Once Upon An Orchard - Cherries & Raspberries
Allagash Brewing Company

375ml bottle. Label info of 'Packaged: March 2023'. Cage over cork.
Very dark brown colored body, with no back lit edge. Light tan head results in an island and a thick ring. No lacing.
Aroma of funk (leather and tobacco), raspberry, and cherry. Smells tart with a honey sweet touch.
Taste has a real depth of tart sourness, but there is some sweetness from honey and fruit. Flavors of raspberry, cherry, chocolate, lemon, and funk (leather and tobacco). Aftertaste goes to the raspberry and cherry fruit, sprinkled with honey.
Medium mouthfeel. Clean and dry finish. Displays some toothscraping effect. Good carbonation.
A sip and savor brew.

Pours cola brown, with a light, “khaki” tan head.

Looks as I might expect, and looks fine, indeed.

But it’s all about the nose. Fruit-forward with cherries and raspberries, with a bit of a sour funk and a lighter touch of base and melanoidin malts. Some very light notes of cocoa, and an even lighter note of espresso, due to the astringency.

Despite the fruit being in there (and the honey) there’s nothing that smells sweet about this one, although it does smell just a bit “wild.”

Brisk and sharp on the first sip, like a lemon inflected iced tea on a hot summer day. The fruit really brings it home at the end of the palate, and there is a touch of that base malt sweetness, too.

Lighter bodied and with plenty of effervescence, but not a “light beer” in any sense, of course.

Very, very good for what it aimed to be — and turned out to be.

 

At the brewery tap room, a little outside of Portland. This is a flat-out delicious beer….seems like a Flanders red in a few respects.

In the tulip, looks brownish-red, with a thin crown of head that dissipates quickly. Malt is substantial and in the direction of wheat bread and barley, and that serves as a really amazing base for some delicious moderately tart and fleshy cherry, awesome but not overwhelming horsey brett, and tart pungent raspberry…so good.