Avancé
Allagash Brewing Company

Bottled May 5, 2017. Pour is a copper color with decent clarity and minimal short-lived white head. Aroma is tart, with some strawberry notes still around after five years, and a good amount of barrel still present on the nose. I'm impressed by how the strawberries still show up on the tongue. Pleasantly tart with medium acidity. Nice barrel notes to round things out. Medium carbonation. Still a great beer.

 

 

 

12.7oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Red-orange color with perfect clarity. Head dies almost instantly and there is no lacing.

S: Strawberry jam in a big way. Hard strawberry candy. Lemony lactic acid, hint of cider vinegar. Very subtle and delicate whiff of funk and a touch of clovey phenols. Hint of oaky vanillins far in the background.

T: Strawberry jam as well as freshly picked strawberries. Loads of them too, it’s all over the attack. Very real, and very pleasant. Brisk tartness, though it stops just shy of being puckering. Lactic and lemony. A little bit of that cider vinegar too. Molasses. Slight funk, briefly, and a medicinal phenol flavor that lingers a bit. Woody vanillins middle to end, and a mild corny bourbon sweetness. Finish is subtle trailing funk and phenol, tame barrel flavors, and a whole lot of lingering strawberry.

M: Medium-Full body. A little bit of weight and heft. Round and creamy with ample carbonation. Very gentle tug of tannin.

O: Delicious. It’s so easy to find the bottom of your glass well before you ever intended. That strawberry flavor is so delightful and hedonistic. This does not seem like a beer that is nearly 10% either. If you can hang onto it long enough to savor some of the nuance, there are another few layers of complexity to enjoy too. It’s got something for everybody. Definitely grab it if you see it.

Pours a clear reddish amber with minimal head. Nice funky strawberry aroma. Flavor is very wood-forward. Starts out with heavy funk. Quite oaky, lots of bourbon barrel, earthy, not sweet considering all the different sugars they added, quite tart and good acidity that makes it tangy. Has a nice light strawberry finish. Carbonation adds a nice texture that compliments the tartness. Overall a fun beer, a little to heavy on the oak for me, but glad I tried it.

1/9/20
375 ml bottle, no date, 10% abv - thanks Adam
4.25 rating

 

Extremely complex beer that presents far more taste and feel profiles and characteristics than my unsophisticated palate can discern or explain. In the end, it was outstanding and I'd have several more

 

 

 

Pours burnt brown amber color, no real head from bar pour. Aroma light malt oak notes hints of light bourbon, strawberry fruit. Taste is the same but better nice tart strawberries, oak light bourbon, good malt base tart but not overly sour easy drinking even though you want to savor it. Mouthfeel is lighter side medium carbonation. Overall enjoyable.

 

 

on draft

dark golden in color, clear, with thin white head that fades. interesting aroma - mild tartness, oak, mild burnt sugar, strawberry fruitiness. similar taste, very deep and complex flavors - definitely unique. thin to medium bodied, a bit sticky of a mouthfeel.

 

 

 

 

Strawberry preserves, jam, jelly, sour, slight vinegar, bourbon oak barrel, light molasses

 

 

 

 

8/11/18...light copper amber with white foam . Strawberry fruit nose, strong fruit fragrance. Heavy sour tart. Wildly complex flavors. Loads of strawberry, can taste the seeds and all. Spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

Consumed 5/16/18

Note: 2016 bottle

A: Medium to deep amber with some serious red undertones, copper highlights - hazy, probably could have decanted a bit more carefully - pours with a small, off-white head, fades to a few wisps of lacing and leaves some nice lacing

S: Like a handful of strawberries - not overly sweet, like strawberry preserves - fleshy, ripe strawberries - a fistful of sour funk under that - sharp, acidic sour and some musty, lactic, old basement sour - loads of oak and funky oak - the oak aroma is about as, if not more, potent than the bourbon, which comes later - some lactic frutiness, with touches of cherry - cork - not really picking up on any of the sugars in the aroma, as the strawberry and wood dominate

T: Strawberries and oak, to start - rich strawberry flavor - like biting into a fresh strawberry, not a generic "strawberry flavor" - some strawberry tartness, as if it's an under-ripe strawberry - very tart, very sour, very funky overall - sharp acidic sour, but more of a damp, musty lactic sour funk - old, dirty basement, old wet barrel - tons of acidic and lactic oak barrel funk and flavor - bourbon, but it's really overpowered by the strawberry and oak flavors - touches of molasses and sugar late in the flavor profile, but I would not call this sweet overall - the sourness really takes center stage to the point that acid, rather that sugar, lingers in the aftertaste

M: Medium body, carbonation on the low side, finishes with sour

O: Bourbon and strawberries, yet another breakfast of champions

Not many breweries take the effort to brew beer with strawberries. As would surprise nobody, Allagash can pull it off. Frankly, for my current tastes, this is overly sour and funky. But I am not going to reduce points for that. This is a unique experience if you can find a bottle.

 

 

 

 

Quick review:

Smells of funky strawberries, vanilla, and peppercorns

Taste is of more strawberry, sherbet, horse blanket, tennis ball, rubber.

On draft at toronado SD. Keg kicked after my pour. Good beer; perhaps a bit unbalanced on the unnecessarily sour side. Good strawberry character but perhaps a bit too much pure citric/lactic acid. It gets a 87.5/100.

Bottle from Brewery (bottled July 24, 2016): This one pours a clear, darker amber color. Even though it opened with a "pop", there was no head or lacing. Good nose! Definitely brett. Some oakiness and tart strawberries coming thru. The taste is very good. Lots of tart strawberry flavor. A bit of the oakiness, maybe a hint of vanilla. Some other fruits an a hint of the breadiness. Surprisingly there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the bourbon in the aroma or taste.