  A very black pour with a nice dark brown head.  The aroma is very nice with subtle traces of chocolate, coffee, and smoked wood.  The taste is definitely strong with a bitter semi-sweet taste and a great balance of hops that remind you this is beer.  A very thick, heavy and creamy brew that leaves a great lingering taste.  Nice lacing suds decorate the glass while the 10.5% ABV brew punches you in the face without you noticing.

One disappointment was the lack of bourbon flavor that you would normally get from the bourbon barrels it is brewed in but that may have been a bit too much considering this was one of the most complete beers I’ve ever had.  Old Viscosity will live on my top 10 list for a long while.

Nate: I had heard good things about this beer and was definitely not let down.  The first thing I thought of when I smelled the beer was red wine.  You definitely good a good scent of the barrels and the alcohol from this guy.

The flavors of this beer blew me away.  Each drink takes you through three distinct flavors.  At first it’s a little tart, but not sour or bitter, then there’s a nice little period of smokeyness, and it finishes with a little hoppy bite.  I experienced this with every single sip of this beer.  Love it.

Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day

22oz. bottle, $8.99

Nate: Being an admitted fan of Lost Abbey and this being the more expensive of the two beers, I had high hopes for this one.  There was quite a bit of sediment in the bottle and I was looking forward to getting all that good flavor.  I got it, and then some.

This beer is brewed with raisins, and you’ll know it at first whiff.  It smells like raisin bread. It really smells like raisin bread.  I also tastes like raisin bread.  I’m not a big fan of raisin bread.  I poured myself about 10 oz. of this and had a hard time finishing it off.  At 10.5% ABV it’s definitely a sipping beer, but the raisin taste is so sweet and overpowering that I found it really hard to enjoy.

Chris: I was very excited about trying Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day (mostly from the very intimidating name) but was surprised by the outcome.

Judgment Day pours with lower carbonation and immediately releases strong fruity emissions consisting of raisin and prunes.  The initial sip was extremely sweet and left my mouth with a very dry feel.  The alcohol flavor was well hidden behind the dominating fruit flavors but were slowly unveiled as the beer warmed.  I felt there was much potential for this beer and that it maybe lacked adequate carbonation that would have maybe livened it up a bit from the get-go.  Initial thoughts included flat, too fruity, dry and just not very enjoyable, but I must admit that it got quite good after warming and losing some of the fruitiness that masked the delicious underlying flavors.

Conclusion: Hands down this head-to-head goes to Port’s Old Viscosity! The beer is amazing, comforting, and delicious. Great with dessert, as dessert, with a steak, surrounded by friends or strangers, by a fire, by yourself, it doesn’t matter. This beer was good!

Tags: DarkAle, HeadToHead, LostAbbey, Port, Reviews