Allagash (2020)

I'll play:

Coolship Red Stripe

 

RareR Dos Equis

 

Fresh Pick Your Own

 

Header Topperling Goliath

Did I do it right?

 

Sure. Kind of like Curieux Thirty Seven from Tree House.

Fuck that felt so wrong to type.

 

I just realized that I had a typo in my own already bad joke.
But yes, for a pilhead like yourself lumping Allagash and Tree House together must have hurt. It did start with Allagash and White Claw though. Surely Tree House is better than White Claw, right?

Right?

 

Oh that’s funny. That one is good.

 

Ha yes, Tree House is world's better than White Claw.

I have nothing against Tree House, just Tree House people. And by "Tree House people" I don't mean people who simply enjoy their beers, it's the "OH MY GOD THEY'RE THE GREATEST BREWERY IN THE WORLD!!! WORLD CLASS" type people.

I don't go into the Tree House thread. I consider it like Mordor from Lord of the Rings.

 

I feel like I'm a pretty good Allagash fan, inasmuch as what I buy. What I mean is the year-rounds, not like Resurgam or the sours. I think a lot of people often say things like, "oh, White is a classic" but they rarely, if ever buy it. I buy White 12-packs all the time. I've got a River Trip 12-pack in my fridge. In the winter time, I typically buy a few Curieux and often a Tripel.

However, I NEVER see Saison. I was away for the weekend with my wife in January (the good old days) and had Saison from a bottle ordered off the menu in Meredith, N.H. But at the stores? I never see it.

Until today. So happy to get this in my life right now.

 

I saw it at the Scarborough, ME supermarket, and they had a ton of it. Even the little beach shop near me had it. Of course, this is ME. Back in MA, I can’t remember the last time I saw it. I bet if they canned it, it would sell better. I wonder how much of it they actually sell. White is on draft everywhere, but I can’t recall seeing the saison on draft even once.

 

This post reminds me of the one true Allagash negative:

Hoppy Table Beer was 100 times better than River Trip. Honestly, even moreso than coolship production shooting through the roof, or White jumping back into the important "I can and will order this anywhere" spot in my heart, discovering Hoppy Table beer was the single biggest reason Allagash shot back up my favorites list a couple years ago. (Well, that and the taproom/Bite Into Maine upgrade.) And then it was going into cans, even better, and then it got replaced (I think?) by a good, but just good beer. And I'm still sad about it.

 

I loved Hoppy Table Beer, but I don't agree with this sentiment. What I would be curious about is how different HTB is from River Trip, since the descriptions sound very similar.

 

River Trip is good and all but I need them to bring back Tiny House. That was amazing.

 

Should expand on this.

Description for Hoppy Table Beer:

Description for River Trip:

 

It actually sounds to me that they just used HTB as the first draft, then tweaked it for the finished product that is TB. Kind of like writing a story or making a chili and thinking, "Well, we could do with X and maybe add a little Y."

 

I didn't say it explicitly, but they definitely have a lot in common to the point where you ask is River Trip a rebranded, tweaked, or reformulated Hoppy Table Beer? I don't know what or how much they changed. I don't know if they felt they needed to change the branding because it was going to be a bigger beer for them (i.e. saleswise). Hoppy Table Beer is a generic name and it's probably harder to differentiate that given that many breweries make a Hoppy Table Beer. It's not going to stand out on shelves like River Trip, nor is it going to evoke where it came from or what it was inspired by or made for.

I also wonder how much Allagash becoming a B Corp and vowing to buy 1 million pounds of Maine grown grain played into things. Given that they produce 100,000 barrels per year now, I imagine they would have no problem reaching that threshold. However, it probably made sense to incorporate that grain into what has now become their second best seller (just guessing based on availability). Just some thoughts.

 

Yeah, looking at the ingredients list seems there's a little bit of difference in the malt used, and they swapped out chinook for nugget. Closer than I would have thought, I remember HTB being both fruitier and maybe a little lighter on the coriander. Totally possible I'm wrong!

I'll give River Trip another chance for sure.

 

I disagree. Hoppy Table Beer is a great name.

Because then you can go the typical New England IPA craft brewery route and do this...

Hoppier Table Beer then Hoppiest Table Beer then Hhhhopppyyyy Table beer then DDH Hoppppppyyyyyy Table Beer then Galaxy Hoppy Table Beer...

Fuck I hate New England IPA factories sometimes...

 

I like River Trip. I don't love it. I like it. I'm very happy to pick up a 12-pack and enjoy the hell out of those 12 beers, but I don't love it the way I do White or the way I do Curieux. However, it's a great damn name for a beer. The name, the can design, the style of beer is so on brand for Allagash that I can't help myself from buying it.

 

I'm not sure if it came across or not, but I was being completely sarcastic.

River Trip is definitely a great name, and I agree, love the can design. Pretty sure I've picked it up before for the name and can design alone.