Allagash Odyssey

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

750 mL bottle. Pours somewhere between burnt orange and black, with a nice khaki head. The aroma is prune, scotch, banana, and hints of licorice, cocoa, and honey. The flavor is chocolate and raisin at first, then some clove, licorice, and molasses. It works toward a roasty note like espresso and a very mild scotch-like finish. Warm aftertaste. This is one tasty brew.

Bottle, at White Horse Babbelfest, August 2005. Bronze, good off white head and moderate condition. Pleasantly bready nose with hints of yeast and alcohol, sweet and spicy in the mouth with clove and alcohol and a touch of prunes that always reminds me of Westmalle Dubbel. Lingering fruity sweet and spirity finish.

Bottle. Small off-whrite head that dissapated quickly. Reddish-Black color. Aroma of vanilla and whiskey. Flavor is compex: coffee, molasses, oak, almost no whiskey that was prevelant in the aroma (but some alcohol flavor present). Different than anything I have had before but overall a solid strong ale.

Tasting at Capones. Pours a brownish amber with an average light tan head that left light lacing. Aroma of vanilla, dark fruits, cinnamon, oak, molasses and some alcohol. Flavor of oak, roasted/toasty malts, dark fruits, candi sugar and some spices.

Oaky, chocolate aroma. Oaky, sweet, tangy, tanins, vanilla, chocolate, with a hint of whiskey, burnt coffee, with hints of smoke. Having said all that....wow. So good!

I always thought Curieux was my favorite Allagash brew...i might be reconsidering. This one wowed me. Pours a very dark brown with a light tan head. Very stable. Smells od dark fruit with a hint of sourness that goes perfect in my opinion. I definitely got a little whiskey in the taste along with the sweet malts, fruits, etc. Alcohol is definitely prevalant but not overnearing and you get a little roastedmalts and nuts in the finish. Beautifully done.

Clear amber body with no head. The aroma is vanilla, toffee, vinous and tobacco. The flavor is cherry, golden raisins, toffee, oak and worcestershire sauce. Medium body with soft carbonation and a warm finish.

Appears a dark, mahogany brown with a 2 finger, off white head that slowly fades out and sticks to the glass. Smell is of raisins, brown sugar, plums, caramel, vanilla, cocoa, oak, dough, tobacco, caramelized apples. Taste is of the mentioned aromas. The balance seemed to be slightly skewed towards the oakiness and leaning away from the Belgian goodness but overall, it’s enjoyable and very well done. Mouthfeel is smooth, creamy, sugary, medium bodied with mild carbonation and a semi-dry finish. Some may think it’s a bit "thin" but it’s the dryness from the oak tannins that gives them this initial reaction. The abv is evident after a few sips and it makes you wonder whether or not the beer was soaked in used bourbon barrels. The barrels were newly toasted American oak so the caramelized bourbony flavors are all derived from the beer combined with the oak. Nice.