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Pick Your Own
Allagash Brewing Company
- From:
- Allagash Brewing Company
- Maine, United States
- Style:
- Wild Ale
Ranked #103 - ABV:
- 6.4%
- Score:
- 95
Ranked #1,256 - Avg:
- 4.32 | pDev: 8.56%
- Reviews:
- 48
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Jun 05, 2023
- Added:
- Nov 24, 2014
- Wants:
- 57
- Gots:
- 23
Pick Your Own begins as a sour red ale that’s aged in an oak foudre with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus for two years. After adding fresh, local raspberries, cherries, strawberries, and blueberries, we age it for an additional three months. The finished beer is a vibrant, ruby red with an aroma of ripe berries and vanilla. As you might expect, berries fill the flavor. Pick Your Own finishes dry with notes of bread crust and a lingering, tart juiciness.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Budlum:
Reviewed by Budlum from Maryland
4.65/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75
4.65/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75
2018 bottling - Fruit forward with perfectly balanced yeast funk. No particular fruit flavor overpowers another with sweetness that is balanced by pleasant tartness. Feel is adequately dry, but could use a bit more carbonation. Fantastic beer.
Aug 18, 2018More User Ratings:
Reviewed by LeRose from Massachusetts
4.42/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.42/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Bottled on March, 28 2018. This beer is a beautiful, clear pale red. This is remarkable given what I know about the instability of fruit pigments. It is just extraordinary in appearance.
On the nose, oh my...a delightful melding of berry notes, more or less indistinguishable as individual contributors. It's like a perfect mixed berry pie where it all tastes great but its impossible to separate individual components so masterfully unified. A very nice funk, pleasing oaky woodiness, mild vanilla. The berry smell - every sniff seems a bit different likely reflecting the berry mixture.
The taste is excellent. The berries are probably a bit muted compared to fresh, but it is a taste bud pleasing berry jumble. I get a tea note from the blueberries and raspberries, a darker note that is likely cherry, and a brighter flavor that's strawberry. There's a sweet vanilla over-ride going on here that tempers the berries just a bit. Oaky tannins. The funk is tame, but certainly contributing. The sour is mild and kind of two- phased. There's a rounded, berry-driven sour and a bit sharper acidity that I think is from the process and microbes.
The feel is light, bright, and a little tingly. The tartness is not overwhelming, but it never let's you forget what you are drinking, either.
I think all the time in the bottle for this one has just let everything come to a fantastically integrated and mellow resting place. This is another wonderful wild from Allagash.
Jun 05, 2023On the nose, oh my...a delightful melding of berry notes, more or less indistinguishable as individual contributors. It's like a perfect mixed berry pie where it all tastes great but its impossible to separate individual components so masterfully unified. A very nice funk, pleasing oaky woodiness, mild vanilla. The berry smell - every sniff seems a bit different likely reflecting the berry mixture.
The taste is excellent. The berries are probably a bit muted compared to fresh, but it is a taste bud pleasing berry jumble. I get a tea note from the blueberries and raspberries, a darker note that is likely cherry, and a brighter flavor that's strawberry. There's a sweet vanilla over-ride going on here that tempers the berries just a bit. Oaky tannins. The funk is tame, but certainly contributing. The sour is mild and kind of two- phased. There's a rounded, berry-driven sour and a bit sharper acidity that I think is from the process and microbes.
The feel is light, bright, and a little tingly. The tartness is not overwhelming, but it never let's you forget what you are drinking, either.
I think all the time in the bottle for this one has just let everything come to a fantastically integrated and mellow resting place. This is another wonderful wild from Allagash.
Reviewed by ovaltine from Indiana
4.6/5 rDev +6.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.6/5 rDev +6.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours a beautiful ruby red color with a sudsy, sizzling off white head that is anxious to leave and let you admire the strikingly beautiful body. The nose is funky and features strawberries, raspberries, cherries, and blueberries, and a nice vanilla note.
I already know I’m gonna love this.
The taste perfectly mirrors the nose, with that vanilla flavor the perfect complement to all the tart, juicy fruit flavors. This is stupendous - it’s a tart juice box for beer nerds.
The mouthfeel is bright and effervescent. I could drink this by the gallon.
Apr 08, 2023I already know I’m gonna love this.
The taste perfectly mirrors the nose, with that vanilla flavor the perfect complement to all the tart, juicy fruit flavors. This is stupendous - it’s a tart juice box for beer nerds.
The mouthfeel is bright and effervescent. I could drink this by the gallon.
Reviewed by Rug from Massachusetts
4.46/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.46/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Bottled 3/28/18, just a month short of 5 years old
Another night, another bottle from my trip to Allagash. I know I said literally last night that I wanna save them, but this one was calling my name. A combination of raspberries, cherries, strawberries, and blueberries in a sour Red Ale sounds like its right up my alley. Let’s get into it
Pours a cloudy brownish red with a finger of off white head that quickly fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing
Oh wow, this is just like a tart mixed berry sorbet in the nose. I’m picking up on aromas of tart raspberry, jammy blueberry, lemon yogurt, blackberry, sharp oak, juicy strawberry, red wine vinegar, wet hay, and sweet vanilla
It keeps up in taste, perhaps a touch less jammy but still awesome. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting tart raspberry, black cherry, lemon juice, sharp oak, juicy strawberry, wet hay, blackberry, and light vanilla. The swallow brings notes of tart raspberry, jammy blueberry, lemon yogurt, juicy strawberry, sharp oak, wet hay, sweet vanilla, light cherry, and leather
A medium body pairs with aggressive carbonation, resulting in a bracingly tart beer. Finishes a tad sticky but still goes down very easy
Man, if it’s this fruit forward still at 4 years and 11 months out, I can only imagine what it was like fresh. Another killer one from Allagash
Mar 01, 2023Another night, another bottle from my trip to Allagash. I know I said literally last night that I wanna save them, but this one was calling my name. A combination of raspberries, cherries, strawberries, and blueberries in a sour Red Ale sounds like its right up my alley. Let’s get into it
Pours a cloudy brownish red with a finger of off white head that quickly fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing
Oh wow, this is just like a tart mixed berry sorbet in the nose. I’m picking up on aromas of tart raspberry, jammy blueberry, lemon yogurt, blackberry, sharp oak, juicy strawberry, red wine vinegar, wet hay, and sweet vanilla
It keeps up in taste, perhaps a touch less jammy but still awesome. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting tart raspberry, black cherry, lemon juice, sharp oak, juicy strawberry, wet hay, blackberry, and light vanilla. The swallow brings notes of tart raspberry, jammy blueberry, lemon yogurt, juicy strawberry, sharp oak, wet hay, sweet vanilla, light cherry, and leather
A medium body pairs with aggressive carbonation, resulting in a bracingly tart beer. Finishes a tad sticky but still goes down very easy
Man, if it’s this fruit forward still at 4 years and 11 months out, I can only imagine what it was like fresh. Another killer one from Allagash
Reviewed by ScaryEd from New Hampshire
4.49/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.49/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 350 ml bottle into a chalice.
Pours a deep, hazy Ruby color with a finger of light pink head. The head is gone in a hurry, leaving a few spots of lacing before settling into a thin halo.
The aroma comes exactly as advertised: Loads of tart cherries, raspberries and blueberries with some sweeter notes of strawberries, vanilla, and wood chips. There's some faint funky notes on the back end.
The flavor is pretty ridiculous. Waves of tart cherries, black raspberries, blueberries, lemon, and lactic acid before a decent amount of vanilla, oak chips, hay and funk. There's a hint of vinegar and green apple throughout.
The feel is light bodied with a ton of carbonation. Very crisp, acidic, and tart.
Overall, this is a fantastic wild ale. It's pretty much what you come to expect from the style: Exceptionally tart, crisp, and fruity.
Jun 10, 2020Pours a deep, hazy Ruby color with a finger of light pink head. The head is gone in a hurry, leaving a few spots of lacing before settling into a thin halo.
The aroma comes exactly as advertised: Loads of tart cherries, raspberries and blueberries with some sweeter notes of strawberries, vanilla, and wood chips. There's some faint funky notes on the back end.
The flavor is pretty ridiculous. Waves of tart cherries, black raspberries, blueberries, lemon, and lactic acid before a decent amount of vanilla, oak chips, hay and funk. There's a hint of vinegar and green apple throughout.
The feel is light bodied with a ton of carbonation. Very crisp, acidic, and tart.
Overall, this is a fantastic wild ale. It's pretty much what you come to expect from the style: Exceptionally tart, crisp, and fruity.
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio
4.24/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.24/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Clear vibrant red with a short but fluffy white head quickly settling to a thin film.
This has a nice funk that's mild, where the strawberry is happily the most forward fruit in the effervescent but firmly carbonated body that comes to a semi-dry finish.
Feb 07, 2020This has a nice funk that's mild, where the strawberry is happily the most forward fruit in the effervescent but firmly carbonated body that comes to a semi-dry finish.
Reviewed by HattedClassic from Virginia
4.31/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.31/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
The beer pours as nice bubbly off-white head that dissipates very quickly while the beer itself is a clear red grape color with light brown hues. It looks nice and pretty good.
The smell is absolutely delicious with raspberry and black berry jam notes followed by a sugary strawberry note in the finish. The tart and funk note add a nice contrast to the sweeter and jammier notes.
The taste is good. It still has the jam notes from the various berries but it's fairly tart up front that it detracts from the taste a little bit.
The feel is good. It has a light body and biting carbonation alongside an acidic feel from the bacteria.
Overall, this is a pretty good beer and certainly worth getting but probably drinking fresh rather than holding on to it.
Dec 07, 2019The smell is absolutely delicious with raspberry and black berry jam notes followed by a sugary strawberry note in the finish. The tart and funk note add a nice contrast to the sweeter and jammier notes.
The taste is good. It still has the jam notes from the various berries but it's fairly tart up front that it detracts from the taste a little bit.
The feel is good. It has a light body and biting carbonation alongside an acidic feel from the bacteria.
Overall, this is a pretty good beer and certainly worth getting but probably drinking fresh rather than holding on to it.
Reviewed by BilleGibbons from Pennsylvania
4.35/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.35/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Nice sour and tart taste. Strawberries, blueberries, all com through. Very nice sweet finish. Lots of carbonation. Deep purple in color. Wonderful on a nice warm day.
Nov 29, 2019Reviewed by HoppingMadMonk from New Jersey
4.34/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Nice aroma of strawberry, cherry,wood, sour fruit, grape,
Taste was a little sour but subdued which really allowed the strawberry to come through. Grape peel,earthy/wood, lactose
Really excellent fruited beer where the fruit was very distinct and easy to notice what fruits were there
Nov 06, 2019Taste was a little sour but subdued which really allowed the strawberry to come through. Grape peel,earthy/wood, lactose
Really excellent fruited beer where the fruit was very distinct and easy to notice what fruits were there
Pick Your Own from Allagash Brewing Company
Beer rating:
95 out of
100 with
196 ratings
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