Avancé
Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, United States 🇺🇸
Sour / Wild Beer - Flavoured Rotating|
Score
7.64
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Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels and Finished on Strawberries
Avancé is a strong, sour ale with aromas of strawberry preserves and toasted oak. Berries and more oak continue in the flavor, which concludes with a warm, sweet finish. The beer is brewed with multiple sugars including molasses, date sugar, white cane sugar, and dark rock candi. It’s then fermented with four different yeast strains and aged in oak bourbon barrels for a year with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. After transferring the beer to stainless we add one pound per gallon of fresh, locally picked strawberries and age it for another six months.
Avancé is a strong, sour ale with aromas of strawberry preserves and toasted oak. Berries and more oak continue in the flavor, which concludes with a warm, sweet finish. The beer is brewed with multiple sugars including molasses, date sugar, white cane sugar, and dark rock candi. It’s then fermented with four different yeast strains and aged in oak bourbon barrels for a year with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. After transferring the beer to stainless we add one pound per gallon of fresh, locally picked strawberries and age it for another six months.
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7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle at WTF V. Pours a cloudy orange with small white head that lasts. The aroma is strawberry seed and oak. Medium body, jammy strawberry, oak tannin, nice tartness, very good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Jul 2017
at 11:38
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle at Max’s. clear dark Amber with small white head. Aroma is tart strawberry, medium body, lower carbonation, and little lacing. Taste is malt, strawberries, oak, some molasses, and a little bourbon. Nice beer, pretty easy to drink.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 May 2017
at 18:59
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Got in a BIF from Roguer. 375 ml bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 7/14/2016. Pours slightly hazy pinkish golden/orange color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big juicy strawberries, lightly tart lemon, green apple, raspberry, cherry, red grape, brown sugar, and toasted oak; with light hay, leather, musty funk, bourbon, pepper, and yeast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of strawberries, malt/sugars, oak barrel, and light-moderate fruity/funky yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of huge tart/sour raspberry, strawberry, lemon, green apple, red grape, brown sugar, and toasted oak; with light hay, leather, musty funk, bourbon, vanilla, pepper, red wine vinegar, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic sourness and light yeast/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of sour raspberry, strawberry, lemon, green apple, red grape, brown sugar, toasted oak, red wine vinegar, light musty funk, and yeast/oak earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, strawberries, malt/sugars, and oak barrel flavors; with a great malt/sourness balance. Lightly puckering, but not astringent after the finish. Moderate dryness from acidity/oak tannins, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and moderately acidic/tannic/grainy balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Mildly warming alcohol for 9.7%. Overall this is an outstanding fruited sour ale! All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/funky/acidic yeast, strawberries, malt/sugars, and oak barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on for the big ABV; and despite the increasingly lactic/tannic/drying finish. Interesting contrast between aromas and flavors. Nose was very sweet and juicy on fruit notes, with much less funk/sourness; but the taste was much more in line with what I expected for a sour ale on flavor complexity. A highly enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Apr 2017
at 19:10
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Draft @ Sour Sunday 2017, Berkeley, CA. Pours a hazy orange pale amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity sour tart berry aroma. Fruity sour tart woody strawberry flavor. Has a fruity sour tart woody berry finish.
Tried
from Draft
on 17 Apr 2017
at 08:22
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Poured from a 375 ml bottle dated July 14, 2016. Aroma is nice and fairly strawberry forward. Some cherry, and other berry notes with a bit of fig and raisin. Light oak notes with some hints of bourbon and alcohol spice. Some light caramel and toffee notes. Pours a slightly murky, reddish brown with a small, somewhat thin, tan head that quickly recedes and disappears. No lacing and moderate length legs. Flavor is fairly sweet with some moderate acidity in the finish. Medium light strawberry notes with tart cherries, berries, raisin and figs. Light caramel and toffee notes with a bit of biscuit and cracker malt notes as well. Some light oak with hints of bourbon and some light alcohol spice in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium to medium high carbonation. Low astringency and medium low alcohol warmth. Overall, one of the best strawberry beers I have had. It does not have even a hint of the weird phenolic note that so many strawberry beers get and the strawberry character is fairly well pronounced, especially in the aroma. Nice fruity notes in the acidity and the bourbon and oak notes are light and add some nice complexity in the background.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Apr 2017
at 01:22
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle from Londonderry Quick Stop Hazy murky amber brown with a thin wisp of a white head that dissipates instantly. Great berry on the nose but the tart lurking underneath makes you stand at attention. Tart earthy berry flavor with a hint of alcohol and what could be some hop bitterness? Medium body tart lemony puckering mouthfeel, moderate carbonation. Pretty tasty beer, the strawberry is well done!
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Jan 2017
at 14:44
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Pours deep mahogany into a tulip. Strawberry and funk aromas. Dry with sweet strawberry and tart cherry and oak front to back. Parching acidic finish.
Tried
on 16 Jan 2017
at 19:10
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Looks like grape plum juice. no head. smells like grape jelly with baked plum. interesting. oooh holy sour. tart with some ham smoked salty taste. cherry pie in the middle. sweet and juicy flavor with a slight bit of oak
Tried
on 29 Dec 2016
at 18:59
7.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Copenhagen Beer and Music Celebration Boston: pours bright red with a big white head. Aroma is strawberries, wood and wine. Taste is quite sour. Loads of wood and berries. Deep and complex. Alcohol well covered. Tasty as always.
Tried
on 26 Sep 2016
at 07:46
8.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Keg at Citizen Burger Charlottesville, 4/20/16. Hazy red-bronze, thin creamy tan head, good retention. Aroma of tart berries, funk, oak, whiskey, vanilla. The taste is oak, lacto, funk, bright and tart strawberry, vanilla and plum. Medium bodied, lingering tartness, a bit phenolic. Nice.
Tried
on 24 Sep 2016
at 01:21