Allagash Curieux

’05 vintage as part of the blind "Better Know a Style: Abbey Tripel" tasting. Clear light amber color with small off-white head. Aged alc aroma with champagne like alc as well, white wine, green grape, slight spice. Medium to light body and burn. Like drinking a white wine/champagne.

I was not impressed with this beer. It was my first beer from Allagash. It was an adequate abbey tripple, but nothing special. Dang, I wish I had picked something different for number 200.

draft at The Brick Store Pub in Decatur, GA. deep golden ale with a 1/4" white head. aroma is full of citrus and spice. very pleasant on the palate... spicy on the tip and top of the tongue; solid body that releases the various fruit, spice and oak flavors. Excellent barrel aged tripel... highly recommend.

Bottled January 07, and deliberately aged until January 2008 to drink. Pours a shimmering gold color with a fluffy white head of 3 fingers. The Duvel tulip that houses this beer maintains a foamy cap of head and is marred by dense lacing. Aroma is very yeasty, with a distinct woody hard liquor note and some tropical fruitiness. The bourbon barrel influence on the flavor is unmistakeable. There is a breathtaking oaky vanilla booze bite in the middle of the palate that just melts into a fruity sweetness that finishes pleasantly dry. The warmth in the chest imparted by this beer is trademark whiskey, and it blends surprisingly well with the sweet tripel notes of pear and orange. Mouthfeel is wonderful, with a quite Belgian carbonation and a nice dry finish for such a sweet and rich beer. This beer is a bit hot and you can feel it. The booze really comes out with too much warmth, which makes it harder to drink. Overall this beer is interesting, unique, and delicious. One of Allagash’s best.

Pours the colour of Bushmills whisky with a large puffy white head that leaves spotty rings of lacing. The nose is the closest thing to Bourbon I’ve encountered in a beer. There are notes of cask vanilla, banana, wood, spice and butterscotch. The flavour is highly alcoholic and the finish is dry, leaving a coating of Bourbon flavour on the back of the tongue. There are fragrant, earthy hops balancing the passion fruit flavours, which come across quite syrupy. The wood and vanilla presence is huge, dominating the flavour profile, making the brew taste more like a spirit. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and oily. The barrel aging process really shines in this magnificent beer.

On tap at Trappeze. Appearance is a cloudy golden with a small white head. Aroma of fruit, spice, and wood. Taste is great, very complex. Lots of fruit, some spice, wood, vanilla. Very nice medium body with a good amout of carbonation. Alcohol not present. A great brew and a nice tripel

750ml caged and corked bottle, bottled November 2007, bought at Lou’s in Augusta. Pours a hazy golden amber-red body with a quarter inch (if that) of off-white head. Smells fruity/citrusy and woody. Tastes citrusy, pithy, malty, with a fair bit of wood and hints of vanilla toward the finish. A little bit of alcohol warming is evident on the finish, but buy no means overwhelming or solvent-like. On the heavier side of medium-bodied with moderate carbonation, bordering on sticky mouthfeel but the carbonation helps make this one more drinkable than it might otherwise be. Tasty and complex. I think I’ll stick to drinking Allagash Tripel on a more regular basis, but this is a very good beer and definitely glad I gave this one a go. One of the best barrel-aged beers I’ve had so far.

750ml corked&caged bottle, dated November 2007. Pours very cloudy, brownish orange with gold and caramel highlights. The head rouses slowly into a thick, cloudy, off-white foam that quickly fades into a very thin ring of foam. The aroma is thick and complex, full of fruit and yeast. There are lots of fruity esters - particularly banana. There are also notes of spice, of caramel, and of alcohol. The bready, doughy yeast is a very attractive component of the aroma, too. As the beer warms, a boozy smell of bourbon comes into the fold. The flavor is solid - what a fantastic tripel this is! Lots of fresh-baked-bread-doughy goodness with lots of funky, Belgian-y esters. And it’s really smooth, too - no flavor is intense or overwhelming. Instead it is a soft, harmonious symphony. In the middle of the tongue, the flavor grows more complex with some spice from the yeast and a touch of wood and vanilla. The back of the palate picks up some more spicy esters as well as a soft, balancing level of noble hops. The back of the palate detects a decent bit of alcohol which results in a slightly boozy finish. It has a subtle taste of sweet bourbon, too, that strengthens as the beer slowly warms in the snifter. The finish is also quite dry and spicy. It is slightly warming on the back of the throat thanks to the dollop of ethanol. Despite some of the boozy flavors, I think this beer hides its strength incredibly well. The mouthfeel is very creamy and light (medium in body - which is quite light for such a strong ale). It is amazingly drinkable. This is the kind of beer that could get one into serious trouble (luckily I only have one, and I’m splitting it with my wife, so the amount of trouble I could get into is quite limited). Overall, a fantastic tripel that is made even more beautiful through the subtle and sublime flavors from its aging in oak whiskey barrels.