Barrel & Bean
Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Tripel Regular|
Score
7.40
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Barrel & Bean starts its life as our Tripel—a Belgian-style golden ale. We age that beer in bourbon barrels for just shy of two months, before blending it with cold-brewed coffee from Speckled Ax, a Maine coffee roaster. The sun-dried Ethiopian beans in the coffee are known for their stone fruit and dark berry flavors. The finished beer features rich notes of caramel, bourbon, and coffee.
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8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
4 oz draft pour at ChurchKey’s Allagash 5th Anniversary event. Hazy golden brown with off-white head. Aromas of sweet coffee, spices, caramel. Tastes of sweet coffee, herbs, spices, caramel. Medium body with a dry finish. Coffee dominates, can’t say I’ve had a bourbon barrel aged tripel with coffee added but it works well.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 Oct 2014
at 20:09
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 6
Overall 7
A hazed golden amber ale with a thin lacing off white head. In aroma, smooth coffee grind with light fruity notes, coriander, very perfumy and nice. In mouth, a nice sweet fruity malt with loads of coffee extract, herbaceous hops, licorice and smooth warming alcohol. On tap at Porter Beer Bar.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 May 2014
at 10:37
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Comes together ok but not huge - honestly I don’t think espresso has a place in this style. Pours golden orange with good head and lacing. Espresso isn’t huge at least, but dampens the coriander and other elements. Soft carbonation. Improves a little after a few tastes. Tap at Churchkey.
Tried
from Draft
on 12 May 2014
at 09:05
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Shared at CK with gendv138 and solidfunk. Thanks! Nice golden color with a small white head on it. Aroma is lots of fresh ground coffee notes, some woody bourbon notes to it. Coffee is not muted all that much, which is quite nice. Coffee and bourbon - what a way to start a morning, right? Probably, probably not. Nicely infused and good balance between the bourbon and beer.
Tried
on 09 May 2014
at 10:40
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draught at Publick House, 3/14/14
Looks like Curieux, that is to say, bright golden with a hint of amber and a fluffy, well-retained head.
Soft coffee in the nose still allows light peach/apricot esters and bourbon notes in. Almost a light vanilla-chocolate interplay and quite light on the alcohol. Fairly strong aroma and I’m glad I’m just smelling espresso....
Deceptively beer-like in flavor. You certainly get the coffee up front, clean, lightly bitter and with plenty of vanilla flavor. However, malt kicks in, adding light sweetness with a touch of biscuity malt. Some lightly acidic notes along with yeast esters begin to give an almost citric-like impression as the bourbon and coffee sit somewhat dryly on the finish. Actually liked this a lot more than Curieux (which I dont care for much at all, thanks to the heavy bourbon), as the coffee blotted out some of the heavy bourbon character, added a silky-slickness to the texture and seemed to be in balance. Of course, you certainly lose a fair amount of the Belgian nature of the beer, but for what it is, I think it works fine.
Looks like Curieux, that is to say, bright golden with a hint of amber and a fluffy, well-retained head.
Soft coffee in the nose still allows light peach/apricot esters and bourbon notes in. Almost a light vanilla-chocolate interplay and quite light on the alcohol. Fairly strong aroma and I’m glad I’m just smelling espresso....
Deceptively beer-like in flavor. You certainly get the coffee up front, clean, lightly bitter and with plenty of vanilla flavor. However, malt kicks in, adding light sweetness with a touch of biscuity malt. Some lightly acidic notes along with yeast esters begin to give an almost citric-like impression as the bourbon and coffee sit somewhat dryly on the finish. Actually liked this a lot more than Curieux (which I dont care for much at all, thanks to the heavy bourbon), as the coffee blotted out some of the heavy bourbon character, added a silky-slickness to the texture and seemed to be in balance. Of course, you certainly lose a fair amount of the Belgian nature of the beer, but for what it is, I think it works fine.
Tried
on 19 Mar 2014
at 12:50
6.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
On tap @ Boulder Strong Ale Fest 2014. Pours a bit hazy golden orange appearance with a thin white head. Aroma is pretty nutty. Some woody notes. A bit of coffee in the flavor. Caramel and toffee tastes. A bit of graham cracker. Kind of twangy. Kind of disappointing and honestly a big hard to see the underlying tripel.
Tried
from Draft
on 01 Mar 2014
at 20:53
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draft at Beer Run. Pours a hazy orange color with a large frothy off-white head. Good head retention. Aroma of coffee, coconut, wood, curry? The taste is big coffee notes, pale malts, whiskey, wood, spice. Medium bodied, lingering spice, good balance, high carbonation. Nice beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 01 Jan 2014
at 15:24
8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Tap at the Bad Apple, Chicago. Poured a clear light amber with a round white head. The aroma is big coffee and alcohol. The flavour is medium bitter with a spicy hop pepper yeast malt alcohol palate. This beer has everything.
Tried
from Draft
on 17 Oct 2013
at 19:37