Allagash Summer Ale

Formerly brewed at Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Ale
Portland, Maine USA

It’s a good summer beer. I like summer beers... they taste fruity and sweet. and delicate they are nice.

If you like your Belgians high in alcohol with lots of oomph, don't try this beer, the beauty and complexity of this beer is there precisely because this beer is not a super charged 'American' Belgian ale.
.
This beer was batch #7. This beer pours a hazy orangish gold to copper color, it has a lively carbonation and a dense cream colored head. The aroma is fruity but grassy, with a floral hop note, there is a yeasty-musty-herbal note to it as well, basically it has a pretty complex aroma. This is a light refreshing brew, a style that so many breweries do not pay attention to or just do plain poorly. It is slightly sweet, but mostly dry, and the carbonation just dances on my tongue. There is a hint of banana in the finish, a bit of sharp biting carbonic acidity (from the carbonation obviously). At only 5% alcohol by volume this is a wonderfully complex Belgian ale. This beer is lightly bittered in the finish and it seems to have some woodiness to it as well. This would pair really well with a light nutty creamy cheese. As it warms up the malt brings a certain softness to this beer. There is still a bit of barely perceptible acidity and a fruitiness that, in combination, remind me a bit of cider. This beer has a definite malt backbone to it and though light and refreshing it has a wonderful mouth coating feel to it as it flows down my throat.

Aweseome cidery and spicy aroma. Champagne like mouthfeel, nicely carbonated. Flavor of cider, apples, grapes, bready yeast, and a light hop finish. Very refreshing , very enjoyable. I don’t think i will ever tire of this one.

Batch #10. Pours a light copper color with a great, lasting head and good legs. Aroma is of toasted malts, apples, and a floral boquet, perhaps roses. A slight hop nose. Taste includes apples, apricots, orange peel, and a strong malt flavor. A good mouthfeel with a carbonation packed afterbite.

A woderfully cloudy appeaance within a gold color with a thick, tight head when poured but dissipates into a thin, white layer. Big clovey spiciness at the forefront of the aroma with lemon and a slight soapiness. Flavor is big belgian spiciness not unlike a saison with clove, ginger, pepper, lemon, cedar, and an earthy mustiness....yum. It is dry but there is also a silkiness to the overall palate. The flavor is much more complex than the aroma, but this is a nice beer and deserves extreme kudos for this level of flavor and that low of an alcohol content. This ale has the balance of Dupont Moinette and less alcohol than Dupont Saison.

I tasted this beer in a 12 ounce bottle. I thought it was a tasty and delightful beer. The taste of wet cardboard was a bit over-done but the yeasty finish washed my palate of the taste.

Rating for Allagash Speciale Reserve Batch no. 6 (05.04.06) One pint, 9.4 oz brown bottle from DiCarlo’s, Mundelein, IL. 5% ABV. Clear orange with medium off-white head. Soft carbonation. Characteristic Belgium ale spicy fruity aroma. Full bodied Belgium-style ale that starts dry with light malt sweetness. Caramel and biscuit flavors from toasted malt. Finished dry with light malt fade. No characteristic Belgium ale funkiness and sourness. Rich and smooth in the mouth. A delicious and eminently drinkable ale.