Allagash 2009 Interlude

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of trying this offering from the great minds at Allagash Brewing Company. I would say that 90% of the time Allagash hits it out of the park, but I found this to be a SLIGHT misstep. Although, full disclosure: I had this entire 22oz bomber by myself, so it may have been a bit too much for just one mortal human. That aside, I found this Wild Ale to be a bit too bitterly sour, whereas something like Russian River's Consecration or the Ithaca Brute hits the sour level perfectly. Not the greatest drinkability here.



A brief perusal on BeerAdvocate shows that some people seem to agree with me. But delving deeper, it seems the reviews for vintages of this are much better. Perhaps they switched something in their recipe this year and it didn't quite work as well? I don't believe I've ever had it before, so I can't compare.

Brett Fest '09 Sunday 8/9 at Spuyten Duyvil in Brooklyn

This seems like something that should not be missed by any NYC craft beer lovers:

We had a very busy spring this year, so Brett. Fest had to be pushed back to the dog days of summer. Sunday, August 9th at noon we begin our yearly ode to the funk. Come celebrate the small things, yeast and bacteria.

On Tap:
1. Cantillon Cuvee Des Champions (BA Rating: A-)
2. Cantillon St. Lamvinus (BA Rating: A)
3. Cantillon Vigneronne (BA Rating: A-)
4. Boon Oude Gueuze Mariage Parfait Cask #52 (BA Rating: A with only 5 reviews)
5. Oude Beersel Lambik (BA Rating: A with only 1 review)
6. Ithaca Brute (BA Rating: A)

In Cask:
Hanssen's Oude Gueuze (In Cask) (BA Rating: A-)

In Bottle:
Dri Fonteinen Doesjel, Dri Fonteinen Hommage, Dri Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek, Cantillon Iris 2004 & 2005, Cantillon Cognac Cask, Cantillon Gueuze 1996, Cantillon Cuvee De Monk's Gueuze, Hanssen's Experimental Cassis, Haand Bryggeriet Haandbakk, Panil Barriquee Riserva 2008, De La Senne Saison, Mikkeller It's Alive, Mikkeller US Alive, Mikkeller It's Alright, Captain Lwrence Cuvee De Castelton (Batch 1), Avery Brabant Zinfandel Barrel, Victory Wild Devil, Allagash Interlude 2005, New Belgium La Folie and Heavyweight Ste'-ve

This is just an insane lineup. I've never had any of these on tap outside of the Ithaca Brute, which is outstanding. And a few are incredibly rare Belgian offerings to have on tap in the US.