Haunted House
Allagash Brewing Company

Beautiful brew, with huge head production, and very nice retention and lacing. Body is a bit brighter than I expected, a dark but vibrant shade of brown.

Pleasant aroma that has a rye-like spiciness to it. Slightly musty. Pine resin and a touch of citrus peel, slight roastiness from the malt, coffee, cola, and cream.

On the palate, this beer is similarly pleasant but simple. Despite the ABV, you can tell this evolved from a house or table beer, as neither the hops nor the roasted malt "pop." It doesn't come across as an IPA, and definitely leans closer to porter, but at the same time, it's not screaming the latter, either. Tasting notes follow the nose quite well. Medium-long, wet finish.

Overall, I really like this beer, and it's a nice change of pace from either "regular" IPAs or porters, but it doesn't blow me away, either.

 

The Beer Temple (Chicago, Illinois) Allagash Haunted House. Gift from @ guyfawkes during BA meetup at The Beer Temple on 10/27/22. 8 oz Tulip Glass Draft Pour.

Appearance: Pitch black base, creamy tarnish head lingers around the rim with a razor thin covering of the base. 4.25

Aroma: Nice blend of hops and malt on the nose, nice roast coffee, pine, chocolate malt. 4.5

Taste: Follows aroma, absolutely delicious. Wonderful pine a chocolate mint lead, malt and hops superbly blended. 4.75.

Mouthfeel: Body medium, light carbonation, drinks at the 6.66% ABV, balanced well, clean finish. 4.5

Overall: Glad I ended the night with this wonderful offering. An excellent Black IPA, based solely on recollection the best I ever tried. Loved everything about this beer, desperately hoping to find packaged in the future or a keg here or in Maine. 4.75

Saved a picture, but did not post on WBAYDN, but did provided a mention on 10/30/22 in NBW 119 / NBS 923.

 

Pours near black with 3.5” head and significant lacing and retention. Nose is sweet malt, pumpernickel, grassy hop. Taste is slightly dank hop, moderately bitter, bitter cola, malta beverage, sticky malt. Feel is on the heavy side, light, creamy carbonation. A nice relatively bitter dark beer.

 

 

The entire contents of two twelve ounce cans were deposited into a clear glass liter mug. The pours produced a surprising amount of tan foam. Although pleasingly dense, it receded unevenly and unattractively. Beneath the tan foam, a liquid dark brown, just slightly lighter in hue than black coffee brown, is displayed. A very nice roasted malt aroma becomes obvious and it greatly supercedes, but doesn't completely eliminate a hint of mild hops. The roasted malt taste is much less dominant than in many porters and stouts. This actually allows a subtle, but noticeable modest IPA hop bitterness to be had, a nice extra layer to the taste profile. The mouthfeel is just right for the tastes this delivers. Despite all the foam, there was little glass lacing. The fair (bad choice of words, if you consider the preciseness of what's listed as its ABV) amount of alcohol works only as a contributor to the overall taste and mouthfeel. It's an interesting and tasty hybrid between a typical porter/stout and a traditional IPA. Not too much of anything and bringing a little bit off several things, this is a well-crafted and balanced craft beer.

 

12oz canned
2 finger sand colored head with excellent staying power. Head hangs at a thick 1/4" full cap.
Dark brown body. Fully laced.
Coffee with cream in the aroma. Roasted malt and mild grassy/piney hops in a balanced aroma and flavor.
Light and bright body is a surprise, lean mouthfeel. Medium, creamy carbonation. Medium length, clean and dry finish.
Outstanding.

The bitter hops are tempered and accentuated by the roasted malt flavor. Kinda like a semi sweet choco stout. Delightful.

2025-11-29
12oz can served in a stemless rastal. Canned 07/30/25. Sent to me some time ago by the esteemed @jonphisher.

Pours black with a small head, moderate active carbonation. Smell is super roasty with a pine resin twist. Coffee and burnt toast. Slight smokiness.

Taste reveals some sweetness -- still dominated by roast. Sweetness has a vague maple and molasses character to it. Lots of pine and grapefruit zest.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, nice liveliness on the tongue. Nice beer.

I got a 6pck of cans of this beer from my local Giant Eagle store. It poured an opaque dark amber with ecru head that is leaving some lace. The scent had bold roast malt with subtle bitter hop notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with semi sweet dark chocolate malt base with roasty presence and mild bitter pine highlights. The mouthfeel was medium in body and had good carbonation. Overall it is a great beer.

A: opaque; cola brown in color; a 2 finger finely pored tan head that receded to a thin cap; very nice lacing;

S: deeply roasted grain, bittersweet chocolate, and wood;

T: woody and floral with deeply roasted grain from start to finish; bittersweet chocolate is dominant from the middle through the finish with mint getting stronger at the end and dominating in the aftertaste; moderate bitterness on the finish;

M: medium bodied ;moderate carbonation; dry finish;

O: interesting and complex flavor;

 

Cloudy, neutral brown color. Poured with a near non existent head (only rim bubbles). Small infrequent spots left behind on the glass.

Darker, chocolate malt aroma. Similar to a Brown Ale or a European dark lager to the nose.

Well balanced both in taste and in the body/carbonation mouthfeel for a darker lager. There's a bit yeast that gives the beer a homebrew flavor. The hop finish is soft but makes the beer easy to drink.

 

An excellent dark ale.

Whoa... what do we have goin on here? A hoppy dark ale?? Ok - first off, not a rate-able topic, but the art on this can is top notch for Halloween/Fall lovers. The ABV + hoppy/malt combo is rockin my socks off. Very unique, super tasty and easy to drink - the smell is pleasant too. I'm trying to think of something I don't like about it... but am coming up blank. I guess the one thing I'd say is I may only have 1 or 2 of these max. The flavor is great to mix things up - but I definitely wouldn't have more than 2 in 1 drinking session. All in all, a fantastic brew. Through and through.

On draft - dark, roasty, toasted nutty malts, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, chocolate, coffee notes, some grapefruity citrus, lemon, orange, tropical fruits, pineapple, mango, passionfruit, peach, some dried fruits, with floral earthy grassy herbal minty pine. Medium plus bodied, smooth and creamy with moderate carbonation. Overall a nice black IPA.