Allagash Saison

Brewed By: Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine  

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Plainfield, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Saison, 6.1%

Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight's beer has been on my radar for a while...not because it's anything special, but because it is considered to be a classic Saison. The bottle even says: "A traditional Saison with herbal highlights and a rustic, dry finish. Belgian Style. Bottle Conditioned." You can't go wrong with that. About Allagash:

Allagash is a brewery based out of Portland, Maine. The company was founded in 1995 by Rob Tod, who designed a 15-barrel brewhouse, and began brewing some of the first American Belgian-style ales. Rob found success with the Allagash White, and expanded his operation. In 2001, Allagash began caging, corking, and bottle conditioning their beers. Since then, they have continued to celebrate Belgian-style beer.

The Allagash Saison is a year-round offering, and is Allagash's interpretation of a classic Belgian farmhouse style ale. This one is brewed with 2-Row blend, malted rye, oats, and Dark Belgian candi sugar. The beer is hopped with Tettnang, Bravo, and Cascade hops. Let's get this into a glass and see how she stacks up.

Allagash Saison

This one pours out like the poster-child for Saisons. You get a vibrant, hazy, well-carbonated, lemon-yellow body, and three fingers worth of tall, foamy, white head. The carbonation streams in here are active, and feature tiny, microscopic bubbles. Bright light confirms the same damn thing. It's a good looking beer, no doubt. Head retention is great, and there be lacing ahead. 

On the aroma: a really nice blend of earthy funk, hay, straw, Belgian yeast, creamy wheat, herbal notes, lemon, coriander, white sugar, and bananas. There are a ton of fruity, banana-sugar-clove esters popping on the aroma, with gentle floral hops backing things up, and faint spice in the back. The earthy notes on the aroma are more up front. You won't find overly aggressive black pepper or American hop notes here. This is laid back, classic stuff.

This is really nice...there's constrained dryness and a peppery, doughy character. I'm getting a lot of earthy character, floral hops, lemon, mild citrus, coriander spice, black pepper, and wheat. There's some nice wheat and straw notes in here. You do get some of the clove and white sugar, with some creamy wheat. It shows up a bit up front, and then trailing on the back. 

This is standard but somehow stands out as a classic example of the style...I'd almost preference this over a Tank 7, but I'd reach for my Sofie before either. I should probably get a review of the real classic, Saision Dupont, on my blog. This is medium-light bodied, with tons of effervescent and creamy carbonation moving things along. Palate depth is blissful, and the complexity isn't bad either. At 6.1%, this is in a range where you can drink a lot of it, but you want to show some restraint. Really, it's a good place to be, as this functions great as a beer you can take big gulps at a moderate pace. It's also a functional food beer, but more on that in a minute. The progression from front to back goes something like this: up front clove, wheat, lemon, herbal spiciness, biscuit/doughy dryness, hints of pepper; the mids give way to sweeter hops, big lemon and citrus, floral fruitiness, straw and wheat; the back end drops more earthy notes, clove, barnyard, funk, and trailing earthy spice. The finish is dry and good.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. It's a bit standard, but the execution is top notch. It's Allagash, after all. This is a blissful, well-executed beer, and should pair wonderfully with a wide variety of foods. I'm talking about baked potatoes, peppery fish or chicken, grilled lamb, pizza, shell fish in white wine sauce, white pasta, a panini, and any soup or stew that has lots of herbal notes (like thyme). Good stuff, and priced well at around $10 a 6er. Get on it now.  

Random Thought: You can't go wrong with a Saison.