Allagash Four

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Portland, Maine USA

What an interesting beer. A 750 ml bottle thanks to Santa. Pours a deep copper, almost ruby color with a very large beige head. The aroma is nice; a huge sweet malt presence, lots of yeast and sweet notes. The taste is very unique; a full and sweet malt profile, lots of fruity esters, yeast, dry apples, sugary mixes, a lot of flavor. Somehow, this reminds me of a iced cider and a barley wine mixed together. Not very hoppy, but sweet and very malty. Batch 16.

On tap at Uber. Pours cloudy dark copper with a dense and lacy beige head. Full body minimal carbonation. Sweet nutty brown sugar and malt taste with a fairly assertive finish for a quad. Smooth, balanced and rather nice for an American quad.

Sampled at the Seattle IBF 09. Poured a murky bronze. Very wet - almost a quencher, which was astonishing to me given the 10% abv. It’s malt-driven, but definitely seems more like a malty barleywine than an Abt/Quad. Some wood and brown sugar, and it covers the alcohol very well. Nowhere near worth the price of the bottle, though.

dark amber pour with lasting offwhite head, one finger. aroma is sweet malt and some caramel apple. the same great allagash yeasty aroma that ive learned to love from their stuff. a little bit of booziness. mm some nice burnt sugar notes and some subdued alcohol. sweetness lingers on the tongue. pretty nice, which is wha tIve come to expect from allagash.

bottle - I’ve had this bottle for a couple years. Pours mostly clear amber/red with a thin off-white head. The aroma is yeasty and malty with ample dark fruit, particularly cherries. The flavor is very sweet and malty with dark fruit notes. It’s full bodied and very flavorful, with mostly buried alcohol. The sweetness carries right through into the finish. Very enjoyable.

Draft at the Thirsty Monk, Asheville, 6/27. So, this was a tight quad, as you would pretty much expect from Allagash. I’m not going to describe all the flavors for the 545th time on this page, suffice to say it’s a good beer and you should TRY IT.

Intensely malty and alcoholic. Sweet raisins dominate the taste. Mild flavors of yeast and nuts as well. Finishes a little too alcoholic. Full bodied and syrupy. Not an easy drinker for sure. Not my favorite for the style.

750 Bottle aged roughly 1.5 years. Cork flew up and hit the ceiling the moment the cage was untwisted, very dangerous. Pours a clear dark glowing amber with a small frothy off-white head. Aroma is quite oxidized, some raisins, toffee, honey, just a touch of alcohol. Flavor is the same, oxidized, alcohol, toffee, boozy green raisins, honey like sweetness, a touch grassy, cashews, light yeast. The body is nice, lots of fine uniform carbonation, medium/full bodied, sticky but aged. An ’okay’ quad.