Allagash Hugh Malone

On tap at Toronado in San Francisco. Pours a hazy, bloody orange with lots of lace upon swirling. Initial aroma of Belgian yeast and malts with a soft grassy hop backing. Moderately sweet fruits with a bit of spicing coming through. The flavor is well balanced throughout. Initially a light bodied, sweet and delicate malt with some mixed Belgian fruits and yeast before a soft grass comes in and takes it through the finish. Dry and soft in a light body. Overall, nice pronounced hop taste that never dominates or distracts the other flavors. Well balanced and enjoyable.

Draft at Map Room. This is what a Belgian-style IPA should be. Pours an attractive orange-amber with a fine bubbled head. Nose is very hop forward, pine and resins dominating. On taste, there are mild phenolic notes from the Belgian yeast, but the hops dominate here. Juicy fruits, strong bitterness and resiny notes. This is a pretty outstanding beer. Very good.

Draft and bottle. Just tried this again on draft and it gave a very different impression than in bottle. The draft version featured the Simcoe hops much more upfront as the predominant flavor within this Belgian ale. The hop profile was much more muted in the bottled version that I had some time ago. The draft version probably deserves a least a half point higher rating than the consensus.

This was a 750 ml c&c bottle from BevMo in Sacramento that cost $16.49. I poured a hazy amber with an off-white head and good lacing. Nose of fruit and hops, with lots of sort of odd aromas. Not bad, but hard to identify. Smooth and clean mouthfeel. Flavor is that always interesting combination of sweet and bitter. Finish is long and dry. Seemed a little overpriced but for the overall quality, but was a good beer overall.

Cloudy amber with a nice head. Earthy aroma with some sweet notes. Flavor starts out sweet and then the hop bitters come in. Crisp and clean. Very good.

aged by stumac for 2 years. bad idea .. . taste of cellar dust, old molasses, and dead bee that shit himself aromas .. . pours a dark orange with a decent headring .. . good stuff, but don’t age this .. . butter, honey, wet cellar, and fruit flavours, a bit muddled .. . booooo!!

Pours with an amber orange body topped by a medium thick to thcik head wtih a god amount of lacing left behind. It’s sweet with light fruit notes, a hint of spice and grassy hops. It’s light to medium bodied, slightly watery and smooth.

Dark ruby red with brown. A small light head. Aroma is abit strange at first. Taste is smooth and sweet with a lot of grainyness and some mellow hops and fruit. A bit dry even with all the sweetness. Very good.