Allagash Musette

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

Serve in Thistle

Half pint draught, Barcade. Deep and dark reddish copper. Cloudy. No head to speak of. Raisiny spicy aroma. Very rich. Low carbonation. Sweet flavours with a drying texture. Raisin flavours. Little bitterness that stands out in any way.

July 2007 - Dark caramel color with next to no head and lacing. Aroma and flavor of sweet sticky smokey malts, albeit lightly so, with moderate to heavy carbonation. Hints of oak from the barrel. Lacks a certain oomph. Good but not great.

On tap (dry hopped version). Poured a deep amberish color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of floral hops, fruity, vanilla, some bourbon, wood, and caramel. Tastes of vanilla, wood, bourbon, caramel, and fruity.

Draft at Barcade. Aroma is apple and grape. Tart with grape peel and a shitload of bourbon still. This is a real sipper.

I had this at Night of the Barrels at Extreme Beerfest in Boston. This has to be one of the few disappointments of the night. Perhaps my tastebuds were worn out from all the whiskey-barrel brews, but this one seemed extremely muted. Slight flavors of dark fruits, belgian yeast, bourbon. Very little dry-hopping apparent. I think I should try this at another time in from the bottle because it seems as though I am missing out on its subtleties.

First crack at this beer in over a year, a 750 from May 2006. It’s tasting mighty fine right now. Poured into a Duvel tulip, it’s as impressive looking as I remember - nice garnet color, substantive head, with really lively carbonation throughout. Superb balance of malts (and not the usual sloppy one-dimensional sort) and nice hops (would love to try the dry-hopped version). But the barrel-aging comes through subtly in the nose and doesn’t dominate in the flavor either. Rather, it’s nicely integrated; and now that some of the heat is off, it’s a really fine beer and another feather in Allagash’s cap.

Bottle dated May 2006. Cloudy brown body. Leaves sticky white lace on the glass. Aromas of brown sugar and fruit, notably apples. Flavor also shows some brown sugar along with maple candy, and pecan pie sweetness. Wonderful aged.

EBF NOTB; almost missed out on this one. golubj forced them to empty the last few ounces through some gravelling. Muddy brown color. Aroma was sweet and malty; however, there was also some woody sourness. Almost brett like, but not too much. Caramel malty flavor was good. Good beer.