Allagash Interlude

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

2006 - 750ml. Pours a applejuice-golden color. Fizzy white head lasts for only a little while, but then descends to a thin ring around the edge of the glass. Aroma is brett and a touch of green apple. Taste is slightly alcoholic with a notable brett presence. Apples/fruit are also evident as are some saison-like spices. It’s a little hot overall in the finish, but not bad. This almost has a hint of a standard Fantome taste, IMO. Palate is a little thin and fizzy. Overall, this is a good beer. Nothing mind blowing, but good nonetheless.

750ml Bottle: Very complex aroma is neither sweet nor bitter. I smell Marsalla wine, cloves, oak, light tannins, dark fruit, and a little malt. Poured amber in color with a small off-white head that diminished quickly. No lacing. Clear but hazy. Sparkling. Flavor is a little sweet and a bit tart but not bitter. Flavor is very complex. Starts a little sweet and fruit-like; then it becomes funky like blue cheese or Gorgonzola; finally it’s woody and buttery. Very different combination of flavors for this palate. Medium body. Oily texture. Average carbonation. Long, buttery finish. Overall, the butter and Gorgonzola really throw me off.

A vagrant fruit fly honed in on this as soon as I cracked it--always a good sign in my experience.Orange-amber body with moderate carbonation and a fading, sudsy white head. Great nose with prominent vinous-brett characters with notes of grapes, sour apples, grapefruit, and faint caramel. Nice tangy, briny qualities in the flavor with notable tartness and subdued oak like a well-oaked wine. Firm beer with qualities of tart fruit, ample bitterness, and caramelized fruit and malt sweetness. Nice Flemish sour and wine highlights here. Great beer.

Yes indeed. $20 a bottle. Ouch. Pours a lot darker than expected -- but not that dark -- but the aroma was just as I imagined it: heavenly. It seems with the top notch belgians, the aroma really is the place for the beer to shine, and shine Interlude does. Buttery vanilla, funky hay, tart grapes, and white chocolate dipped strawberries, the complexity and brilliance of the aroma is near unmatched.

Sadly though, it’s all downhill from there. But does that surprise anyone? That’s not to say this tastes bad -- not even close. I’ve just yet to find a world-class beer whos flavor can match the subtle complexity of it’s aroma. Flavor is a lot more herbal, dry, buttery and bretty than the aroma, but lacks any sort of tartness. Big on the savory herbal qualities, but missing any sort of fruit. Yeast dominated, perhaps, but who can complain about that?

This truly is a world class beer, and I knew going in to it that I should probably cellar this bottle -- 6 months old -- for at least a year longer. But I couldn’t help myself, and now, I am no doubt another $20 in the hole, because to not buy another one of these and cellar it would be plain foolish. And I am no fool.

thanks Vyvvy for this sample. pours hazy orange with a small fizzy white head. nose is awesome-cinnamon, brett, brown sugar, lightly aged belgian malt and twangy yeast here. flavors definately show the fruityness of the brett yeast mixed wit hthe shirahs cask. the finish is lightly metallic which is my only gripe about this beer. lots of grapes on the finish (red). pretty good but not the beer i was thinking it would be.

This beer is OK. Has a strong taste of sour apple juice. Besides that it tasted like a decent enough Belgian.

2005 - Deep dark golden body with a big white head; Big nose, very nice aromas, lots of brett, lots of oak, lots of warm unfiltered apple juice, lots of orange juice and peel; Big body, elegant with soft carbonation, complex and balanced; Super long finish with tons of aroma and character, warmer notes aroma wise and actually quite a bit of oaky cow. Amazing beer. Thanks jjpm74!

The aroma is funky/fruity with some faint wood notes and a healty dose of sugar aromas. Smells nice, but not exactly what I expected. The body is bright orange/gold with a diminishing, but fluffy, white head. The fore is somewhat harsh and biting and assaults the tongue with hot alcohol. This subsides and it actually becomes quite soft and mellow. Oaky notes appear, but are very muted. It’s mostly a dry, fruity, funky affair with some lightly herbal bitterness in the finish and an increasingly funky/sour asspect as it warms.