Allagash Cruiex Ale Aged in Oak Bourbon Barrles

One traditional method that brewers and breweries have been using for centuries is barrel aging. The Belgians are the best at this, but some of you many to agree but never mind that I am not here to be that argument up on the table. When you age a beer in a certain type of barrel the beer tend to pick up little flavors from the barrel, that barrel could be anything from a whiskey, bourbon, rum, white/red wine, oak, or some other type of wood. But there is no set amount of time in which a beer sits in that barrel. That is up the beer brewery and its brewers. Well that sounds all neat and fancy. Take that wine makers. Here is one example, Allagash Curieux, 11.0% Abv. Curieux is a Tripple ale that has been put into an oak bourbon barrel and aged for eight weeks in Allagash’s cold cellars.  Curieux was bottled on March 21^st 2014 and there are only one thousand case bottled. This beer sounds a little rare. The aroma on Curieux is nice with touches of a peppery like spice and hints of coconut. Now the taste of Curieux is a bit like a white wine but with a hint of soft peppery like spice. The coconut from the aroma is there but much less present along with vanilla. There is the strong alcohol on the back of your tongue. But the alcohol isn’t huge, nor is it really in your face, its just sort of there and say hello as you take a sip. The mouth feel is close to the bottom end of medium. Curieux has a nice sweet and slightly spiced vanilla finish with a nice hint of the 11% abv. The after taste is an extension of Curieux’s finish with a touch more of smoothness. Over all I thought this beer was good so Allagash Curieux gets a B+. The only thing keeping it from an A is the 11% abv. It really has a tiny amount of bitter flavors to it but nothing that would keep me from having Curieux again. I would recommend you try Allagash Curieux and see how you like it. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!