Pick Your Own
Allagash Brewing Company

Pick Your OwnPick Your Own
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
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:
196
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:
Photo of Budlum
Reviewed by Budlum from Maryland

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, 2018
More User Ratings:
Photo of LeRose
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
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, 2023
Photo of ovaltine
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
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, 2023
Photo of Rug
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
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, 2023
 
Rated: 3.9 by Sellen from Connecticut

Jul 08, 2022
 
Rated: 3.64 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Dec 13, 2021
 
Rated: 4 by atlbravsrno1 from Maine

Sep 25, 2021
 
Rated: 4.11 by edthehead from Maryland

Jun 24, 2021
 
Rated: 4.1 by allenson21 from New York

Aug 21, 2020
 
Rated: 4.32 by trevorpost from Pennsylvania

Jul 26, 2020
 
Rated: 5 by TallGuyCM from California

Jun 25, 2020
Photo of ScaryEd
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
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, 2020
 
Rated: 4.5 by BEER88 from North Carolina

Apr 06, 2020
 
Rated: 4.5 by XmnwildX12 from Minnesota

Feb 29, 2020
Photo of Sabtos
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
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, 2020
 
Rated: 4.25 by gardner254 from Ohio

Dec 08, 2019
Photo of HattedClassic
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
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, 2019
Photo of BilleGibbons
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
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, 2019
Photo of HoppingMadMonk
Reviewed 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
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, 2019
 
Rated: 4.49 by mattreitz49 from Florida

Oct 17, 2019
Pick Your Own from Allagash Brewing Company
Beer rating: 95 out of 100 with 196 ratings