Allagash Brewing Company – Haunted House

Tags

Allagash Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Fall, Halloween, Maine, New England, October

With Halloween right around the corner, at last the time is right to unveil my final pickup from Allagash Brewing Company last month!

Beer Name: Haunted House

Brewery: Allagash Brewing Company

Style: Hoppy Dark Ale

ABV: 6.66%

Description: Inspired by the brewers’ love of porters and their own House beer, a low-ABV Belgian pale ale.

Appearance: Black body with about a finger’s worth of tan head

Smell: Not entirely unlike a Belgian pale ale mixed with a toasty porter.

Taste: It opened with notes of light roast coffee, dark chocolate and creamy dark malt upfront.  Midsip it took on some more grainy, pale malt tastes.  It closed with a well balanced blend of Belgian yeast, earthy hops, and roast coffee.

Mouthfeel: Smooth medium body with slightly below moderate carbonation.

Hype: I had some higher than usual excitement about this one.  It had eluded me in years past so I was happy to finally track it down.

Overall: Smooth and easy drinking despite the rather interesting blend of tastes.  An excellent Halloween treat!

Advertisement

Maine Trip – Part Three: Bissell Brothers Brewing Company, Portland, ME

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Bissell Brothers Brewing, Maine, New England

The final installment of our Maine brewery adventure happened on our return home with a quick pit stop at Bissell …

Continue reading →

Maine Trip – Part Two: Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME

Tags

Allagash Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Maine, New England

Our second stop along Industrial Way was Allagash Brewing Company, one of my favorite “classic” craft beer breweries.  Founded back in 1995, they’ve been consistently serving up some of the best Belgian-inspired brews the New England area has to offer.  Picking up the beer was super easy, after ordering from the road the no contact curbside pickup only took a few minutes.  We did, however, linger in the parking for a little bit longer than that to pick up a pair of delicious lobster rolls from the Bite into Maine food truck that frequents the brewery.

My first beer out the gate from them was their iconic Allagash White.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one since it’s been listed here before, but if you’re not familiar with this one do yourself a favor and try it out.  Checking in at 5.2%, this Witbier is easy drinking with light notes of orange peel, coriander, and wheat.  It has been a long time goto of mine, so we picked up a 12 pack to stock the fridge with.  It was definitely a good decision.

Beer number two was North Sky, a new to me 7.5% Belgian stout.  It poured a dark brown/black looking body topped by a thin off-white head.  Taste-wise it offered creamy, light roasted notes throughout with hints of dark fruit sweetness on the finish.  The beer had low carbonation and a super smooth body that made it really easy to sit back with and enjoy both outdoors and in.  I was a big fan of this one and enjoyed a few of these under the stars.

My third and final beer from Allagash was, well, one I’m not ready to share yet.  It’s not something I really need to hype by being all secretive or anything, let’s just say that the time is not yet right.  Before I get to that one, though, I do have one more brewery experience to share at the end of the week.

Maine Trip – Part One: Definitive Brewing Company, Portland, ME

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Brewery Visit, Definitive, Maine, New England, Portland

It feels like it’s been ages since my last visit to a new brewery, but here we go again!  To celebrate our 10th Anniversary my wife and I made our way up to Isleboro, Maine last week to socially distance at a guest house on a beautiful seaside estate.  Along the way there and back we stopped off at a few breweries that, combined with some much needed time off, got me back in that blogging feeling.

Our first stop on the way up was along Portland’s legendary Industrial Way, the current (and former) location of many of Maine’s most popular breweries.  It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and the brewery corridor was pretty active, but fortunately the various establishments and their patrons looked to take distancing and mask wearing seriously.  While we didn’t have time to visit all the breweries clustered together (funny how a child and a pandemic can change your priorities), I did manage to assemble a nice collection of brews to enjoy during our stay on the island.

For today’s post I am going to first report on the new (to me) place we visited, Definitive Brewing Company.  It opened up in 2017 which was a good two-plus years after our last visit to the area but occupied some familiar territory across the street from Allagash Brewing Company.  Though I only purchased beer to go, they did look to have some nice outdoor beneath tents they had set up in the front and rear of the lot.  I side stepped all this, however, for the side pickup window to collect the cans I pre-ordered from the road.

My first taste of the brewery was an 8.3% NEIPA called Particles.  It poured to a hazy, dark yellow body with a fluffy layer of foam across the top and gave some huge tropical aromas on the way into the glass.  Taste wise it offered up some nice tropical and kiwi notes upfront and finished with an assertive, hazy bitterness highlighted by hints of lemon.  Overall it was a solid example of the style that I enjoyed drinking.  I could easily see someone giving this higher lower marks depending upon what they look for in their NEIPAs.

My second brew from them was a 7.2% dessert stout appropriately named Stuffed.  Officially labeled as a double milk stout, the beer was conditioned atop “chocolate sandwich cookies” and certainly drank as such.  It poured thick and in the glass had a black colored body topped by a thin tannish head that was quick to dissipate.  It smelled chocolately and slightly sweet and tasted of thick cream and chocolate upfront, a doughy cookie middle, and a light roasted chocolate finish.  Its medium-plus body carried the big flavors well and managed to not be so thick that it made finishing the beer a chore.  I would definitely recommend this as tasty and satisfying dessert stout, though I really can’t imagine drinking more than one in a sitting.

My third and final brew from Definitive was Bass Reflex, a 7.0% DDH NEIPA hopped with Citra, Cascade, and El Dorado.  It came out of the can to reveal a cloudy pineapple-juice colored body topped by a foamy white head that left distinct lacing on the glass as the beverage went on.  It had some big tropical aromas that carried through to the opening taste before arriving at a hazy, resinous bitterness on the end.  The body was standard for the style and had a pleasant fluffy feeling that I really enjoyed for reasons I can’t fully explain.  I really liked this one and found it very on point for the style.

And that wraps up things for today.  Later on this week I’ll take a quick look at the second brewery we hit up.  Stay healthy my friends!

Foundation Brewing Company – Forge

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Foundation Brewing Company, Maine, New England, Stout

We’re well into the winter season now, so I’ll do my part to keep us all warm by sharing some more stout.

 Beer Name: Forge

Brewery: Foundation Brewing Company (Portland, ME)

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 10%

Description: A “potent” stout brimming with roasted malt and chocolate flavors, this brew features a robust malt bill and fair among hops as well.  You can find some pretty detailed specs here on the company website.

Appearance: It poured a dark cola brown/black body with tan lacing across the edges of the glass.

Smell: Sweet chocolate with a mild amount of bitter roast in the background.

Taste: Rich dark malts dominate the front of this brew, accentuated by notes of cream and chocolate.  The roast returns on the finish where it is joined by a robust piney bitterness and just a touch of alcohol after sitting for a bit.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-plus body with low carbonation.

Hype: Elevated.  I’ve really enjoyed most beers I’ve had from this brewery.

Overall: Really tasty.  It had been a little while since the last time I had a brew that hit all these different flavor notes and this one reminded me.of how great they can be together.  Must try for fans of the style.

Rising Tide Brewing Company – Ishmael

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Maine, New England, Rising Tide Brewing Company

This next beer found its why into my fridge courtesy of the singles section at my local grocery store.

Beer Name: Ishmael

Brewery: Rising Tide Brewing Company (Portland, ME)

Style: Copper Ale

ABV: 4.9%

Description: An altbier/amber ale/copper ale concoction named for the protagonist of Moby Dick.  Read all about the recipe and why the brewers categorize this the way they do here.

Appearance: Poured out the can to a copper colored, cloudy yet see-through body.  Across the top there was a half-finger of slightly off-white foam.

Smell: Mild to moderate aromas of sweet malt.

Taste: Sweet and malty upfront, featuring some nice caramel notes followed by a mild yeasty presence.  The ending bought on a light amount of bitterness in the form of earthy/piney hops

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a smooth, mildly carbonated finish.

Hype: None really, though I was rather curious to see how this one would turn out.  I remember drinking this being a beer fest staple back in my early days of getting into beer so I was interested to see what I thought of it now.

Overall: I liked this.  It didn’t necessarily “wow” me, but it deliver exactly what I hoped to get out of it.  Nice smooth malt flavor with a little bit of bitterness on the end, this relatively low ABV offering was a good beer to unwind with.

Banded Brewing Company & Orono Brewing – Hangry

Tags

Banded Brewing Company, Beer, Beer Review, Candy, Craft Beer, Halloween, Maine, New England, Orono Brewing Company

Happy November!  I’m back after taking a bit of break following all those posts I made in the build up to Halloween.  My original plan for this next beer was to drink it on or around the holiday, but, as crazy as this sounds, I ended up running out of time.  Hopefully no one’s too sick of candy yet to think about this one!

Beer Name: Hangry

Brewery: Banded Brewing Company (Biddeford, ME) & Orono Brewing (Orono, ME)

Style: Porter

ABV: 7.8%

Description: Playing on both the taste and recent ad campaign of a rather well-known candy bar, this porter was brewed up in Maine with nougat and peanut butter.

Appearance: Poured a black body with a thin, creamy light tan head.

Smell: Notes of chocolate, nougat, peanut butter, and I want to say vanilla.

Taste: A very close approximation of the smell.  The beer opened with notes of chocolate that were soon followed by a mix of nougat and peanuts, with perhaps some grains thrown in as well.  Chocolate came back for the finish, but was slightly more bittersweet than

Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-plus body with low-level carbonation.

Hype: Not really any external hype on this one, but I was pretty sure it would either be amazing or a big miss with little room in between.

Overall: I of course sampled a Snickers bar while drinking this beer so I could make a comparison between the two.  Overall I would say that while the beer was not quite as sweet as the candy since it replaced the latter’s caramel sweetness with a more roasty/bitter chocolate taste, the brewers were actually close to the mark with this.  It was a pretty good novelty brew and while I don’t think this was something I would reach for on a regular basis, it did make for a very enjoyable post-Halloween treat.

Funky Bow Brewery and Beer Company – Panama Red

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Funky Bow Brewery, Maine, New England, Red IPA

Despite the stubborn tenacity of wintry weather in my area, it seems that my preferences in beer are gradually drifting away from big stouts for the time being.  Looks like hoppy red ales are becoming my go to style of late-winter/early spring.

Beer Name: Panama Red Ale

Brewery: Funky Bow Brewery and Beer Company (Lyman, Maine)

Style: Red Ale

ABV: 7.5%

Description: Listed as a red ale brewed to provide a balance of bready caramel malts and Centennial hops.  Read all about here on the brewery website.

Appearance: Poured a murky, deep-red/amber body with light tan foam up top. Some sediment could be seen floating in the glass.

Smell: Sweet caramel malt on top of a sticky hop bitterness.

Taste: Started out with a solid backbone of creamy caramel malts combined with a slight bit of citrus sweetness on the edges.  The finish brought on a slightly more than moderate amount of bitterness in the form of grapefruit and a blend of spicy and floral hops.  A mild hop presence and crackery malt tastes lingered a for a few seconds post-sip.

Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body with a roughly moderate amount of carbonation.

Hype: Another situation where any hype involved was more of a personal thing.  I’ve officially started hunting down red IPAs again and the guy in the beer store mentioned this was a good one.

Overall: I was quite pleased with this one.  Although I tend to prefer piney hops with my caramel malts, this particular blend of floral hops really worked for me.  Definitely going to seek out more.

Foundation Brewing Company – Ember

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Foundation Brewing Company, Maine, New England, Portland

This was something of a surprise pickup for me.  I went into the store with a plan to focus on more seasonally themed brews, but then I overheard two customers talking about a red IPA they saw on the shelves.  Have I mentioned that this is my favorite style?

Beer Name: Ember

Brewery: Foundation Brewing Company (Portland, ME)

Style: Red IPA

ABV: 7./%

Description: A red IPA said to blend big, sticky hop flavors with tropical fruit.  You can get more of the details here on the website.  Canned on 10/09/2017.

Appearance: Light brownish/red body with almost a finger’s worth of light tan head.

Smell: Sticky sweet tropical fruits mixed with piney bitterness.

Taste: Aggressive, raw pine sap bitterness right from the start that was quickly joined by a tropical fruit sweetness.  These flavors lingered on into the finish where they were joined by light, crackery malt base and a slightly floral hop presence.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a slightly more than moderate amount of carbonation.

Hype: Generally elevated.  The brewery has a pretty solid reputation in these parts and it’s a fairly recent development for their cans to see distribution.

Overall: Good, but not quite what I expected from red IPA.  The bitterness level was a bit elevated for my preference, especially since it was dialed up way higher than the sweetness.  I did like the introduction of tropical fruits to the mix though, and this gets bonus points for the Emberer Palpatine pun on the bottom of the can.  I think hopheads and people less picky about red IPAs would really enjoy this; I just happen to have very particular expectations for the style.

Summer Session: Peak Organic – Fresh Cut

Tags

Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Maine, New England, Peak Organic Brewing Company

Last week it was my turn to pick out the Friday afternoon work beer again.  It was pretty hot out that day, so my orders were to bring back something not too heavy.  Fortunately I’ve been doing plenty of research on that sort of thing lately.

Beer Name: Fresh Cut

Brewer: Peak Organic Brewing Company

Style: Czech Pilsner

ABV: 4.6%

Description: Described in some detail by the brewers here, this pilsner was dry hopped with Chinook, Citra, and Centennial to give an IPA-like quality.  I picked up a six-pack of cans at a convenience store for $12.99, a price point I felt was reflective of location.  The cans were pretty fresh at least, bearing a 6/10/2016 date stamp.  We happened to have some pilsner glasses hanging around the office, one of which I put to good use for this review.

Appearance: It poured a translucent, pale yellow/straw-colored body topped off by a plentiful foamy white head.  The head eventually settled down somewhat, but did stick around for a significant portion of the drinking experience.

Smell: Mild sweetness mixed with grassy and piney hops.

Taste: Crisp, clean, and surprisingly hoppy, this beer was true to the brewer’s notes and a near perfect pilsner/IPA hybrid.  Light bready malts, a touch of citrus zest, and a grassy, earthy hop bitterness all combined to make this one flavorful beverage.  Each component had its place in giving the beer a light and refreshing taste that highlighted the best aspects of each style it aspired to.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate-plus carbonation.  Suited the taste profile very well.

Hype Factor: No hype here.  Honestly, I decided on this brew because I needed to come back with something not too heavy and it seemed like the best option available even though I wasn’t quite sure I was in the mood for a pilsner.

Overall: This turned out be an excellent choice, even at what I felt was a downtown price markup.  It was a really good, refreshing beer that delivered exactly what we were looking for at the end of a stressful summer day in the office.  I think this would have been a solid pilsner on its own, but the dry hopping took the beer to another level by adding an extra dimension of flavor that complimented the base brew nicely.  Satisfying pickup.