Allagash Hugh Malone

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

7/26/2007: Allagash Hugh Malone pours a murky, golden amber brown color with a dense, foamy, and lasting head that leaves ring-like lacing on the glass. Initially this beer smells a bit like banana bread and then the roma fills with rich candy sugar, yeast, fruity malt, some alcohol, and a little bubblegum. The flavor is malty and fruity with an alcohol bit and slight burn and heat due to the alcohol (much higher than the 8.5% on the label!). This beer finishes quite hoppy which seems somewhat misplaced in this beer. The body of this beer is medium-full and it is smooth with a slightly creamy texture. This is a unique beer. I would guess that the alcohol might soften up over time...

750 mL corked and caged bottle (8.5% Alc. By Vol. / C13 H30 O5) shared by Tmoney99 at the Dilly Deli. Thanks Tom! Rating #83 for this beer...

Poured an amberish color, slight orange hues, decent initial head, good retention, somewhat pillowy firm, lacing ok. The aroma was fruity, some citrus, yeasty. The flavor was melons, light grapefruits / citrus, yeasty, bready, each sip finishing with spicey hops and/or phenolic yeast biproducts. An odd hoppy dIPA seemingly gently hopped and produced probably with a Belgian style yeast strain. Mouthfeel was full and carbonated.

This beer is very hazy, despite a month long rest in the beer fridge. It pours with a frothy, slightly large bubbled, though prodigious four-finger thick, amber-tinged tan colored head; the head has some good longevity and even leaves some lacing patterns as it falls back into the glass. The beer is an opaque, murky, dark amber color, that does show a pretty ruby hue (still quite hazy though) if held up directly to my desk lamp. The aroma is quite malty, with sweet notes of raisins and caramel noticeable as I pour this beer. Upon closer inspection it has lots of things going on; notes of green apple, plum, dusty, fresh crushed malt, grass and a nice herbal character. The beer is surprisingly fruity smelling, this is probably the most notable thing about it. There are some yeast-driven aromatic notes of clove, light ginger and perhaps a dusting of white pepper; these notes are somewhat subtle, especially considering that notes of hot alcohol et in the way.

This has a medium full body to it, on the chewy side for a Belgian yeast strain, but certainly not getting to be too full. The beer picks up some sweetness towards the middle, which accentuates fruit notes of apples, plums, tamarind and even a touch of figs. It finishes fairly dry, with an astringent herbal / grass-like character as well as a biting bitterness. Spicy and a touch hot, the beer has yeast-driven flavors of clove, oak / bourbon, hot higher alcohols. The hops are contributing some interesting notes here as well; there is definitely a tannic, teeth coating quality as well as some notes of herbal pepper, tangelo and an astringent vegetal note.

I think that a lot of the fruitiness of this beer comes from the hops; interestingly enough the Simcoe does not taste as it does in an IPA. Some how it is much greener, not nearly as citrus-like (though that is here) and quite herbaceous. I am curios if a Belgian-type yeast strain was used here; there are definitely some phenolics & higher alcohols that could be attributed to this, or it could be some combination of warmer fermentation temperatures, alcohol and green hop notes (though I wouldn’t guess so). This is certainly not nearly as hoppy as I was expecting given the description on the bottle, but it is still a nice beer that has some really interesting flavors (the wood-like almost bourbon notes are really interesting considering neither of those were involved in the making of this beer. While drinkable & even enjoyable, this beer in the end is a bit too harsh, hot and not all that well integrated. I am not sure what happened here, but Allagash can definitely do better.

Here we go, my 100th rating of a Belgian Strong Ale, nice that it is from Allagash. The pour is a slightly hazy amber brown with a pretty head. Aroma is caramel malt with pine and grapefruit lingering in the background. The flavor is like a Belgian dubbel that had a bunch of hops thrown in. Caramel and plum fruits dominate the malt side, with a clear Belgian yeast natrue, folowed by a bitter hop note, with grapefruit and pine as the dominant flavors. Although a bit incongruent, the flavors came together better than I was expecting. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy amber with a foamy white head. Citrus undertones that give way to caramel malts. As the beer opens up, the alcohol comes out to play.

Aroma earthy and malty with a light hoppy nose. Flavor was sweet and really bubbly in the mouth. Kind of a little dissapointment.

Pours out a dark brown color with a huge tan head that goes away pretty quickly. Beer is very lively with CO2. Smells fruity and pretty grassy, almost like a saison. Reminds me of fantome Hiver. Taste is fruity at first and it has a pretty biting hop bitterness at the finish. Interesting enough, but not really what I was expecting for 21 dollars a bottle. Every Allagash cant be an Interlude, but I think this is better than the average scores are.

Typically handsome brew from Allagash, a deep amber pour with a pretty major head and retention. The initial aroma gives off more of a saison vibe than one usually expects from this brewer, and notes of melon and grass come through pretty prominently. The flavor starts off combining some of those features with a really aggressive, almost biting hop profile. But honestly, the hop character dissipates fairly quickly and leaves a beer that is far more uneven than Allagash usually offers, even tasting a bit like pickle at points. Not a triumph by any means, particularly at this price.