Allagash Black

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Foreign Stout
Portland, Maine USA

(cask @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Dark brown color with a foamy tan head. Aroma is rich and roasty with some roasted malts and some chocolate underneath. Flavor has that distinct Belgian yeast taste mixed with a dark roasted flavor of coffee mixed with some chocolate, slight cream at the end, and a bitter roasted finish. Very nice.

Bottle: Poured a clear black color ale with a large off-white foamy head with great retention and good lacing. Aroma of light roasted malt with some medium sweet malt notes. Taste is also dominated by some light chocolate roasted malt notes with a nice Belgian-style malt backbone. Average body with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Not bad but I was expecting more complexity and maybe more chocolate, vanilla or maybe some ester. A bit like the Troubadour Obscura but with a heftier price tag.

Dark brown with cloudiness. Nice aroma - roasty, chocolatey, and some mint notes and light phenols. Thick, rich chocolate and fudge. Quite full and sweet. Finishes rich. A fairly decadent brew with nice complexity.

25.4 oz bottle. Almost black with a whipped beige head. Nose of coffee beans, mineral water and a hint of musty chocolate. Body like cocoa with a buzz. Taste is watery coffee and yeast with bits of chocolate, smoke and raisin. Dry, tobacco finish.

Bottle. Opaque black-brown with fizzy looking head. Rich roasted malt nose. Chocolate, rasin. Cocoa, unsweetened, slight chalkiness. Robust malt character. Thin in a nice quaffable way, a little bit fizzy though. Coffee, chocolate throughout. Decent finish, nice beer.

THOUGHTS: Maybe not the best foreign stout, but a very interesting beer. A little lacking in aroma. That Allagash yeasty smell seemed to dominate. But the aroma and flavor improved the warmer it got. This seemed more Belgian than foreign stout. This is one of those hybrid beers that should really have its own category if anyone else can ever make something like this. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was nearly black in the glass with light reddish highlights and a small to average, off white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing that ran back into the glass quickly. The aroma was complex, but dominated by alcohol and yeast. The rest of the aromas were underlying. They were moderate chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, mild coffee as it warmed, mod yeast, raisin, plum, prune, port wine, some spices, maybe some cherry and a surprising amount of alcohol for the ABV. The initial flavor was lightly to moderately sweet and lightly acidic and bitter; while the finish was moderately to heavily sweet and bitter, and lightly acidic, and just a little sour right at the end with an average duration. The flavor was sort of a mix of chocolate and dark fruit with some alcohol then burnt and very bitter chocolate malt flavor took over, with just a hint of the fruit lasting. It was so bitter it was sort of metallic. Hints of coffee at the end. The medium body was kind of silky with fizzy carbonation and a slightly chalky finish.

Thanks to TheRealBastard for this nice bonus beer. Pours dark brown/black with a fluffy khaki colored head that lasts a long time. Aroma is quite nutty with some butterscotch, raspberry, toast, chocolate, espresso, licorice...this reallly offers a lot on the nose, especially as it warms a bit. Flavor shows a bit more roast and coffee, caramel sweetness, a little licorice, charred wood, and some pleasant "Belgian yeast" style dried fruit. Finishes with a lingering brown sugar sweet taste, coffee bitterness and burnt toast. Vague fruit flavor too. High carbonation, but never irritatingly so, medium bodied and definitely easy to drink. It seems unfair to call this watery; I think it’s about where a 7.5% Belgian beer should be. I think this beer is a LOT better on the warmer side. Otherwise, the flavor is just stark burnt roast. Good beer, but the aroma is the best thing about it.

Bottle. Thanks to Thaddeus. A dark black color with a big foamy tan head. Tangy with a nice light carbonated feel. Chocolate and candy sugars join in for a smooth finish.