Allagash Interlude

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Portland, Maine USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Pours a dark golden copper with a fairly slight head that leaves a good ring around the top of the beer. The aroma is quite nice, with a lot of citrus, green apple, ripe fruits, Brett, and a bit of acid. Taste is quite similar. A lot going on here, and in addition to the nose I picked up a bit from the barrels. Mouthfeel is very nice. Some puckering qualities, but nothing too harsh. A bit sweet in addition to the sour. This would be more of an everyday drinking sour. Very drinkable all around. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 03-16-2010

On draft at Bruery Provisions. Pours a dark amber. Smells of bread. Tastes include toffee, vanilla and some yeatiness/bread.

Bottle Pours a hazed brownish color with a small white head. Aroma is light sourness, brett, wine, oak, spices. Flavor is light sourness, oak, red wine, light spices, fairly acidic and quite enjoyable.

Serving: 750 ml. 2009 bottle from Total Wine Sterling.
Aroma: The nose is a touch tart with a hint of cider and a noticeable Shiraz touch. The wood comes through as well.
Appearance: It pours a light amber color with a touch of haze and a foamy, off-white head.
Taste: The flavor is a nice mix of oak, tannic spices, a touch of fruitiness, and that weird zebra bubble gum. It is unique and works very well together.
Palate: Light in body with above average carbonation and a short, slightly tart finish.
Overall: Very interesting. It is a touch oaky for me, but still, I like the use of Brett and the barrel selection here. This would be a good choice for those that like wine but think they don’t care for beer.

Pours a clear amber with minimal white head. Aroma is cidery...apple...with sweet malt backing. Flavor is cidery but not sour with a hint of funk. Mouthfeel is very lively with a leathery funky Finish that has a touch of pepper. Delectable.

Draft at Churchill’s. Pours an orange-ish red (or is it red-ish orange?) with small layoer of off-white head. The aroma is complex with lots of fruit (grape, cherry, and perhaps some apple/pear) along with fruisty balsamic, spicy barrel, and quite a bit of Brett. The flavor has lots of juicy-grapey-wine notes and also lots of barrel and wood flavors. There are some sharp notes of funk and also flavors of sour bread but this leans more toward tangy than being overly sour. The finish is semi-dry (perhaps from the wine tannins?) with some lingering bretty funk toward the back of the tongue. The high ABV is mostly hidden under all the exotic flavors. The barrel, the brett, and the three fermentations create quite a complex beer. (500, 414)

750ml bottle, 2006 vintage consumed in 2010. The pour gives a cloudy, dark, dusky orange-amber body with a thin, swirly, off-white cap of foam. A wet, spotted wash mostly rejoins the pool below, failing to form hard lace. The nose is very earthy, clearly showing the effects of 4+ years of brett influence. Tart, musty crab apples are joined by dry caramel sugars, cinnamon-sugar dessert bread, and some funky grain. Farmhouse wood and fading, vinous fruitiness play off of one another, lending depth. Flavors are a little more muddled, but they run along the same lines. Sweet-tart apple mash is met with caramelized bread, grain, grapes, and some fig. Oak isn’t prominent, but it’s there. Brett has consumed a lot of the sugars, infusing some must and earth in their place, but it still largely remains fruity and sweet. The palate sports lively, fine carbonation throughout the medium-full body, finishing dusty, scratchy, and somewhat oxidized. Overall, it’s a good brew, but it’s probably a little long in the tooth. I think this might have been more complex and pulled together a year or two ago.

750 ml bottle; I have had this for a while and can’t remember where I got it, but I think it was a trade from the northeast. August 2008 vintage. Pours a cloudy orange color with a resilient off-white head that doesn’t leave any lace. Notes of grapes, oak, berries, brett, apples, wine, caramel and bready malts, and spices; these emerge to a greater degree in the aroma than in the flavor. Medium-bodied, with high carbonation and an oaky mouthfeel. I didn’t want to sit on this as long as I did, and my advice would be to drink it younger than older.

(on tap at Churchill’s) Pours gold-red hue (lighting is not good). with white head. No carbonation. Sour with some red wine notes. Semi sweet with slight sourness, but not nearly as sour as I thought it would bee and the wine was not as pronounced. Medium bodied with thin texture. Smoth finish with some dryness and fruits from the barreling. I thought this would be a more sour beer, but it’s still nice and it hides the alcohol well.

Bootle from peter. August 08. Thanks a ton peter. Pours a. Glowing orange copper hue. Aroma of fruity bread and sweet berry wine. Toast, light balsamic and sweet doughy caramel. Lightly sour bready berry wine beer. Nice enough. Slight tripel like quality in the backdrop. Can’t imagine this aging more for the better as there oxidation settin in. Aroma better than flavor.