Allagash Odyssey

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

750ml bottle bottled January 2008. Pours an almost opaque dark brown with ruby-red highlights and about an inch of light-tan head. Smells fruity (dates, citrus) with some chocolate, vanilla, wood... Tastes like chocolate, date, wood, some citrus, coffee, hints of bourbon (I think)... Wow. A plethora of different flavors all playing in harmony. Rich full mouthfeel with ample carbonation to keep it drinkable. Alcohol is present only in warming, but not in mouthfeel or flavor. Very drinkable, especially for a beer of its size (abv as well as flavor). Phenomenal. Definitely Allagash’s best product, at least that I’ve tried thus far, and quite possibly the best beer I have ever tried.

Bottled October 2006 Pours a deep burgundy with substantial tan head that dissipates slowly. Dark fruity malt and sweet molasses to the nose. Taste is spectacular. A bit of the alcohol comes through among a balanced and complex burst of flavor. Mouthfeel is smooth and moderately carbonated. Great drinkability, this is one to savor and analyze. One of the most enjoyable brews of this style I’ve tried recently.

This is one of the most amazing BSA’s ever, but it has the body and intensity of a imperial stout. The nose is carmel like and it has some spice. I never want the flavor to end, it has light and dark fruits with toffee and this foamy carbonated finish that kills you with mocha and chocolate. The booze is well masked with the exploding flavor and hoppy bite that stings your tounge like a bee. I personally like the oak and mild smokey finish that sticks to your palate. AMAZING!!

This is easily the best beer I’ve ever drunk. The aroma smells of a woody, beechnut, nectar, pours with little head, even with some gentle persuasion, and has a opaque, chestnut color. The taste is complex with mixes of oak, musk, wiskey and why do I want to say, tree bark or sap. I really can’t descibe what heaven this brew is to drink. This recipe has to have been passed on to Allagash brewers by some ancient Druid sect living in the Maine woods. This is a must drink beer and since I can’t get the cork back into the bottle...I must do the honorable thing and kill it by pouring another glass!

Re-rate... Bottle purchased cold and downed slowly at Bodega Blue in Vero Beach, FL on St. Patrick’s Day ’07... This beer rocks!... I don’t know if it was the setting, the blues music, the company (boboski & Wendy), the extra year spent in the bottle, my buzz, or what, but the second time I sampled this beer was definitely the charm. An incredible malt bomb with lots of complexity and character. Initial Rating = 3.6; new rating = 4.7! A new favorite... **** Original rating****... Bottle... Hazy, dark orange ale with a mid-sized, frothy, lightly tanned head. The aroma is, by far, the star of the show. Very oaky chardonnay with notes of cocoa, dried plum and a touch of lemon. The relatively high ABV is fairly well-hidden in the well-balanced, woodsy, chocolatey flavor. Undertone of sourmash whiskey. I didn’t get any of the distracting sweetness that turned off my Canadian friends at the Extreme Beer Festival in Boston, MA. Medium-bodied and fizzy. Short, lightly bitter, medium-dry finish. Not at all a disappointment; but at $15 per bottle, it’s a bit spendy.

Bottled Feb. 2005 - Glossy black body with deep burgandy highlights within. Inch high, puffy tannish foam sits for good length before settling to a big fluffy collar and a solid skim. Minimal lacing in small globby strings and a few spots. Heavenly aroma of vinous-like oak decorated in lots of dark nuances of dark fruity malt, black licorice, tootsie roll chocolate, carob, vanilla, and a splash of good Ol’ alcoholic breath. Taste has an emaculately creamy front that’s airy and rounded with a full brunt of dark fruity malts. Has a short stay middling area of chocolate and date flavors. Lively and full on the swallow with warmth and alcoholic texture bringing a breeze of vanilla and port flavors. Hints to carob, root beer, black licorice and, anise. Finishes great with great length and memory with a leftover melting pot of rich chocolate laced with dark fruityness and sticky maltyness and lightly fluffed with some cocoa powder composition. Its much more complex then what I’m able to describe and soak in, but take my word for it. Its damn good! Feel is a very solid medium body with a uniform ride of interchanging full areas gliding from point to point, as do warming qualities, creamyness, smoothness, and maltyness. Looong finishing area, it sticks with you for a day and a half. A very complexing texture and character to this beer. Quite spectacular! Yum, yum, and yum, this stuff is killer! Fantastic job by Allagash. No surprise really, but damn I could never get sick of this stuff. Me likey.

Oct 2006 bottling. Pours very dark brown with big red highlights and a cafe-au-lait colored head that leaves ample lacing all the way down the glass. Aroma is bourbon, oak and chocolate, no hops. Flavor is smooth oak, malt, chocolate and dark fruits (raisins and figs) with balancing but almost unnoticed hops. Finish is all dark malt and oak, but with hints of bourbon. Body is on the high side of medium.

When I first tried this brew at a beer festival, I didn’t think much of it. At the time, I found it very astringent with whiskey-like qualities. This is definitely not the case out of the bottle. Feb 2005 bottle. Pours dark with an average light brown head that diminishes leaving a thin crust throughout the tasting. Scents of molasses, caramel and coffee are present. Taste is of bananas, raisins, prunes, dates, cassis with cask, wood, butterscotch and honey on the finish. Body is full and oily.