Allagash White Belgian-style Wheat Beer

 Allagash White Belgian-style Wheat Beer.

5.2 % ABV, 13 IBU, Allagash Brewing, Portland, ME.

Allagash returned to our market after an absence of over 20 years recently. My first review of this beer was way back in 2003. As with the Tripel, I’m going to leave that one behind and take new notes. 

Clear, bright pale golden color, large and lasting ivory head. 

In the nose: blast of citrus and spice starts it off, coriander joining right in. Lovely, delightful stuff. 

In the mouth: crisp, refreshing, delicious. Slightly sweet a touch floral and fruity. Light bodied, smooth, exquisitely downable. Perfect rendition of this beautiful Belgian style.

I wondered why they needed to add the word “hazy” to the label description when the contents of my glass was so very clear. Then, I emptied out the remains of the can. Well, there you are! Were you hiding from me? 

Allagash White features a refreshing balance of citrus and spice. Wheat, coriander, and Curaçao orange peel round out the flavor of this pale straw-colored, hazy beer.

Allagash Tripel Belgian-style Ale

 Allagash Tripel Belgian-style Ale. 

9% ABV, 18 IBU, Allagash Brewing, Portland, ME. 

After more than 20 years, Allagash is back in Minnesota. Can those guys hold a grudge! Just because one distributor in a particular state goes out of business and owes you thousands of dollars, it doesn’t mean they all will. 

So, I’m returning to this beer that I first took notes on back in 2003, but forget about those. New notes this time.

Clear, with slight chill haze, bright golden, large ivory froth.

In the nose: citrus and spice, orange and coriander. Slight sweetness.

In the mouth: more spice tingling the palate. High alcohol warms up the insides. Pleasant hopping keeping the mouth happy. Medium bodied, thoroughly enjoyable. 

An altogether excellent take on this Belgian style. Good stateside renditions are rare and I’m overjoyed that we have back. (And in 6-packs!)

This strong golden ale carries herbal notes and passion fruit in the aroma. Suggestions of honey and biscuit are found in the beer's complex, varied palate. Brewed with our 2-row barley blend, hopped with Nugget and Hallertau, then fermented on our house yeast, Tripel offers up a complex, yet dry finish.

Allagash Evora

Recently, I received a surprise visit from some folks from Maine that I'd I'd never met, but known for over a decade. Stan, aka, "purplehops" on BeerAdvocate was one of the first people I'd ever traded beer with way back in the early 2000's. He'd held onto all of his contact information over the years, and he and his wife Heidi popped into Acadia to pay me a visit while in town. Incredible. And gave me this amazing Maine beer. What a wonderful beer world that we live in. Thanks to Stan and Heidi  I'm going to have some Allagash for the first time in years. Evora, ale aged in brandy barrels, Allagash Brewing, Portland, Maine. 8.5% ABV.

Hazy, bright golden hued, large, lasting ivory head.

Funk comes first in the nose. Nice and sour. I don't know what kind of bugs or barrels (beyond the brandy, I guess) are at work, but it's nice. Is it a Belgian style at the base? Saison, blonde? I'm ever so curious.

In the mouth: Soft, warm, wonderful, Just enough funk for the tongue to handle, nice and smooth and delicious. Can't say the brandy barrel aspect sticks out too much,  but whether it's pronounced or not, it works. Nicely soured, funky, fresh, and tasty.

From the label: "Evora is a golden hued ale with aromas of tropical fruit, honey, and spice. Citrus, oak, and earthiness dominate the flavor and give way to hints of bread crust. Malty and robust, this medium bodied beer finishes fruity, dry, and slightly tart.
We brew this beer with Maris Otter Malt and flaked oats, and hop with Sorachi Ace, Hallertau and Northern Brewer. Evora begins fermenting on stainless steel with a classic Belgian yeast strain, then moves over to Portuguese Brandy Barrels, where it ages with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis for over a year."

Beer Camp: Sierra Nevada/Allagash Myron's Walk Belgian-style Blonde Ale with Coriander

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Across America. 12 bottles, 12 beers, 12 different styles by 12 different brewers from across America collaborating with the brewers at both the original Chico brewery, and the new North Carolina outpost. Runs for about $24, $2 a pop, but not a bad deal when you consider what you're getting. These will never be made again, and will only appear here. Get it while you can, beer geeks!

Well, I am lucky enough to live near a beer store that tries and tries, but doesn't get quite as much beer geek traffic as the those fancier stores. Much as I love those la-de-da merchants, I'm not going to make it there in time to grab that rare stuff before the other beer weirdos snatch them up. It's the Modelo cans and the Courvoisier that keep this store in business. I can't get everything I want there, but there's something, anyway. And long after all the well-known shops that cater to the beer elite have run out of Beer Camp cases, there's still a few left for me at Chicago-Lake liquors, bless their hearts.

So. We're going to open the first one. And it's a collaboration with Allagash, the Maine brewery focused on Belgian styles that hasn't been distributed in Minnesota in over 12 years. (If memory serves.) It's called Myron's Walk, and they say it's a Belgian-style pale ale brewed with Coriander. Enough blah, blah, blah, let's drink it up!

Appearance: Clear, bright golden-colored, under a lush, chalk-white of foam, leaving lace. Nice.

Aroma: Beautiful, lively spice notes hit the nose first. Slightly sweet, and fruity, ending dry.

Taste: Spice, Belgian yeast character, fruit all hit at once. It's a tropical fruit character with some citrus tones, as well. At one minute, we're led towards the feeling of a witbier, with the coriander and yeast, but without the wheat, and then the spirit of the Belgian blonde comes forward. Tasty, tasty stuff, hoppy, fruity and ending ultimately dry. Mmm. This is nice.

What does the label tell us? For one thing, it's 6.3% ABV, and 38 IBU. Also, "This Belgian-style pale ale combines the best of our two breweries. Intense, piney-citrus hop notes counterpoint the complex fruity spice of Allagash's Belgian yeast."

Hey., there's more! "This collaboration honors Myron Avery, a founder of the Appalachian Trail which spans our North Carolina brewery and Allagash's home in Maine. We share a great love of the outdoors, and Avery and the AT are great reminders of the wild spirit of exploration that connects us both."
Cool!

Man, I like this. If they are all this good, I'm going to enjoy exploring this pack!

Allagash Black

Allagash Black Belgian-style stout, Allagash Brewing, Portland, Maine. 7.5% Alc. by Vol.

Total blackness throughout, with a slim, roasted tan head.

Aroma is dark fruit and cocoa, dates, figs, raisins. Little bit o' spice, little bit o' sweet.

Taste: there it is on the tongue, the dark fruits, blended with cocoa. Roasty malt below. Vanilla and plums, with chocolate on the side. Tasty, tasty. Just enough of a Belgian twist in the flavor, just a touch of the funky flash. I can drink this.


Here's what the label tells us: "Dark and roasted with chocolate expressed throughout Belgian style -bottle conditioned." There was no punctuation. Is there more? No. Well, maybe that's enough.

This is notoriously one of the worst designed labels I've ever seen. Or is it the best? It is "black" after all.