Allagash Vagabond

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

Bottle opens with a loud pop, mahogany pour with a thin line of filmy offwhite head. Aroma is boozey with maple syrup, sweet caramel and a peaty scotch element that ravishes my notrils. Flavor is sour caramel at first and then morphs into a boozey bourbon and vanilla. This proceeds to soften into a nutty almond or hazelnut, all the while maintaining a mellow woodiness. Uniwue , a one of a kind evolution of complex taste that takes place starting with the inhale and ending with the sit back and reflect. Incredibly complex and awesome.

Aroma of leather, dark fruits, sugary syrup. A hint of horse blanket. Appearance is tan slightly hazy with a ring of little bubbles. There’s some floating carbonation up top. Flavor is very oak and woody and sour. Very smooth this beer is a lot like a champagne, the finish is dry and very clean for a beer this robust. No alcohol burn, but there’s a bit of it in the nose. This is an oaky sour dry and clean beer. Very unique and quite lovely.

Pour is slightly hazy brown with a minimal white head. Aroma is whiskey, bourbon, scotch, vanilla, caramel, maple, dark fruit, a slight funk, and copious booze. Flavor is caramel, maple syrup, pickled vinegar brine, bourbon, vanilla, and hazelnut-almond. Palate is rich, thick, warming, and thoroughly pillowy with a manly quantity of alcohol nature. So unique and enjoyable.

Mahogany pour, definite sediment, with minimal head. Aroma is loaded with bourbon, oak, booze, caramel syrup, and a bit of dark fruit. At first this smell seems one-dimensionally like whiskey, but the complexities slowly express themselves, and it becomes truly excellent. Flavor has a really interesting aspect of pickle, like vinegar and dill. The boozy bourbon and vanilla is still present, along with maple syrup. At the finish, a note of toasted almond, hazelnut, and marzipan- exquisitely sweet final flavor that leaves the tongue longing for more. The different levels of flavor in this beer are vast and impressive. While this is not a BSA and should be re-categorized, this is an incredible and unique beer that should be coveted by all. Thanks to jblauvs for getting his hands on this one- truly a treat.

(375 ml bottle from the brewery) Smooth, sour and woody...Pours rubyish brown with only a very small biege head. Aroma - first thing that hits is sourness, this is followed by maply brown sugariness, dark sour fruits, a fair bit of wood and hints of bourbon. Mouthfeel is smooth, almost buttery soft, like the soft, smooth wood on the inside of a barrel, lots of sour tingliness. Flavor of contrasting sourness and brown sugary and maply wood. ABV is not a factor in the taste. More sour than anything - not hit you over the head sour, but sour. I’d call this a sour ale more than a Belgian. Almost as good as Gargamel and maybe a little reminiscent of NG Unplugged Enigma.

375ml. thanks kan for sharing, Pours hazed ruby red with off white head. Nose of butterscotch brandy diacytel bomb, some oak and cherry too. Flavors wow what a diacytel butterscotchy bomb. plummy notes, sour vinegary finish. They’ve made a horrible mistake.

375ml bottle from a very kind soul... Pours a dark reddish mohogany brown with a medium soapy frothy white head... Aroma is hugely barrel and bourbon forward, some tobacco and a light smokiness... Bourbon forward with caramel and vanilla upfront then quickly turns into a buttered-popcorn mess with huge diacytel notes. Yikes. Carbonation level is lively but nothing really helps the fact that it doesn’t come together well. Plum comes into play in a similar manner like Joe the plum.

POured brown. Nose is sweet ripe fruits, tart acedic acid, apple cider vinegar, wood, plums and fig. Flavor is a fruity unripe sour, apple peel, dry wood, funk, sharp vinegar sourness.