By Greg B. Continuing my love of Allagash beers, I saw a bottle of the Allagash Dubbel and Tripel in the store a few weeks ago, and decided to check them out.  I know there are many great breweries in the US that make great Belgian styled beers, but I hadn’t tried anything of this sort from Allagash yet.  I was very pleased with the outcome.

I purchased these in smaller, 12oz bottles rather than the larger Pint bottles simply because, well, I’m not made of money!  But I can say they were great purchases, as just about everything from Allagash is.  It’s always pleasing to see American breweries make Belgian styled beers, but give them their own twist.  It reminds me of how American IPAs took the original style, and exploded the variety, type and intensity of them, almost always with great outcomes.

The Allagash Dubbel ale comes in a twist off bottle.  I served it around 55F, right from my basement to the cup.  It  pours a nice amber/copper color.  The head foams up, but recedes fast and leaves little to no head and no lacing on the side of the glass, though it was made of very fine bubbles.  The smell is very yeasty, like a more standard Belgian aroma of yeast and alcohol, but with hints of spicy fruit on the end of the nose.  The 7% abv doesn’t come through too much though.  The flavor is of a very chewy, malty medium toasted flavor but it has a sweetness to it that is pleasing.  There is a mild lacing on the glass as you drink it down which was not evident from the initial pour.  With a mild alcohol on the taste and a bitter clear finish that really clears out the chewy malty character at the beginning, this is certainly an interesting beer.  At first, it seems like it will be too much, but at the end, it is quite pleasing and refreshing, despite being a beer with a medium to large presence on the palate.  I give this a 3.6/5

The Allagash Tripel also comes in a twist off bottle, possibly making these the only dubbel and tripel styles of beer (that I know of) that come in twist off bottles.  No church key necessary!  This beer comes in at 9% abv, but it doesnt hide it too well.  it pours a gold color with a medium head which fades fast.  However, it does leave a fine lacing on the side of the glass which is quite nice.  The nose has a very high alcohol note with some sweet maltiness (the label said ‘honey’, which I can smell after I read it).  It has a little bit of fruit, but also smells crisp.  This was indicative in the taste, which actually was quite dry and with low carbonation, none of which I would have thought, given the Belgian Tripel style.  There were spicy notes on the end of the taste too which were nice.  However, I was kind of disappointed in this beer, and I think it missed the mark a bit with the Tripel style and with just the general great beer category that Allagash usually achieves.  However, not everything can be great I suppose.  I’d rate this beer a 3.1/5, it’s not bad, but I think the recipe needs a little bit of work.