Before we start down the road to sampling todays beers, I should mention right up front that I’m a huge fan of not only The Rare Beer Club, but also the four other beer clubs that operate out of the Microbrewed Beer Of The Month Clubs. Several years ago I wrote all about how to choose one of the clubs as well as reviewing some of the beers from the Hop-Heads Club, The Rare Beer Club and even the Gourmet Cheese and Rare Cheese clubs….and of course I loved them all. Keep in mind that these clubs are all hand curated to bring you some of the best beer and food items available and they are also shipped right to your door.
I should also mention that the club now also has a “Design Your Own Club” program that allows you to combine any of the five beer clubs into a membership, or better yet, combine one or more of the beer clubs with offerings from the wine, cigar, cheese, chocolate or even flower of the month clubs to create your own club. This is unique and really makes these clubs stand out.
More details on the club….as the Rare Beer Club puts it:The Rare Beer Club’s mission is to deliver the best, most inventive, and most hard-to-come-by beers out there. Founded by the late beer critic Michael Jackson, the world's leading authority on beer, The Rare Beer Club offers limited-release craft beers from both the U.S. and around the world.
In fact, many of our featured beers are created exclusively for the club and can’t be found anywhere else, such as Jolly Pumpkin’s L’épouvantail Noir (Oak-Aged Saison with Pumpkin & Blackberries), American Solera’s The Ground Is Shaking! (Flemish-Inspired Sour Brown Ale aged in Vin Santo Wine Casks), Upright Brewing’s August IPA (IPA/Saison Hybrid with Wild Yeast), Alesong’s Raspberry Gose (German-Style Gose with Sea Salt, Coriander & Raspberries), and many, many more!
Each monthly shipment also includes our Rare Beer Club newsletter, providing each brewery’s history, profiles of the brewers, detailed tasting notes, food pairing and beer aging recommendations, and beer specs including style, special ingredients, ABV, recommended serving temperature, and more.
Additionally, all Rare Beer Club members can re-order their favorite beers while supplies last!
If that’s not enough fun, the Rare Beer Club also offers a Personalized Shipment Program (PSP) where you can add more bottles of the featured beer or previously featured beers, replace the monthly selections with other choices, choose not to receive one of the featured beers, double up on current offerings, or even skip a shipment. When you join, you can also specify if you want 2 bottles, 4 bottles or even 6 bottles per month and their gift giving options help you tailor your selections for the perfect gift that literally keeps on giving.
Today we’ll be sampling the current entries from The Rare Beer Club from The Lost Abbey and Perennial Artisanal Ales.
Of course I can’t wait to try this month’s selections, so off we go…
Rare Beer Club Description:
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 (The name was even crowdsourced by members). We hope you enjoy this beer as much as we did.
ABV: 11.5%
Style: Blended Oak-Aged Imperial Brown
Packaging: 750ml bottles
Appearance: Deep brown black
Aroma: Vanilla, Bourbon, dark fruits and toffee
Mouthfeel: Full Bodied & creamy
Taste: Vanilla, Bourbon, cocoa and dark fruits
Overall: Last Sipper remains true to other Lost Abbey beers with amazing complexity of flavors and aromas. The flavors begin with a bit of Bourbon and vanilla, and end with a boozy complexity highlighting cocoa and roasted raisins. This beer has a lot going on and with each sip we found new flavors and textures making for a really fun tasting. Try this beer!
Perennial Artisan Ales 2024 Prodigal
Rare Beer Club Description:
Perennial Artisan Ales Prodigal is packed with darkly roasted chocolate malts, has a celebratory 11.5% ABV, and is just loaded with vibrant chocolate and vanilla character throughout. For us, it’s one of Perennial’s best releases that is just so unique and well rendered it’s tough to talk about any other chocolate-vanilla stout attempts without referencing this one. It’s just that good.
Perennial’s Prodigal stout pours a deep, opaque black, capped with thick, creamy, medium-brown foam, that lingers on. This one’s clearly a serious stout with modest retention of foam and a good amount of lacing left around the perimeter of our glasses. This imperial stout is impressively full-bodied, with a viscosity similar to Perennial’s 17 Mint-Chocolate Stout. It has the appearance and feel of a nightcap beer, which is definitely welcomed by us.
The aromatics here are deliciously rich and dominated by dark chocolate, with hints of roasted coffee beans, enveloped by the warmth of vanilla. The chocolate notes are intense and reminiscent of Dutch cocoa powder and dark chocolate truffles. The vanilla adds a slight dessert-like quality to the aroma, enhancing the overall complexity, without getting lost in the mix. We spent a lot of time with the aroma on this one and weren’t disappointed. The chocolatey base imperial stout seems like it would be an incredible beer on its own—but the addition of vanilla beans push this stout up a few levels. The further we dive into the aromas, the more we discover – deeply roasted malts, caramelized brown sugar, dark earthy notes, and hints of dried black fruit.
We here at the Rare Beer Club are pretty fond of imperial stouts year-round and look forward to having them as often as possible. The velvety smooth and decadent Perennial Prodigal engaged us right away and the first sip revealed layers of dark chocolate flavors, with bittersweet cocoa upfront, followed by deeply roasted maltiness. The vanilla is not overpowering but provides a warm, slightly sweet undertone that balances the bitterness of the chocolate. As it warms, the vanilla becomes more pronounced and acts as a complement to the chocolate, adding depth and layering to the flavor profile.
The Perennial Prodigal has without doubt a hefty imperial stout base here, and the overall impression is full-bodied and luxurious. It has a creamy texture and mousse made up of fine bubbles allowing the flavors to linger on the palate. The mouthfeel is smooth and well rounded with a lengthy finish which carries the chocolate and vanilla notes all the way to the end. The core expression conjures fine-tuned layers of dark chocolate. Underlying complexity and roast from the stout’s darker specialty malts provide a lot of additional character as well as hints of licorice, toffee, leather, and dark brown sugar. Subtle, tiny-bubbled carbonation provides some welcome lift, as does a touch of warming alcohol. Not surprising given the 11.5% ABV, and most of that warmth gets tucked in seamlessly with the vanilla. Since this is a Rare Beer Club exclusive, the quantity available is extremely limited, so stock up as it will sell out fast.The Perennial Prodigal has without doubt a hefty imperial stout base here, and the overall impression is full-bodied and luxurious. It has a creamy texture and mousse made up of fine bubbles allowing the flavors to linger on the palate. The mouthfeel is smooth and well rounded with a lengthy finish which carries the chocolate and vanilla notes all the way to the end. The core expression conjures fine-tuned layers of dark chocolate. Underlying complexity and roast from the stout’s darker specialty malts provide a lot of additional character as well as hints of licorice, toffee, leather, and dark brown sugar. Subtle, tiny-bubbled carbonation provides some welcome lift, as does a touch of warming alcohol. Not surprising given the 11.5% ABV, and most of that warmth gets tucked in seamlessly with the vanilla. Since this is a Rare Beer Club exclusive, the quantity available is extremely limited, so stock up as it will sell out fast.
ABV: 11.5%
Style: Imperial Milk Stout
Packaging: 750ml bottles
Appearance: Deep black
Aroma: Dark Chocolate, vanilla, coffee and brown sugar
Mouthfeel: Full Bodied with soft carbonation
Taste: Vanilla, dark chocolate, roasted malts, brown sugar & citrus
Overall: Perennial Artisan Ales 2024 Prodigal has to be one of my favorite milk stouts. With layers of flavor and complexity, this beer gets better and better as it warms and it’s just warming and boozy enough to make each sip satisfying.
The Lost Abbey The Last Sipper and Perennial Artisan Ales 2024 Prodigal are available now in 750ml bottles exclusively from The Rare Beer Club…and these have to be some of my favorite beers selections to share with family and friends. The beers are flavorful, enjoyable, complex and really sippable, and I know you’ll enjoy them as much as I did..so when you do try them, be sure to let us know what YOU think. zzubreebym
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