Allagash Black

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Foreign Stout
Portland, Maine USA

So after trading for this, it comes to San Diego, what gives? Its life I guess. I found this bottle at the mission valley Bev Mo. Pours black with a 2 finger tan head. Nose is malty and sweet and smokey with a bit of a burnt coffee feeling. Taste is very much a roasted coffee feeling, with some burnt chocolate malt in there as well. Its pretty interesting, I don’t know what to call this for style, its decent but a bit too one dimensional for me. Sadly a dissapointment from a Brewery who usually does no wrong.

Pours with a frothy, initially three-finger thick, dirty, brown-tinged, tan colored head that slowly collapses into a dense, varied surface terrain. The beer is a deep, burnt, concentrated amber color (almost, but not quite black color). While mostly opaque, if held up to the light, flashes of ruby can be seen at times. The aroma is quite roast dominated; aromatic notes of chocolate, charcoal, deeply toasted malt and even blackened whole-grain bread crust aromas. A deep inspection of the nose yields notes of phenolic driven peat-smoke, burnt prunes and burnt wine notes too. An interesting aroma, mostly roast dominated, but one gets hints of yeast character (fruit & phenolic notes), though these are fairly subtle at times. After my second pour the nose starts to pick up some spicy aromatic notes that remind me faintly of cardamom & ginger.

Sweeter than I was expecting up front, though not overly so; this accentuates a flavor of sweet plums up front just before the roast character kicks in and washes over the palate. The beer finishes with roast driven flavors of salty-smoky peat, a roasted acidity, flavors of burnt cocoa, a roasted bitterness and a substantial, darkly toasted grain not that lingers on in the palate. The long finish also gets a touch phenolic with just a hint of warming alcohol to it as well. Up front flavors of cocoa combine with the fruit flavors (raisin notes are here too). The body is on the light side for a beer of this strength, though it is not down right thin like some super-attenuated Belgian beers are, instead this has a mild heft to it that seems to allow the smoky, cocoa & toasted notes to cling to the palate.

As the beer warms up (60+°F / 15.6°C) the fruit notes become a touch more noticeable, though not any sweeter, and the roast character becomes much more rounded and rich tasting. It really starts to open up and the yeast character becomes much more evident; there is nothing quite new, but the plum notes begin to pick up a bit of tartness and spicy notes of pepper & clove are added to the previously noticed, but now accented spice flavors. The spice & phenolic notes begin to mix quite interestingly with the roast character towards the end of my second glass.

An interesting beer, the dark malt at times can overwhelm the softer yeast character, but I have a feeling that it contributes more than one might expect (probably adds to the smokiness of this brew). On the other hand I was feeling like a roasty stout this evening, and this most definitely fits the bill (with a little added complexity & lighter body than one would typically find in one). As the beer warmed it becomes more complex, which definitely helps my enjoyment.

Pour is dark brownish black with a big bubbled long lasting tan head...smell is smell is roasty and quite fruity with grapes and chocolate...yeasty too...taste is nice and richly toasty and toasty...some underlying fruity sweetness with tons of roasty malt flavors...nice effervescent carbonations...well done...

750 ml bottle. Poured a thick deep black with a 1 finger tan head. Nice aroma of roasted malts, notes of toffee, coffee, vanilla cream, caramelized sugar and oats. Palate is silky silky smooth with an average dose of carbonation. Feels really nice on the mouth, smooth w/o being very heavy and syrupy. Taste is nice but not very assertive. Its really a mild beer but that goes along with the soft mouth feel I think. Taste is of roasted malts and oats. Finishes with a creamy caramel taste and some of the toffee/coffee notes. Nice and mild. Not sure where the heavy price tag comes from but it’s a good interesting stout.

They said this was a Belgian style stout and it was ,dark black and nice lacing but it was thin in the body,had this courtesy of SoLaN at his store and it was a nice gesture,it had the Belgian silky feel with hints of chocolate and malts,i would drink again by its self before i drink anything heavy like i did today ,had a DL07 before so i was a little spoiled already.CHEERS!

Nose of a chocolate soda with a touch of vanilla ice cream. Almost black, slight reddish notes, medium colored foamy brown head, vanishes with surprisingly little lace. Taste of chocolate and dark malts. Nice enough, easy drinking, but I’ll take a Storm King, a Beer Geek Breakfast, an Old Viscosity, a Speedway ... this is nothing special, and way over priced. First time I’ve complained about the price of an Allagash, ever.

Poured a dark brown, opaque, with a medium off-white head, non-lasting. A sweet yeast with coffee aroma. Taste is of bitter chocolate, yeast, but the aftertaste is too sweet for me. Not bad but not memorable either.

22 oz. bottle on 3/21/2008. Brown/black with mahogany highlights under a smallish light tan head with slippery sheets of lace. Burnt coffee, dark chocolate, molasses, and dark roasted malt aromas. Quite effervescent with a full mouthfeel, somewhat astringent, leaves a dry palate. Dark roasted malt flavors dominate, the bitterness subjugating the slight treacle sweetness to a minor role. Solid, but not anything that makes it unique or particularly special.