Allagash Brewing: Tasting Room

Lil Sal is once per year, although bottles sometimes pop up at the Wild Beer Roundup.

It generally sells quickly. I don't remember how fast last year's sold, but it was probably within the day. It's definitely one of the more anticipated annual Allagash brewery releases. The variables determining shit-show level include weather, school vacation week, and what the other Portland breweries happen to be releasing that day.

As with any limited beer, if you want to 100% ensure walking away with bottles, get there at opening. This year's release is double the per-person allocation, so it could be a much larger batch than previous releases.

Allagash releases rock, have fun and eat donuts.

 

Thanks man, appreciate it, see you there for some donuts!!

 

Headed up to Maine tonight, any word on Coolships available? Last handful of times I've been up there has always been some hanging around.

 

Anyone else see that Curieux is now going to be available in 12 oz bottles? Between this and Map 40 being in 12 oz bottles I hope this means they are going to start making more of their beers in smaller formats. I haven't seen the price of the new Curieux 12 oz but Map 40 I think was around $4 per bottle. I would buy a lot more Allagash in 12 oz formats personally because $20+ on a 750 ml bottle was too much of a risk.

 

To get it out of the way, I am an Allagash fanboy - there - I admitted it... It is a mandatory stop when we get anywhere near Portland, yet I won't make the three hour drive for a release. We have enjoyed the tour many times, and the tasting room is always a treat. That won't change because they have decided to charge what seems to be a quite reasonable fee. Are they "cashing in" on what's across the street - I'd prefer to think of it as a rising tide lifts all ships, so there's mutual benefit to all the neighbors on the corner of Industrial Way.

I, too, have had decent success aging both coolship and non-coolship brews. Curieux holds up wonderfully, as do Odyssey, Confluence, and Interlude. Black actually holds up decently, as did Four (aged well, actually). James Bean not so much as the coffee kinda fades and you are left with odd tasting Curieux. The Century Brett Ale Saison - had fresh and about a year old and while different, the year old was still very good, just different. Golden Brett - I personally think it actually gets better with age. Resurgam - have had some pushing three years old that was very good. Hive 56 - aged surprisingly well. Nancy I did find to fade a little. Farm to Face fades quite a bit as the peach goes south quickly. Evora holds up well as did Astrid The things that fared poorly I think are the ones you'd expect - Little Brett can hang for a while, but falls quite a bit. Hugh Malone - a disaster at four months, although I didn't make any effort to keep it properly. The Brett IPA - definitely best when fresh. So pretty much the typical pattern if you think about it.

 

Nice write up and thanks for the aging reconnaissance as I definitely age most beers a little too much. And like you, I'm up in Maine all the time, and always make a pass by Allagash to make sure I get their new releases if I can. I was honored to get a tour of their coolship about a year ago and it was about the coolest beer think I've done in a while... And I agree on the mutual benefits of the cashing in thing...it's hard to say who benefits most as I've always thought of it in the opposite way - without Allagash, the others might have had a much harder time getting going (including Bissell - but not that they wouldn't have - just might have been a slower road). I'm not sure of the long time history of the Industrial Way area and when MBC moved out, but as Allagash derives 70% of its profits from White, I think it could have planned to make Industrial Way its home regardless of run-off traffic from other breweries, and that has only turned out to be a happy thing for all, you and me included...! Cheers!

 

Nice! A quasi coolship hitting full distro. While I was reading the description I was thinking I'd have to head up to Portland for this one, glad I wont have to.

 

The last batch was phenomenal. Glad it's hitting distro.

 

Anybody know what bottles are available to go? Any vintage bottles.

 

https://www.allagash.com/visit/#beerstogo

 

in my experience, vintage bottles come out randomly, generally when they're low on other bottles.. Cheers!

 

Cool. Thanks. He asked what bottles are to go. I know there are often bottles placed on the shelves silently.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, to go. You are correct, silent.

 

The vintage bottle thing seems to be happening more regularly even with full shelves. When I was there for the Shiro's Delight release (ridiculously tasty) they had 2015 Confluence and 2016 Interlude I believe.

 

You believe correctly; it was all I could do to not buy more bombers I don't need (but most certainly want...)!!

 

The dry-hopped tripel they have on for samples right now sounds pretty amazing... maybe that will still be in rotation this summer when I pass through! Love that place...