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We head to Maine for a weather update in the form of a Snow Report from Allagash Brewing. One of the few saisons for winter.
“The forecast is calling for an accumulation of festive beers in your fridge. Snow Report is our celebratory saison brewed with local wildflower honey. In it, you’ll find balanced notes of melon, green apple, and a touch of honey.”
Allagash will soon debut a new year-round beer, Sixteen Countiesto honor the sixteen counties in their home state.
Utilizing a malt blend from Buck Farms in Mapleton, Maine plus caramel malt, biscuit, and brown malt. If you guessed that the hops are local, then you win as Aroostook hops from Westfield, Maine are part of the bitter blend.
The new beer becomes available in April, 2016.
Allagash Brewing Co. and on the occasion of turning 20 years young, founder Rob Tod gave the Bangor Daily News “20 lessons he has learned in 20 years of business.”
Here are the (7) take-aways that I think are most important for the many L.A. start-ups that are soon to open:
When you see trash, pick it up. “If everyone’s doing it, it makes a big difference. We have 93 employees who pick up little pieces of trash when they walk by them — literally and figuratively. If something’s not right, they take the initiative to do something about it. It’s just as important to do it when no one’s looking, when you are not going to get any credit for it. It’s a reflection of how much everyone at Allagash cares about what they are doing.”
Be relentless about improving. “Even though we’re constantly making strides with quality at the brewery, we’re never satisfied. Once we make an improvement, we get back to work and look for the next. There is always opportunity for improvement.”
Value the community you live in. “Maine has been extremely supportive of Allagash Brewing over the last 20 years. We have never taken this for granted. We love Maine, and we love Portland. Our crew’s hard work making great beer has made our philanthropy program possible. We focus our philanthropy locally, and everyone at Allagash is very proud of that.”
Don’t be a mile wide and an inch deep. “Jerry Sheehan, who runs a number of our distributors, told me this. And we learned it the hard way. By 2005 we were selling about 5,000 barrels of beer in 30 states and frankly not doing a great job anywhere. Around then, we made the tough decision to walk away from a fair amount of this volume and pull back — eliminating territories where we did not think we could be competitive and relevant. Now we’re selling 80,000 barrels of beer in 17 states, and I’m much prouder of the job we’re doing today in all of our markets. Better to do a great job in a small pond than a not-so-great job in a big pond. I think every business has concepts like this that are so simple they easily are overlooked.”
Smile. “Earlier today I walked by our kegging line and saw one of the operators who always has a smile on her face. When she is around other people on the line, guess what they are also usually doing? Smiling. It’s contagious.”
Do your thing. “When I made our first beer, Allagash White, not too many people wanted it. It was different — cloudy, spicy, distinctively Belgian. For a very long time it was usually the slowest draft line at the bars that were kind enough to keep us on draft. But I thought it was important to be doing something that was different. What’s the point in spending years building a brewery and possibly a lifetime running it just to make something people can already get? We avoid latching onto industry trends. We try to keep doing our own thing at Allagash.”
Stick with it. “If you are doing something different, sometimes it takes a while to get traction. It took about 10 years for the Allagash White to start catching on, but I’m glad we stuck with it and didn’t switch gears.”
Here is what RateBeer blogger Josh Christie reports about this under the radar brewery: “Rum Riot, founded by Kyle Jongerden and Benjamin Jones, takes it’s name from the Portland Rum Riot in 1855. As the story goes, the recently passed “The Maine Law” read: “here ye, here ye, all alcohol shall be prohibited!” Portlanders, who then and still today like their booze, weren’t too happy. Thousands of protested descended on Portland’s City Hall to protest the law on June 2nd of ‘55 under threat of gunfire, and in the wake of the protest the law was repealed. Rum Riot Brewing thus presents to you “a dedication to all Portlanders’ passion, independence, and desire for alcohol.”
Rum Riot’s beer is readily available on the first Friday of every month for Portland’s art walk. At the Two Point Gallery, the brewery brings free beer on every first Friday, and occasionally has 22oz bottles for sale. Right now, there isn’t much info to be found on Rum Riot’s plans for expansion, if any exist. They do at least offer plenty of info about their current brews – Belgian Summer, German Summer and American Summer as of June.”
For Oregon Craft Beer Month, I promised to not be too Portland-centric. Well, I am going back on that promise to talk about a Portland brewery. Portland, Maine.
Here’s the scoop from their Facebook page:
Rising Tide Brewing Company is a small-scale start-up brewery with a focus on handcrafted artisanal ales that draw on traditions from around the world. We will be brewing 90 gallons at a time and distributing locally to the southern Maine region in bottles and kegs.Mission:Bringing world-wide traditions together with a New England ethic to create beers that are uniquely Rising Tide. Beer First.
And here is the info on two of their beers:
Ishmael — Our copper ale borrowing from the traditions of German altbier, brewed with new-world hops and old-world yeast.
Spindrift — A crisp, pale, multi-grain beer brewed with barley, rye, and wheat.
Allagash is doing some experimental beers that are done coolship Belgian style. None are available as of yet which is a bummer. Here are the first three in the line…
Allagash Coolship Resurgam
This is a Blend of 2 year, 40% 18 months, and 6 month spontaneous beers.
Allagash Coolship Cerise
Coolship Cerise is a blend of 90% 2 year spontaneous with 10% 6 month spontaneous which sat on local Maine Montmorency tart Cherries for 3 months.
Allagash Coolship Red
The same blend as the Cerise, but sat on fresh raspberries for 3 months.
I got this beer as a Christmas gift and saved it for this challenge. I have had Allagash Four and their White Ale and this is much in the same mold. A lovely Belgian Golden. Here is the rest of the review….
Here is more information on Hugh Malone.