Allagash Curieux

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Portland, Maine USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip

GABF 2011. Clear light gold with a small white head. Great aroma of oak, white wine, big blonde malts, and some cereal grain funkiness. Flavor is blonde malts with some chardonnay oak barrel, a small touch of herbal hops an a bit of citrus. Good, but nothing outstanding.

Thanks to some kind folks at Darkness Day
Pours a hazy blonde color with a small but well retained head that leaves good lacing on the glass.

The aroma is earthy and fruity with a mild woodiness & some honey. It really doesn’t smell very bourbon-y at all.

The flavor is fruity and kind of funky at first, there is a a mild bitterness all around, I swear I couldn’t pick up any bourbon-y flavors on the first few sips, but man once I noticed it the bourbon character became far more dominant, plenty of woodiness, vanilla, light booziness.

The palate is sharp and mouthfeel is moderately full.
This was really better than I expected it to be.

I got to try this beer on tap and out of the bottle. This was poured on draft into a footed tulip glass. The beer carries fruity aromas of pineapple, candied peaches, musky oak and buttered popcorn. On the palate, it is appetizingly sweet and creamy with some oaky pear, peach, candied tropical fruit and some taffy. Sipping this beer is like drinking a very good, unprocessed fruit juice (among other things). This is an adequately complex beer to begin with, but the barrel rounds out the fruity flavors in the beer and wraps them in an oaky, candylike coating which contributes to its sophisticated nature. First class!

Bottle, bottled January 2010. Pours a hazy gold with a high, fine-grained white head. Nose has apple, vanilla -- definitely some bourbon notes in there. On the tongue, it’s big and boozy, with definite sweetness and more apple. Definitely a lot of malic notes in there. Prickly and tight on the tongue. Good now, and I suspect it would be better in a year or two.

My brother bought me this one. Poured into a trappist glass. Pours cloudy tan color. Aroma is bourbon, some oak and vanilla. Very interesting and complex. Flavor is similar. Palate is medium bodied, and finished oily. Very pleasant, and very drinkable. A nice warm bourbon feeling comes back up after swallowing too.

Much thanks to my "beer-belly"-ed friend for this 04 rarity. Pours a reddish brown, bubbly off-white foam dissipates fairly quickly around the rim. You can smell the wood right off the bat followed by dark fruits and vanilla and more oak. First sip is a little sharp, a cold carbonation-a bit more than expected, also a little boozey. Smoothed over after a few minutes caught notes of raisins, currants, malt, toffee, esters, and vanilla infused WOOD throughout and on the finish. Had bourbon-esque flavors but mostly just wood. Alcohol was persistent. Really good stuff!

Bottle poured into a tulip glass. WOW, this is a fantastic barrel-aged tripel. Pours a golden yellow with a small head and lacing all around the glass. Nose is citrus, malty, not a lot of bourbon.....but it’s there. The taste is citrus, malts, a sligh hoppy bitterness, with a bit of bourbon in the finish. Alcohol is not noticeable at all, certainly for 11% ABV. This is one of the smoothest barrel-aged beers I’ve tried. Very good, very well balanced. Definitely a new favorite of mine!

750 ml bottle. From Boston, MA. Courtesy of mjs.
Cloudy deep golden colour with tiny white head. Fruity sweetness, raisins, vanilla, toffee and quite strong maltiness in aroma. Yeast, strong maltiness, darkish fruits, raisins, some vanilla sweetness and some mild alcohol in flavour. Fizzy and oily palate.