Beer of the Week: Red Poppy Ale

The Lost Abbey's Red Poppy Ale (5.5% alcohol by volume)

Posted Friday, September 7, 2012, 08:44AM

The Lost Abbey Flemish-Style Sour Red Ale (5.5% ABV)

Saturday, September 8 has been designated (by a San Diegan, no less) as Sour Beer Day; a holiday-like 24-hour period for beer fans to set aside for drinking tart brews including lambics, gueuzes, goses, Berliner weisses or Flemish reds like this tasty testament to sour power from San Marcos’ world famous brewery, The Lost Abbey (155 Mata Way). Bright acidity, sumptuous cherry fruitiness and savory oak overtones (infused during over half-a-year of barrel-aging) make for a beer that balances all of the elements one desires from this Old World style.

Available at:

New batches of Red Poppy will be released in the winter, but bottles can be found around town. If you’re looking to celebrate Sour Beer Day, but have trouble finding Red Poppy, try other sours from The Lost Abbey like brewer Tomme Arthur’s namesake Cuvee de Tomme or the raspberry-based Framboise de Amarosa. Or, go with another local sour like Alpine Beer Company’s cherry-stoked Chez Monieux kriek, Ballast Point’s Sour Wench blackberry ale, Karl Strauss Flan-Diddly-Anders, Lightning Sauerstrom Berliner weiss or Monkey Gose Bananas from Monkey Paw Pub and Brewery.