Little Sal
Allagash Brewing Company

Little SalLittle Sal
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From:
Allagash Brewing Company
 
Maine, United States
Style:
Wild Ale
Ranked #218
ABV:
6.5%
Score:
94
Ranked #2,498
Avg:
4.24 | pDev: 8.73%
Reviews:
37
Ratings:
149
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 27, 2023
Added:
May 05, 2014
Wants:
  79
Gots:
  21
Few things are more synonymous with Maine than blueberries. After we spent years making fruit beers, a tiny farm in Windham, Maine asked us to try a beer with their blueberries. We were so happy with the result, we decided to use their entire crop.
We add two pounds of blueberries per gallon to sour red beer and age it for six months in a red wine barrel. The resulting beer is dark violet in color, with earthy aromas of blueberry and oak, and juicy, tart flavors of blueberry.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by DrBier:
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Rated by DrBier from Pennsylvania

4.34/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Feb 23, 2017
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.3 by StoutSnob40 from California

Nov 27, 2023
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Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

4.16/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
375ml bottle at share. Light ruby body with a small airy white head. Light fruity aroma, grapes. Taste is mildly tart, adding some faint berry notes to the grapes, woody. .
Nov 08, 2023
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Reviewed by JamFuel from Sweden

4.46/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark reddish purple with low, pinkish head.

Smell is tart and vinous with tons of blueberries and added notes of red wine, oak, vanilla sloe, blueberry jam and some lime.

Taste is tart and vinous with very nice acidity. Notes of blueberries, blueberry jam, wood, red wine, sloe, lemon, lime and cherries with a slight charred oak hint. Lots of depth.

Mouthfeel is medium, dry and brightly carbonated.

Overall, a great blueberry sour, where the berries really shine. Great complexity as well.
Jul 12, 2022
 
Rated: 4.14 by Roguer from Connecticut

Jul 10, 2022
 
Rated: 4.29 by hopley from Massachusetts

Jul 05, 2022
 
Rated: 4.5 by NYR-Zuuuuc from Connecticut

Apr 13, 2022
 
Rated: 3.59 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Jan 21, 2022
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Reviewed by Beersnake from California

4.31/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured at fridge temp. Pours a nice reddish brown with little head. Nose is blueberries, funk, lemon, wheat, and a bit of vanilla. Taste is insanely good. Quite sour initially, but this doesn't last long. The second sip starts to bring out the flavors. Blueberries for sure. Raspberries, lemon meringue, grass, funk, and sour. Acidic and sharp. Bread. This is a really fun and interesting beer. Mouthfeel is fairly light. Overall, this is a wonderful sour. It doesn't pack the punch that some do, but it's fantastic.
Jan 15, 2022
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Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut

3.78/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bottled on 1/18/2018; consumed on 12/26/2021

Pours a clear, deep magenta with sharper ruby accents and capped with two and a half fingers of airy, pale rosé-hued foam; excellent head retention leaves a thin yet lush layer of cap, a large, creamy collar, and no substantial lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma highlights a fresh, slightly funky minerality upfront, with deeper sensations of semi-sweet red wine tannins engaging prickly oak barrel over the middle, reaching deeper to a distant core of blueberry pie filling as peppery blackberry and a quieter vinous quality fades with a clean, lacto-funk close.

Taste shows tinges of lacto-funk with a soft minerality to start, phasing steadily toward oak over the mid-palate as red wine tannins with subtle blueberry esters take hold of the profile and finish with juicy dark fruit must.

Mouthfeel offers a medium-light body with a soft, moderate-low carbonation driving a casual spritz over the mid-palate and an extended mild tartness and minimal acidity into the back end, where a dry, oaky prickle is textured with a juicy backing accent and a slick smoothness glosses to a wetter finish.

A subtle one-dimensionality isn't unwelcome here, though the fruit does largely cede to the brighter lactic funk aspects assuredly evolved over the nearly 4 years in the bottle; in many ways basic and cresting with age, a persistent air of refinement never does quite abandon this wild ale.
Dec 27, 2021
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Reviewed by PEBKAC from North Carolina

4.11/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
I think I bought this in Brevard early in 2020. My wife had had this before & my focus had slipped. Price made me wince.

Quick-hitting faintly blushed head. Violet grape drank.

Jammy sour & sharp berry wine & grape Skittles nose. Not getting obvious & ordinary blueberry.

Pucker sour, berry, lime, lots of stem & pithy bitterness. Bright. Thinned out red wine in sauce. Lingering blueberry skin finish.

High acid, very carbonated, obviously dry. I oddly feel somewhat incapacitated for a 6% brew.

Wait for the backwash. Good.
Nov 15, 2021
 
Rated: 4 by atlbravsrno1 from Maine

Sep 19, 2021
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Reviewed by Bouleboubier from New Jersey

4.15/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
(375 ml bottle, bottled on Dec. 12, 2019; purchased cold bottle... poured into a St. Bernardus chalice)

L: moderately obscured, reddish-purple colored liquid; foam sustained but fizzed away after pour; foam began slow escape once bottle uncorked, but did not gush

S: definite blueberry on the nose, bit of a berry shrub (vinegar) back note, along with a subtle earthy woodiness... jammy overtone pervades after a few moments

T: mildly-funky, acidic tartness dominates, backed by a tannic, blueberry skin flavor; ultimately dry, however, the fruit essence persists in the aftertaste, continuing that berry shrub (and phantom sugar) character... dryness and an almost peppery spice become more prominent as it goes, as does the wine barrel character; later still, the malt surfaces

F: spritzy, acidic, slight warmth; also sports a delicate silky viscosity over the palate floor... the body is not too thin; residual drag subtle

O: delightful all around; blueberry far from buried or absent... I would definitely get this again, but I've only started to open my wallet to the wild Allagash range at my local bottle shop (celebrating an anniversary with this purchase) so it may be awhile before I get back to this (1775)
Jun 27, 2021
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Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.47/5  rDev -18.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Little Sal from Allagash Brewing. Received on 9/4/21 from @Rub_This_BBQ in NBW BIF #13. 12.7 oz cork and cage brown bottle stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 18/6/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
On front label “Date Bottled Dec 12, 2019”. Served at 50.5 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 53.7 degrees.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour - Begins amaranth and clear.
Body – Reddish-brown (SRM 20), murky and opaque. When rear-lite, blood red and translucent.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.5 cm, aggressive center pour), pink and fizzy, low density, short retention, diminishing to leave neither crown nor cap. Constant rapid bubbling occurs around the edge.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.5 – Vinous with weak blueberry. No malt, no hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 3.5 – Begins slightly sour and vinous with weak blueberry. Some transitory grape flavors occur. No malt, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (6 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Gastric warming does not occur. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. End with a trace of tannic acid.
Palate – 3 – Thin, watery, aggressive carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Over-carbonation makes it difficult to enjoy the mild blueberry presence.
Jun 18, 2021
 
Rated: 4.23 by emptyglassagain from Massachusetts

Jun 14, 2021
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Reviewed by Rug from Massachusetts

4.52/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Bottled 12/12/19

Allagash sours are almost always incredible. And incorporating blueberries into a wild ale is very tough to pull off. However, I trust the folks over at Allagash with this one, which I've wanted for quite some time but just finally found the other day. I'm too excited so let's just jump right in

Pours an opaque ruby brown with 2 fingers of pink tinted white head that quickly fades to a ring and leaves no lacing

This is comparable in the nose to many of my other favorites from them, but the blueberries add a depth that I haven't experienced before, really softening everything surrounding them. I'm picking up on aromas of underripe blueberry, red grape, tart lemon, smooth oak, funky leather, and light doughy malt

The blueberries come through even more in the taste here, feeling very fresh and authentic. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting tart raspberry, tart blueberry, lemon peel, smooth oak, and light funk. The swallow brings notes of red wine vinegar, tart blueberry, old leather, overripe strawberry, wet hay, and a hint of white pepper

A medium body pairs with mild tingling carbonation, resulting in a crisp and super refreshing beer. Finishes mostly dry with an almost stinging tartness

This is a great beer. It just feels so alive and exciting while staying down to earth with funk and a slight spice. Great stuff, I hope to pick up more one day
Apr 14, 2021
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Reviewed by Seadiver66 from Pennsylvania

4.65/5  rDev +9.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
I’m not going all crazy descriptive like some folks. I don’t have such an eloquent vocabulary to talk about stone fruits and leather and all that crap. No. I just talk about the beer. A GREAT beer named Little Sal. Should call it Big Sal because it’s huge. Phenomenal blueberry taste that shines through the sour/wild flavor. My buddy picked up a stray 2019 1/6 keg at a distributor I turned him on to years ago. That was a mistake because he grabs all the good stuff now and doesn’t tell me before I can get to it. He’s a bum like that. He’s from Europe. Anyway, this beer is absolutely one of the best beers I’ve ever had of any style. Exceptional beer. And I’ve had ‘em all. The best beers on the planet. Almost anyway. If you like sours/wild ales (same thing basically) and you like the fruits, especially blueberry like me. You will soil your pants if you can try it. I’m on the hunt for a keg now next time Allagash makes some. It’s so freakin good I will drive to Maine to get it if necessary. I don’t care. Cheers!!
Mar 14, 2021
 
Rated: 3.49 by Dactrius from Netherlands Antilles

Sep 17, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by TallGuyCM from California

Jun 17, 2020
Little Sal from Allagash Brewing Company
Beer rating: 94 out of 100 with 149 ratings