Allagash 11th Anniversary Ale

Formerly brewed at Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Portland, Maine USA

Bottle: Reddish caramel, thick and hazy, moderate light beige head, frothy, sticky lacing.   Soft herbal nose, definitely malty, slight alcohol, seems as if it would be somewhat sweet.   Meaty start, heavy malts, soft floral and herb aspect, semi-sweet, with a very bready finish.   Quasi Belgianesque.   Extremely soft pale fruit skin also.   Warming, yet the 9.2% ABV is fairly tame.   Moderate to full body and mouthfeel.   Finish is a little sticky.   This, like many of the other $18 bottles of Allagash don’t seem to capture that much.   I still think their Triple is their best beer, and best in terms of "bang for the buck".   Don’t get me wrong, this is a decent, beer... but nothing really sets it apart from many of their others, and certainly not the middle of the road Belgian.   Enjoyable, but not enough character for the $ I say...

Another overpriced, yet wonderfully unique brew from Allahash. We are lucky to have a brewery like this in the states. Pours very reddish copper with a very light haze and a good sized beige head. The aroma has Belgium yeast, apples, pears, candi sugar, spice (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and more), apricots, honey, white grapes...... there is a LOT going on here. Medium / full body with lots of frothy, yet sharp carbonation. The flavors start out with lush fruits and spicy hops - it is fairly grainy and sour. The spices are present, but much drier than on the aroma. There also seems to be some grains of paradise in the mix. I can only enjoy that spice in a beefy beer such as this. The finish has more spicy hops as well as woody hops. During the second glass when yeast is introduced there is some wonderful tart yeast goodness. Thumbs up for this delicious and unique brew from one of America’s best breweries.

(750ml bottle) Pours a burnt orange body with a medium beige head. Aroma of fruitiness, mustiness, apple, and spices. Flavor of caramel malt, spicy yeast, honey, and some dark fruit.

Sampled at the O-Town Throwdown. Pours a copper color with and off-white head. Malty aroma has hints of fruits. I tasted the caramel in the malty flavor with a mild hop presence and some spices.

Sampled at O town Throwdown.Pours a nice copperish color with a small thin head that dissipates quickly and leaves a thin white lace on the glass.Aroma was slightly sweet filled with fruits and malt.The hops and malt came out in the flavor.As this warmed a bit the alcohol was more noticeable.Not too bad.

Courtesy boboski. My first beer sampled at O-Town Throwdown. Dark copper/brown with a fluffy white head. Thinnish palate. Aroma is fruity and yeasty, with plum-like smells present. Sour turn at the finish. Fruity flavors dominate, but as the brew warms up, some spiciness comes out, a little pepper. Wasn’t as complex as I was expecting.

Pours a reddish amber with a thin, light white head. Smells of sweet cinnamon and brown sugar, to go along with dark malts. The taste is very malty as well. Get some light acidity up front, which smooths out towards the finish. almost tastes like a light version of a barley wine, but sweeter and not as bitter. Pretty good, but I think I like the 10th anniversay brew a little better.

6 months old now, drunk in its entirety on 2/24/07
I don’t know what it is about brewers, but they almost ALWAYS release beers while they’re still too young. Well, it’s probably that they feel it’s good enough and want to get their product out there, and that’s understandable. But I had this when fresh and it was still full of yeast bi-product that I knew would come out with some further conditioning in the bottle. So I didnt rate it then, and I’m glad.
Here we are now 6 months later and this beauty pours a perfectly conditioned, bright, chestnut-auburn with some deep hickory tints and a beige head that is small, but refuses to recede past full cover. Tons of lacing and a plethora of miniscule bubbles all throughout the beer, just like champagne.
Raisins, dates, prunes and a bit of dry alcohol in the nose start things out rather complexly as succulent aromatic malts lend a light caramel flavor that is so far ahead of crystal and American/English caramel malts. Deep, sumptuous and sweet, of course, but not too much so, and it leaves just a light acidity and pleasing fruitiness. Surprisingly clean yeast has low phenol product at this point. Some pepper and very marginal clove/nutmeg-like notes. Very rich, elegant malt aroma mainly, that is quite strong and incorporates the apparent alcohol shamelessly. Light candied apple on the finish, with a light earthiness and very pleasing toffee-covered fig sweet-fruitiness.
Sweet aromatic malts, rich and soft on the palate are the mainstay in the flavor. Rich, mushy dates, lightly piquant prunes dipped in caramel and plenty of plum and raisin. Wow, this is nothing like it was 6 months ago. Exquisitely tight carbonation can do nothing but produce a most engaging, creamy, soft mouthfeel. Very light yeast notes of mustiness, wood and black pepper/licorice. Alcohol is always notable, but never coarse or domineering. Just adds a very light touch of dryness and actually helps balance the caramel-raisin sweetness. Though I dont usually like alcohol used to balance sweetness, it seems to work well here. Great beer, I now must buy more to cellar.