Allagash Brewery – The Dogs of Beer

This Saturday marks the 15th annual Kennett Brewfest in Kennett Square, PA. The event organizers have really out done themselves this year bringing in over 80 breweries from around the US and overseas, over 30 of which will be pouring specialty beers at the Connoisseur Tasting (which really has turned into it’s own event).

Big events like these can be just down right daunting. To be honest, I always try to do a little homework before hand and go into these events with a game plan. But then, somewhere around beer 6 or 7, it all goes to hell as I switch to kid-in-a-candy-store mode and just go where ever the promise of beer to taste takes me.

That being said, I do try to make a mental note of some breweries whose tents I definitely want to make sure I visit. Some are breweries I’ve grown to enjoy over the years. These are great to visit in the hopes that they’re bringing something new or different from the usual beers that make their way to our area. Others are breweries that don’t normally come around this area, but their reputation proceeds them.

So with that in mind, here’s a few breweries I’ll be looking for on Saturday.

LEFT HAND BREWING Co

This Colorado based brewery started with two homebrewers who decided to just start a brewery. They got off to a good start, opening in January 1994 and then going right out and winning two gold medals at the GABF later that year (and racking up 14 more medals since). They created quite a stir at last years GABF with a release event for their Milk Stout Nitro, the first nitrogenated beer in the US not to use a widget. I’ve heard a lot about these guys and can’t wait to check them out. Beers I’m looking for: Oktoberfest, 400 Pound Monkey (English IPA) and Wake Up Dead (Imperial Stout).

ELYSIAN BREWING COMPANY

This Seattle Washington brewery has made its way it to Delaware a few times and it’s available over the Maryland state line at State Line Liquors. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries with the help of such solid beers as Bete Blanche Tripel, Dragonstooth Stout, The Immortal I.P.A., Perseus Porter and Loser Pale Ale. They’re also doing a very interesting series off beers based on the Mayan apocalypse prediction. They’re releasing a different beer every month with labels done by noted Black Hole graphic novelist Charles Burn. Most of the beers in the series have so far been pretty solid, although #5, Peste, didn’t click with me. Besides the beers that I’ve previously listed I’ll be looking for apocalypse series beers Ruin (a Rosemary, Agave IPA) and Rapture (Heather Ale).

tracvoodoo.jpg.scaled980 — Tracey enjoying a Voodoo Love Child

VOODOO BREWERY

This was high on my “must visit” list last year and they didn’t disappoint. Coming in from Meadville PA, these guys show up with Wynona’s Big Brown ale, which I really enjoyed and Tracey loved their Love Child. To be honest, not much to say other than that. Beers I’ll be Looking for: One of the 4 Season IPAs and Big Black Voodoo Daddy (Russian Imperial stout).

HILL FARMSTEAD BREWERY

This will be my first chance to try any beers from this brewery. To be honest, I’m not a big user of beer rating sites like Beer Advocate or Rate Beer, but when a brewery has 8 of their beers in Beer Advocate’s 100 most popular (using what ever devil-witchery formula they use to determine that) I have to take notice. Shaun Hill has been brewing beer in Vermont for years and for the most part, that’s where his beers have stayed. In fact, except for a few times a year when some make their way to Philly or New York (Boston is or has joined recently), the bulk of his beer is sold directly out of his gift shop. And people apparently drive for miles to get some. Beers I’ll be looking for : Anna Saison (brewed with Vermont wildflower honey), Holger Danske (a smoked brown ale) and any of the Society and Solitude series.

ALLAGASH BREWERY

This brewery is certainly no stranger to Delaware, and Tracey and I are no strangers to their beers. Their beers have been featured at bars like Two Stones Pub, Cantwell’s Tavern and Ulysess Gastropub just to name a few, and we count some of them among our favorites. Brewing out of Portland Maine, Rob Tod started out with the “simple” goal of producing first rate Belgian-style ales. To be honest I don’t really care what they bring, but if they’re pouring Four (Belgian-Style Quadruple) then I’ll be very happy. And if they’re pouring White (Belgian Style Wit) then Tracey will be happy.

There are just a boat load of good breweries showing up on Saturday besides these (21st Amendment, Weyerbacher, Stillwater, and Flying Dog just to name a few) , and don’t forget to stop by and say hi to all the local breweries who will be representing Delaware on Saturday: Argilla Brewing, Twin Lakes, Dogfish Head and Old Dominion.

See you there!

Last week the Delaware Craft Beer and Wine Lovers group met at Two Stones Pub, Newark for an Allagash (WEB:FACEBOOK:TWITTER) tap take over. Thirteen different beers were on tap that night plus some special bottles floating around. It was great to meet three new members of the DCBaWL as well as spending some talking to craft beer friends both old and new.

I’m not going to try and hide our fondness for Allagash, I think they make solid beers. Their Four is always a go to beer for me, and Tracey is happy anywhere that has their White on the beer menu. But tonight was about getting the chance to taste some beers that we normally don’t get to see (and some we may never see again).

I started the evening with a mug of the White. One, because it was the only Allagash beer they were serving in mugs and I needed to wash the taste of work out of my mouth, and two, so I could send Tracey a picture of it to encourage her to ditch work ASAP and come get some.

After that, time to switch to tasters and try some beers. First up was a side by side of Thing 1 and Thing 2 an attempt to brew two beers from the same base wort. Thing 1 is styled as a Belgian table beer at about 5% ABV. From the wort of Thing 1, 7 bbls were diverted to another tank to which regular sugar, dark candi sugar were added and some dark grains were added to steep. Both beers were good but I liked Thing 2 better, having a little more depth in the flavor. We’re off to a good start.

Next in line for some side to side was Victor and Victoria. Both beers are part of Allagash’s Tribute Series with moneys from both beers going to two different charities. While both beers are described as “Belgian Strong ales brewed with grapes”, they’re actually quite different. Victoria is brewed with a Belgian yeast and has over 200lbs of Chardonney grapes added to the mash, while Victor has over 100lbs of cabernet franc grapes added and is fermented with a wine yeast. Between the two I had to give the nod to Victoria as I found Victor to have a slight “Welch’s grape juice” note that is not a favorite of mine. Tracey waved me off however, stating that she liked the flavor of Victor and finding more complex than Victoria’s.

Next we decided it was time to take a break from the taste comparisons, so I ordered a Saison Mihm a beer brewed with honey, juniper berries, and lemongrass. I’m always dubious of beers brewed with juniper beers because I don’t like when the beer gets to “ginny”. But Mihm was nice, with a nice sweetness, none of the flavors over powering the other, and a bright finish. It would have be interesting to try this side by side against Four to see if it could displace it as my favorite beer.

IMAG0451 — Can you tell which on is Bourbon barrel aged.

Back to side by sides we go as we compared their Belgian stout Black, against its bourbon aged twin. Most of you know my feelings on bourbon beers by now, but I actually felt confident going into this tasting since Allagash makes one of my fav bourbon beers, Curieux. Indeed, I liked the bourbon Black as I didn’t find it over powering, but the normal Black is pretty good as well. Tough call here. Might be a draw.

After that I needed something to bitch-slap my palette so I went with Old HLT. What do you do with a large stainless steal tank sitting in the corner doing nothing? Why you put 30 barrels of beer in it along with 2000lbs of cherries and let it sit for 2 years, what else? This was very nice, with tart cherries and earthiness.

Next was Yakazu, a Belgian triple dry hopped with Cascade and Sorachi Ace. Definite tropical fruit notes mingle with the Sorachi Ace in the style of the triple. Nice beer.

Sometime during all this, co-owner Ben opened a bottle of Prince Tuesday and slid me a taste. The beer is a collaboration beer between Allagash/Maine Beer/Rising Tide and brewed with Maine Rye. It was a nice tasting beer and I wish I could have had a little more. Apparently it was only distributed in Maine, so thanks to whoever brought the bottle.

Pretty much beered out at that point, I grabbed a glass of the Four and walked around touching base with some craft beer and twitter peeps. The Allagash tap take over ranks up there is the best Two Stones have done, which is a testament to the quality of beers Allagash is producing. Troeg’s is on tap for next month, and they’re going to have a tough act to follow.

Time for another beer…