Allagash Brewing Co, Portland, Maine

A photo of Rob Tod overlooks a tour group in the original Allagash Brewing Co area of the enlarged brewery.

Rob Tod may not be God but the brewery he founded in 1995 has found a new convert! My trip (now qualifying as a pilgrimage) to Allagash Brewing Co, 50 Industrial Way, Portland, Maine was the furthest point I would reach in New England this year.

On Wednesday 4 October, 2017, I had time to look around the farmers' market in downtown Portland and enjoy a breakfast of coffee and pumpkin donut.

The Metro route 2 bus took me from the Congress Street at Center Street stop to Forest Avenue at Riverton Drive stop (Fare $1.50 single or $5 day ticket). The route passes the Great Lost Bear, 540 Forest Avenue, the first pub to pour Allagash White, as I would discover on the brewery tour and as mentioned in a piece by Nick Hines for Vinepair 'The Oral History of Allagash White'.

A short walk from the bus stop brought me to the brewery in time for the free 11.30am tour, which I had booked in advance using the brewery's website.
Thanks to Sam, who was aware of my role as editor of Ullage, West Berkshire CAMRA's magazine, after a fortuitous meeting at Novare Res Bier Cafe the previous evening, my reception was especially friendly and an additional badge was dispensed to complement my tour badge.

I was impressed by the fresh flowers at the bar and on tables around the tasting room - an example of excellent customer service, in my opinion. Brewery tourists were invited to sample the Haunted House hoppy dark ale (6.66% ABV) before donning headsets and protective eye glasses.

My tour would be hosted by Hannah and assisted by Sam. Hannah's tour started off by explaining how Rob Tod started Allagash Brewery after working at Vermont's Otter Creek Brewing and being impressed with his first taste of Celis White, brewed in Austin, Texas. In a post by Sarah Bennett for First We Feast 'The 10 Beers that made my career' Rob is quoted '... I knew I wanted to make a Belgian-style wheat beer'.
Hannah mentioned that Rob needed to buy back a lot of the Allagash White beer supplied to The Great Lost Bear in the early days to prove that a local market existed for this style of beer which was new to Maine. The market improved after Allagash White won the gold medal in the Belgian-style White category (34) in the World Beer Cup 1998 which is a biennial event organised by the Brewers Association.

During the tour we were served a sample of Allagash Saison and Hannah pointed out a drawing of Rob in the window above the middle bulk grain bag. Unlike German wheat beers, the grain used for brewing Belgian-style Allagash White includes a lot of oats. Other ingredients include wheat, malted barley, orange peel and coriander.

Hannah pointed out the pilot brewing kit, in the foreground of the photo above, for beers that may be scaled up if they prove popular. Subsequent research shows that some of this kit was supplied by Zajac of Saco, Maine with the black fermenters from Ss brewtech. There is also a 30 Barrel brewery which is used for house beers.

However, the largest (70 barrel) brewery vessels (in the photo above) are used for brewing Allagash White, the main beer produced at the brewery. From the right of the photo can be seen the blue Grist Case, the Mash Tun, the Lauter Tun, Wort Receiver and Boil Kettle. The Whirlpool and Hot Liquor Tank are on the left side, near the Heat Exchanger with its multiple pipes. Another component is the Sugar Table, on the mezzanine level, where candi sugar and the secret spice mixture are added.

Hannah advised that Allagash White spends ten days in fermenting vessels which have a glycol layer around them for cooling.

panoramic view of packaging hall from observation deck

The next stop on the tour was the packaging hall where kegging and bottling takes place. The systems minimise the amount of manual effort required. Allagash is one of only three breweries with a TopTier palletiser system - visible in the right of the photo. No own brand kegs are used. Instead, MicroStar kegs are used to simplify the logistics of distributing kegs many of which are destined for Chicago and west to California etc..

A nice decorative feature of the observation deck is an edge mosaic incorporating brewing items like hops and beer bottles in the design.
Quality control is important and Hannah explained that the Sensory Panel meets five times a week to check the look, smell and taste of the beers. Any beer batches that fail this panel are dumped. The panel itself is also checked by occasionally 'spiking' some of the test samples.

'retired' Lauter Tun

During a visit to the original part of the brewery, we were able to hand back our headsets. Hannah pointed out the original Lauter Tun, in a corner, which had been repurposed from dairy equipment to minimise the initial costs of establishing the brewery.

The locations for the original brewery vessels are outlined on the floor as a memento of the recent heritage.

Sam poured beers for the tour tasting from the bar inside the brewery

The three beers for the tour tasting were Little Brett, Black and Curieux.

Little Brett is a 4.8% ABV ale fermented with Brettanomyces yeast and dry hopped with Mosaic hops.

Black (7.5% ABV) is a Belgian style stout that includes dark caramelised candi sugar and a mix of grains including oats for a smooth mouthfeel.

There was a chance to look at the barrels used for fermentation and aging certain beers. Curieux (11% ABV) is a mix of Tripel aged in oak bourbon barrels for seven weeks and then blended back with fresh Tripel. This was a superb beer to finish the group tour tasting with.

No sooner had the official tour ended than Sam invited me to join him on a bonus tour which started in the original brewery tasting room, equipped with a well stocked fridge.

On the wall were framed beer awards and an early Allagash poster. The Sixteen Counties sign is made with recycled letters and refers to the 16 counties of Maine. Sixteen Counties is also the name of an Allagash beer brewed with exclusively Maine-grown grains.

Sam picked a beer for me from the fridge based on the fact that my preferred style of Saison is one that is only mildly sour. A glass of Ganache (7.5% ABV) fitted my preferences perfectly. The tasting notes for this limited release beer describe it as 'the liquid equivalent of biting into a raspberry-filled dark chocolate cake'. This memorable beer is fermented in stainless with both house yeast and Brettanomyces claussenii before aging on fresh, local raspberries.

We walked through the new part of the brewery where large tanks protrude through the concrete ceiling and I had a chance to take an upwards photograph of the inside of an empty tank.

3 Photos of the coolship displayed in main tasting room

Sam also showed me the small unheated building which houses a coolship that Rob Tod was inspired to build in 2007 after a visit to Belgium that included Cantillon Brewery in Brussels. It has a sloping wooden ceiling and windows with stained glass that can open to let wild yeasts inside. The 'What is a Coolship?' blog post on the Allagash website has further details and photos.

'Tiny House'

Returning to the main tasting room we passed what Sam referred to as the 'Tiny House' which is certainly tiny compared to the trees and tanks nearby!

Back in the main tasting room, I was offered a beer and chose Hoppy Table Beer (4.8% ABV) which Sam advised is the brewery's second biggest seller, after White. This hop-forward beer is spiced with a subtle addition of coriander and dry hopped with Comet and Azacca. With its grapefruit aroma and tropical flavours this instantly became a new favourite beer! Now Sam was needed elsewhere and thanking him I suggested that if he visits the UK he should get in touch with me to arrange a tour of a brewery in West Berkshire.

My seat at the bar gave a view of some Allagash ephemera displayed under the glass surface of the bar. The type of music playing was also to my liking.

I noticed a tasteful display of merchandise in the main tasting room.
As my glass emptied and I was getting ready to leave, Andrew asked if there was anything else I would like and being truthful I admitted to a liking for an Allagash baseball cap.

After checking for my colour preference, Andrew presented me with a navy cap which I look forward to wearing. This was the icing on the cake or more appropriately the ganache on the cake for what has to rank as my favourite brewery tour and after thanking Andrew I left the brewery in high spirits.

Earlier, on the way from the bus stop, I had noticed a sign at the side of Industrial Way. This listed three breweries - Foundation Brewing Company, Austin Street Brewery and Battery Steele Brewing.

Passing One Industrial Way on the way back to the bus stop, it was obvious that Foundation Brewing Company was already busy with a food truck nearby. Industrial Way, With the D.L. Geary Brewing Co also located nearby at 38 Evergreen Drive, Portland would appear to be one of the easiest places in the world to organise a walking tour of five breweries!

Back at the bus stop, eventually the Metro 2 bus back to Downtown Portland appeared enabling me to reach Shipyard Brewing Co just in time for the previously booked 3pm tour.

Postscript: 1) Since my visit it appears that changes have been made to the Allagash brewery's main tasting room as featured in the brewery's blog post: Changes to our tasting room

PS 2) Having followed Allagash Brewing Co on Twitter for a while I had noticed that the company appears to take special carre of its employees. This is borne out by a blog post: Allagash Brewing: Four years as one of Maine's best places to work.
My observation would be that not only does the brewery look after its employees well but this ripples out so that its employees look after its visitors well. Many thanks to everyone who looked after me on my October visit especially Sam, Hannah and Andrew.

Disclaimer: I am grateful to Allagash Brewing Company for the free brewery tour, refreshment and merchandise which I received as a guest on 4-Oct-2017. All other expenses in connection with this visit were paid for by myself.

Allagash Brewing Co
50 Industrial Way, Portland, Maine

Hours (October 2017):
Monday - Sunday: 11am - 6pm

Website: www.allagash.com features tabs for Beer, Inside Allagash, Visit, Events, Blog, Shop
Tours: www.allagash.com/visit NB Book Ahead!
Twitter: AllagashBrewing & AllagashTasting
Facebook: AllagashBrewingCompany
Instagram: allagashbrewing