ALLAGASH TRIPEL – NOT FOR THE MEEK

Riding high on my must-try list for a while has been the ALLAGASH TRIPEL from Portland. Maine’s ALLAGASH BREWING, one of the more celebrated of American brewers these days. You want to know what I think? OK, good. I think that ALLGASH make some good beers, but they don’t quite hit the high marks of some of their revered comrades like Lost Abbey, Russian River, Avery or even Telegraph Brewing. Second tier all the way, which isn’t really a dis per se – I mean, it’s hard to hit the hallowed heights of the aforementioned.

This tripel is a good example of what I’m talking about. After popping the cork on the fancy, heavy-glass bottle, there’s an initial spice and fruit explosion that’s almost puckering and eye-watering to adapt to, but adapt you most likely will. Allagash don’t mess around with second-grade ingredients, that’s for sure, and their beers are always very fresh and taste exceptionally clean. Next I felt the faintest kiss of honey, ahh honey, before encountering some hardcore funkiness and complexity as I swallowed gulp after gulp. It was a real strong bite on the ‘ol palate, and I even went & typed “not for the meek” into my notetaking device as I drank my evening bomber. Good stuff, not awe-inspiring, but I reckon we don’t need to blown to kingdom come every time we open a bottle of ale, right? 7/10.