Allagash Hugh Malone

bottle from Toronado. Clear golden with a fluffy white head. Grapefruit, pine, and citrus aroma. Bright lively palate. Dry citrus and bitter taste and a pleasantly refreshing crispness.

Extremely overpriced, and not a lot of bang for the buck in my opinion. As with all Allagash beers I find the nose to be glorious, but the palate on this remains struggling to be affable. Pleasant and polite in the beginning, this devolves into somewhat of a trainwreck of flavor. Slight sour and tart upon first taste that melds into a bit of drying alcohol, followed by some fruits, anooying spices and a thin bready malt character. Belgian beers, well most beers, are just not meant to be overly hopped, I don’t know what it is going to take to make brewers see that.

Draft: pours a cloudy orange with a thin white head, aroma of citrus, hops, and kinda grassy, taste of citrus, some hops up front with a fairly clean finish, kind of a thin mouthfeel. Overall a pretty good brew - I thought it was an IPA so I am surprised to see it listed as a belgian ale here.

750ml caged&corked bottle. Pours a very cloudy orange that seems to glow intensely from within when held to the light - beautiful. The head pours up off-white in color and very thick, even, with small spots/pockets - like pancake batter. A large ring of lace remains on the glass. The aroma is mesmerizing and hoppy: grassy and herbal with oranges and pears. There is also a tinge of crystal malt and honey drifting around the nose. The flavor starts sweet with some breadiness and a very pleasing hop flavor and bitterness. By mid-palate, the bitterness grows as do notes of pine, flowers, and grapefruit. The finish is bitter and somewhat dry with a hoppy aftertaste and some residual malt sweetness. The alcohol is almost unnoticed - just a subtle warming in the chest after a few sips. What a beautiful beer! The mouthfeel is heavily carbonated and the carbon dioxide tickles and stings with pinpricks all over the tongue, greatly accentuating the perceived bitterness. Overall, an absolutely awesome brew that defies category - though I’d say it’s closer to an Imperial IPA with some ester and grassy character from Belgian yeast than it is a Belgian Strong Ale with lots of hops. One of the best beers I can remember tasting in a long time.

a very cloudy dark gold/orange beer under a large creamy white head. very hoppy aroma of sweet mandarin orange. very balanced hoppy flavor with a lot of earthy, bready malts. dry, grassy, herbal finish from dry hopping. pleasant.