Allagash Brewing Company Curieux Bourbon Barrel Aged Strong Ale

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Allagash Brewing Company Curieux Bourbon Barrel Aged Strong Ale. I had the opportunity to try this beer on tap at Portal in Oakland (here) and I highly recommend heading there to try this beer on tap as well as checking out their other tap handles and excellent food.

From the Allagash Brewing Company website: “Allagash Curieux was our first foray into barrel aging. Curieux is made by aging our Tripel Ale in Jim Beam bourbon barrels for eight weeks in our cold cellars. The aged beer is then blended back with a portion of fresh Tripel. The resulting beer is soft with coconut and vanilla notes, with hints of bourbon.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a hazy golden color with a large white head and spotty lacing.

Aroma: Bourbon, vanilla, Belgian yeast, sweet malt, candi sugar, dark fruit, oak, banana and clove.

Taste: Oak, bourbon, malt sweetness, vanilla, candi sugar, caramel, banana, clove, Belgian yeast and fruit.

Overall: Allagash Brewing Company Curieux Bourbon Barrel Aged Strong Ale is over the top delicious. Dangerously drinkable at 11% ABV, this is an exceptional barrel aged Tripel.  Although it is a bit expensive I’m left wanting more and more.  This one was bottled 12/21/12.  I plan to pick up a few more bottles to age for the prescribed 12 months (if I can resist opening them before then).

If you have the opportunity, do check out Portal in Oakland (here).  As I said they’ve got great beer on tap and great food, but more than that they’re get folks. (this photo taken at Portal)

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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