Allagash Four

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Portland, Maine USA

Reviewed 5/21/2009 (Bottle batch#15): Pours a medium brown colored body, with a white head, diminishing. Clear. Strong fruity aroma, grape but not wine-y. Sweet craemy mouthfeel. Grape taste. Honey sweet taste. Carbonated, soft mouthfeel. Some hops, but very hidden.

Bottled @ Olfestival 09 pre-tasting. Aroma is very fruity and fresh, has raisins, malts and Unibroue like yeast. Hazy, red-brown coloured beer with an off-white head. The taste was sweet, with orange, raisins, some hops. Full bodied with a nice lingering bitterness. Good one.

On tap at Downtown Johnny Brown’s in San Diego. Pours a hazy, dark amber orange body with an inch thick, dense and creamy, beige colored head that dissipates very slowly and leaves tons of gorgeous, layered lacing. A very nice looking quad. Aroma is big on the chocolate, prunes and plums, and toffees with lots of vinous, ripe fruits. Some soft spices and floral hops with a nice yeasty nose. A touch of vanilla and some light maple syrup. Flavor is similar with a great, softly spiced balance throughout with a sweet malt, somewhat sugary taste. Lots of florals, big prunes and raisins, plum-citrus, caramels, chocolates, and yeast. Finishes soft and dry with a light to moderate bitterness. Sweet and malty linger. Palate is medium to full and quite complex. Overall, big fan of this quad. Quite complex and sweeter than some quads, but enough of a soft spicing to keep a nice balance.

Bottle from 3 Sons. brownish golden hazy with little head and little lacing. Very sweet but not just candy with lots of malts. can’t find much for hops though. Very nnice finish if not hoppy

Bottled @ Olfestival 09 pre-tasting. clear reddish color, medium brownish head. Fruity, malty, hoppy, belgian yeast. Bit dry palate. Nice stuff.

750 thanks to Mike over on BA. Dark brown, small thick head. Nose is spicy, chocolately, malty, and alcoholic. Taste at first is chocolate and mellow malts, then spiciness rounding out in to a very warm alcoholic finish. Body is thick and smooth. Overall a very nice beer.

(750 ml bottle from Julio’s Liquors, cellared for 1 yr. after purchase) Pours dark slightly rubyish amber, a little hazy. Two fingers of light tan head. Aroma has some Band-Aid, at least initially, along with an almost lemony tang and some candy sweetness. Mouthfeel is initially a bit fizzy, then this dissipates to an almost velvety smoothness. Light weepy rings of lacing melt away quickly. Flavor features an almost sweet and sour quality with candy-like sweetness, light fruits and hints of citrus. There is a bit of chocolate lurking underneath. Didn’t really improve much in complexity or richness as it got warmer and I got deeper into the bottle (as big Belgian-styles sometimes do). A good beer but I was hoping for a bit more of a knockout from this fine brewery.

Bottle. [vintage 2007]
Pours deep red-orange. Large, frothy, off-white head. Settles as a fine, film head. Aroma is sweet and fruity, some marzipan, caramel, alcohol, some cherries. Highish carbonation, fine, creamy mouthfeel. Flavour is very nice, there are cherries, red apples. A very fresh take on the Quad style. Very drinkable, not much sign of the 10 %.