Allagash Odyssey 2011

This is one I've been holding onto for a while. Brewed once a year, Allagash Odyssey was just a bit too odd and harsh-tasting when I had a fresh bottle in February 2011.  Not long afterwards it went on sale, so I bought one to age.  In the beer world, it's a bit of an oddity.  It's what a hybrid between a Belgian abbey quad, a stout, and a wheatwine might taste like; ingredients include Belgian yeast, wheat, and roasted barley.  It is partially aged in oak barrels as well.

I deliberately chose the fanciest glass I own just because, and split the bottle with two others.  Head formation and retention were excellent.

The primary aromas consist of plums, a hint of fig, a hint of coco and something similar to caramel.  The smell vaguely reminds me of Ovila Quad with plums, except this is brewed with roasted barley, so the hint of chocolate is actually expected. 

I think "balance" is probably the most all-encompassing word to sum up the flavor profile.  Initially there is a strong first impression of plums, but as the beer warms up (I took my time with this one) most of the flavors equalize so that no one item overpowers the rest.  Plums, dates, Belgian invert sugar, maybe some caramel and vanilla.  The barrel-aging is much more subtle now than when it was fresh.  I don't have my notes from 2011 on hand, but I distinctly recall the fresh bottle being fairly harsh---unpleasantly oaky and a bit too alcoholic.  None of that here.  Very smooth.

Balance carries over into the texture as well.  So this errs on the side of dryness, it isn't super dry or super sweet.  A nice balance.  I have a feeling the wheat and large carbonation contribute a lot to the sweetness.


As with most beers from Allagash, the price on this one varies considerably depending on where you get it.  Regardless of what you end up paying for it, sitting on it for two or more years is definitely worth the wait.

Drie Fonteinen Zwet.Be

Drie Fonteinen (usually abbreviated 3F) is a company normally associated with lambics, and in particular gueuze lambic.  They have a stellar reputation.  Unfortunately, when I can find their stuff in stores, it is usually prohibitively expensive (this particular beer is a whopping $2 per ounce). 

 

On the other hand, Zwet.Be is not a lambic and (unsurprisingly) is much cheaper.  It is a porter/stout brewed with a culture of wild airborne yeast from the grounds around the 3F brewery.  That makes it funky without being sour.  The bottle doesn't contain any legible date, but being wild this shouldn't be an issue.

Unsurprisingly for a porter, it is pitch black.  The head formation and retention is spectacular---that two fingers of foam you see below stayed for 10 minutes without dissipating.  It also left excellent lacing afterwards.  Needless to say, this is well-carbonated.

If you have ever wondered what I use to write my notes on, that's it....I keep it old school and tablet-free.

Yup---stayed like that for ten minutes.  Nothing receded.

That tight, persistent cap of foam makes smelling this a bit of a challenge; most of the aroma is kept underneath it.  Having accidentally let my nose stray too close on a few too many occasions, I firmly believe beer is best ingested through the mouth, not the lungs.  The aromas are easier to discern straight out of the bottle.  Deep, earthy chocolate notes rule the day, a combination of the malt (chocolate) and yeast (earth).  I've never experienced a 3F lambic, so I can't say for sure whether this smells like their usual yeast, but the sweaty-gym-sock smell many lambics have is not here.

Zwet.Be tastes more elaborate than it smells.  A definite layer of chocolate and coco powder from the barley malt gives way to the somewhat subtle but unmistakable funktang of wild yeast.  I don't remember where I heard that word, but I like it.  I also think the phrase "sweaty apples" (my own invention) is a decent way to describe it, mixed with lemon peel and topped off with more tangy flavors. A rustic, mildly smoky flavor is there from something (probably the malt), which is odd for a second before you get used to it.  Vague hints of dark fruit round out the profile and remind the drinker that yes, this is a porter.  Sort of.

As I expected, Zwet.Be is funky but not sour.  It is creamy and utterly smooth, yet finishes semi-dry.  I have no way of knowing how fresh this is, but I would expect it to get drier with age.

This didn't last long once I finished writing my notes.  Unusual and not for everybody, but well-done.

Dogfish Head Immort Ale

I wanted to like this beer a whole lot more than I did.  While I am a little iffy on the idea of a beer brewed with juniper berries (the one juniper beer I’ve tried was ghastly), the thought of a smoky oak-aged barleywine brewed with maple syrup, vanilla beans, and Belgian yeast sounds delicious.  There aren’t enough beers brewed with either vanilla or maple syrup.  I tend to like oak-aged beer, overall.  I enjoy smoked beers, particularly the campfire-and-bacon sort, but I am not opposed to peat-smoked beers either (I enjoy Scotch every now and then).  I never imagined it would be the smoke that would bug me.

The beer doesn’t look super intimidating.  It has a reddish-amber hue, more or less transparent.  The foam on top never gets beyond a film, though it does stay around for a decent time.  It also leaves some lacing, though not much.  I would like to take this time to pimp what is easily the best beer glass around.  Anyone who doubts that laser-etched nucleation points help with carbonation need only watch this:

Nice steady stream of bubbles.

Where this beer starts to go wrong is when I smell it.  I took one whiff and knew this was going to be an unfortunate experience.  Two words: BAND AIDS.  I have had many peat-smoked beverages.  A lot of Scotch whiskey is brewed with peat-smoked barley, imparting flavors as wide-ranging as ash and moss and medicine (like chewing on a tablet).  I generally like it, and the first Scotch I ever bought was this smoky beast.  But I have never, ever tasted Band Aid flavors in Scotch, or peat-smoked beer, despite both containing phenolic compounds commonly said to taste like band aids..  I thought it was a bad joke some brewers liked to tell; after all, who has actually tasted a Band Aid before?  I am sorry I ever doubted them.  This smells the way a Band Aid smells, and there is no other association I can think of.  It’s the only one that makes sense.

As the beer warms up, I can also faintly make out some vanilla scents.  But nothing strong enough to suggest this was brewed with vanilla beans, or for that matter aged in oak barrels, fermented with maple syrup and brewed with juniper berries.

The flavor is a little better, but not amazing by any stretch.  There is indeed some smoky Scotch-like flavor now, a hint of peat moss in there.  Also like Scotch---and not welcome in beer, as far as I’m concerned---is the prominent role the alcohol has in the flavor profile.  Somewhat pleasantly spicy but unpleasantly warming, it ends up going to war with the insurgent Band Aid flavor and I the drinker am collateral damage.  The combination feels like a continuous, unending M.O.A.B. strike on my tongue.  What little vanilla flavor here could have come from the vanillin naturally present in oak wood, they should have used more vanilla beans to make it distinct.  Also, they should have used less peat-smoked barley, or perhaps a different brand or grade of it.  There is still not a single note of maple syrup or juniper berries, and the beer finishes with a long-lasting aftertaste of heat, smoke, and Band Aids.

The texture isn’t doing this beer any favors either.  For an 11% barleywine, it has a drying quality to it that is almost parching.  The smoke and dryness coat the mouth for much longer than they are welcome.

The label tells me that I might feel immortal after having a bottle of this.  HAH---if only.  I feel like my palate has been fatally wounded.  Dogfish Head makes much better beer; this is one to avoid.