The Lost Abbey Cuvée de Tomme
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Tasting Notes
Cuvée de Tomme is a dense, complex wild ale built on a base of raisins, brown sugar, and sour cherries, layered with barnyard funk from Brettanomyces and a tartness that stops well short of acetic sharpness. The aroma carries dried fruit, leather, and a subtle vinous quality that hints at its unusually high ABV for the style. The body is full and syrupy, with a long finish that moves through dark fruit, mild oak, and a fading sourness. It drinks more like a contemplative digestif than a session beer, and rewards slow attention.
About the Brewery
The Lost Abbey operates out of San Marcos, California, and was founded in 2006 as a sister project to Port Brewing, with Tomme Arthur as the driving creative force behind its barrel-aged and Belgian-inspired lineup. The brewery has built a serious reputation in American craft beer for its wild and sour program, drawing on Belgian abbey traditions while pushing into American experimental territory. Cuvée de Tomme is widely considered one of the benchmark American wild ales, and it helped establish the brewery's national profile early on.
Food Pairings
A wedge of aged Comté or Gruyère works well because the beer's barnyard funk mirrors the cheese's earthy, crystalline depth. Roasted duck with a cherry or plum reduction echoes the dark fruit character without fighting the tartness. A dense chocolate torte pairs usefully because the bitterness of dark chocolate tempers the beer's sweetness while the sour note cuts through the fat. Charcuterie — particularly cured pork or salami with fennel — holds its own against the acidity and benefits from the dried fruit complexity.
Style Guide
American Wild Ale is a loosely defined category that covers beers fermented or conditioned with wild yeast strains, particularly Brettanomyces, and often lacto or pedio bacteria, producing tartness, funk, and fruit-forward complexity. The style has no strict ABV ceiling — examples range from sessionable to well above 10% — and brewers frequently incorporate adjuncts like fruit, honey, or spices. It draws inspiration from Belgian lambic and Flanders ale traditions but operates without those styles' geographic and process constraints, giving American producers wide latitude. What distinguishes it from a straight sour ale is the prominent Brett character, which contributes leather, hay, and earthy notes alongside whatever acidity is present.