Burnham Road
Allagash Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On-tap at the Brick Store Pub. Pours a beautiful dark amber with a perfect head- 5 inches to start, tightly knit and not too foamy, and with nice lacing. Smells fruity, slightly funky, a bit smokey, and slightly medicinal. I'm not a huge fan of those medicinal notes in a beer, even in smoked beers, but this is subtle enough in the nose to not be out of place. Unfortunately, it picks up a bit in the taste, and lends a band-aid note. There is also a firepit smokiness than redeems things a bit. Very dry smoke notes- not bacony at all. The band-aid reemerges on the finish. Somewhat sharp on the finish. This beer should be right up my alley, but the phenolic notes somewhat spoil a good party.

A: The beer is clear, dark golden yellow in color and poured with a thin beige head that faded away and left a thin ring of bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: There are moderate aromas of smoke in the nose.
T: The taste dominated by smoke, but the smoky flavors are not overpowering and are balanced by the underlying malts.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
D: The beer is relatively easy to drink because the alcohol is well hidden and the smoky flavors don't overpower your taste buds.

Allagash Burhnam Road Belgian-Style Smoked Ale

This apparently rare brew came to Beer Run, C'ville after the owner spoke to the brewmaster.

A: Rich copper, quite 'full' in appearance, as in it's not crystal clear. White head, leaving a modest, ghosting sheet behind.

S + T: Modest smoked malts, paired with fruit esters of the yeast strain. There seems to be a possible wheat quality to it... Rather delicate, which I can appreciate in a smoked beer, where the flavour can be very intense.

M + D: Softer in body, with a smooth feel to bit. Moderate carbonation. Not a bad brew at all. They handled the brewing well, keeping it modest and that is worth noting.

A: medium brown (where are the rest of my notes?)

S: nicely smoky, like wood chips

T: lot of malt in the middle, with the smoke being more apparent in the finish

M: a little fizzier than I expected for something smoky

D: I'd definitely like to have more of this, because it's something unique and typically unavailable

This was the first time I'd heard of this beer, so everything about it was a pleasant surprise.

i'll preface the review by pointing out that most--if not all of my smoked beer experiences--have been of the bamburgian mold: bacon in a glass...

the color was a brownish with amber highlights. ok lacing

big smoky aroma: sulfury, woodsy (unrefined) but charming nonetheless

there was no bacon in this glass but there might have been a campfire. such was the nature of the smoke. what i found beyond the smoke was a touch surprising: is that citrus? brown sugar sweetness and good bitterness, too

the smoke provided a touch of astringency but that's part of the adventure, right?

Draft, Toronado. This one was a bit disappointing but good nonetheless. I like smoked beers to be a bit more robust, and this beer drinks smaller than average for the size. There's a good smoke note, but it's of medium intensity, which isn't really my ideal for the style. The underlying beer is good but somewhat bland. The mouthfeel was a bit watery and detracted from the flavors. In my opinion, smoked beers should try to go very smokey and interesting or subtle and balanced, and this beer went for an odd bargain position. Not bad but not something I'd order again.

Sampled on draft tonight at Capone's.

Pours a dark coppery golden orange/chestnut brown color with golden oragne hues when held to a light source and a two finger frothy off white head that slowly settles into a lasting cap that coats the glass with lacing.

Wonderfully roasted smokey aroma with strong hints of campfire, barecue, bacon, charcoal, butane and wood along with some lighter sweeter biscuit malt and subtle light fruit. The smokey rauch like aromas are prominent but the other notes are still evident in the nose.

Sligtly roasted medium body with soft carbonation up front, heavy smoke character, subtle caramel malt, spice and lift crisp fruit. This beer is pretty smokey but is very well balanced allowing plenty of other flavors to shine. Plenty of smoked malt with subtle hints of charcoal and burnt barbecue. This is balanced by a nice zesty peppery spice as well as some sweet caramel malt and crisp light fruit. I'm picking up some apricot, orange and possibly peach. Very well balanced without to dominant of a smoke flavor and the QBV is very well masked making Burnham Road dangerously drinkable. Recommended.

On tap at Small Bar on Division. Pours dark amber with a smallish white head. Smells like a peated scotch. Slightly hoppy but the peat dominates. The first taste is very nice, but even a small snifter is difficult to finish. Overall, this is interesting but not great.

Taken from notes. I had this on draft at Birreria Paradiso in DC a few months back.

A: Pours a fairly opaque copper with a quickly disappearing head.

S: Surprisingly mild compared to the taste... slightly chemical, solvent aromas are evident, like a Sharpie. You get some malty and hoppy notes in there as well.

T: BACON BITS. Ham.. smoked ham. WTF. It starts ok, normal, with some sweet malt and some hop flavors, then the synthetic bacon flavor takes over with huge amounts of smoke. My friend said "I think I'm no longer vegetarian."

M: Totally ok, actually, pretty normal.

D: No. A curiosity at best.