Allagash Grand Cru

Another great beer from Allagash. Aroma of spice, malts and some dark fruits such as black berries, plums and cherries. I shared this beer with 3 others....they looked at me and said..."whoa!......thats good brew!"

Poured a golden color with small head and left good lacing. Aroma was very spicey and yeasty. Flavor was not as sweet as i expected which was nice. Light fruits and yeast. Much less sweet than your usual Belgian Ale, but enjoyable. Flavor was a little watered down though.

Bottle from BevMo La Mesa. Batch 15. Pours a dark amber colorwith a light beige head. Light and fruity aroma with a spicy yeast quality going on. Mellow light fruitiness up front with a roasted malty flavor. Gentle yeast with a dash of spice. Finish if fairly bitter.

Corked bottle, batch #14, served at cellar temperature. Pours a dense, sappy amber with lively carbonation and a head of cream that erupts in quiet violence toward the top of the Duvel glass into which it was poured. Immediate notes of herbal tea and raisin are present in the nose, as well as hints of fruit (orange, peach, and a touch of strawberry). Flavor is subtle tea with hints of wintery spices and bitter fruits. Very malty mouthfeel that sends shivers along the tongue with its sharp, jagged edges of flavor. The finish leaves a bitter, hoppy film on the palate. Great beer.

Sudsy Tall head. Opague honey coloring. Strong Nose is a herbal tea perfume with honeysuckle dashes. Nice expansive spicey mouthful for palate. It expands then dances on the palate then bitters up at the finish. Flavor is the most complex Allagash offering EVER. It’s hard to describe. (Hard to describe is always good for me.) It’s clovish on the intro. There are some spicey fruits in the middle and the finish is an amalgam of honey sweetness with cheese yeast and hoppy bitternes. Very impressive!

Another good one from a great brewery. Pours a hazy reddish amber with a light white head. Get alot of sweet malts, a little cinnamon, and citrus as well. Different from alot of Belgian winter beers I’ve had. Its much lighter and has much more citrus in the taste, more similar to a triple in my opinion. Very nice indeed though. Has somewhat of an interesting tangy flavor to it as well in the finish. This brewery is just as solid as it gets.

750ml bottle batch #15 @ O’brien’s Pub in San Diego. This is one of the few non barrel Allagash brews that I had not yet had, so I had to go for it. After popping the top I let it sit for about 15 minutes to warm up a bit, with the advice of ScottOAle who had just had some. Pours dark amber with a small white head. The aroma is powerfully sweet and nicely strong. The taste was sweet , with a slight fruit edge and potent for only 7.2%. I honestly can’t tell if the bitterness of Blind Pig slightly marred my palate for this brew.

Here’s the definitive proof that “Grand Cru” has just about as much meaning as the Easter Egg in Easter. Previously I had thought that it signaled some kind of caramel woody character, which I had found to be the consanguineous link between my sampled Grand Cru’s. Wrong. Allagash has thrown that idea away with their own interpretation of Grand Cru, which I think is much more of a South American delight then an immersive, curmudgeon wood-based variant. The head is thin but disruptive and volcanic. The spouting gases create a delicious miasma of orange, sweet orange marmalade, hops and a great deal of blank gaseousness. The real surprise is the second citrus partnered in with the aroma: lime. A pungent whiff of fresh lime (none of that Key Lime business) fresh cut and squeezed perfumes the air and brings a touch of the Southern Hemisphere to the top of the glass. Unlike its contemporaries, the Allagash Grand Cru is a very short burst of flavor pleasure, spearheading the experience with a lot of wheat, and a little pale lager corn syrup. But here again the chivalrous lime comes to the rescue atop a dimpled green horse, compensating for the bland and boring other flavors. It’s short, but quite delicious, especially after choking down so many thick and serious Grand Crus. Still, it wasn’t as intense. I think this would make for some amazing food pairings though with some gentler Thai or Vietnamese food. The lime, surrounded by other whispered flavors would go great with bean sprouts, lemon grass and I could even see the peanut based dishes and sauces being great in the shadow of this tropical bottle of beer. It is particular, to be sure, but it has its place. Poignant? No, but it occupies a niche few other beers do with its uniquely refreshing character that just screams dinner drinking.