Allagash Victor (Ale Brewed With Grapes) - Aging and Tasting Notes
By jason on Jan 9, 2008 in Aging Well, Belgian Styles, Reviews
Name: Victor
Brewer: Allagash
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Vintage: 2007
Cellared On: November 23rd, 2007
Original Tasting: January 5th, 2008
I’ve been wanting to give this brew a taste ever since Victor won an award in the “Best Experimental Beer Category” at last year’s Great American Beer Festival. This beer gets its uniqueness from Allagash adding a large amount of red chancellor grapes during the mashing process, as well as using a strain of yeast more typical of wine production then of beer.
Victor is a light amber in color. There’s decent carbonation in this brew, which is a bit surprising giving the fact that the head on this beer dissipated very quickly. Smells of fruit and funky Belgian yeast filled the air almost immediately after I popped the cork.
The taste of this beer certainly matched the smell. Slightly sweet fruity flavors are dominate here. You can certainly taste the grapes, but they actually match up quite well with the other fruity flavors in this beer. This definitely surprised me - I was expecting a much winier and more aggressive grape flavor. Victor also has some very light malt and hop touches sitting in the background, and the finish is fast and semi-sweet.
Six-Month Tasting: June 1st, 2008
Yet another great beer to enjoy on a sunny spring day! I love my job (hobby, job - whatever)!
There’s still a load of fruity flavors in this beer - although I think they’re slightly pulled back from six months ago. The grape is most prominent, of course, but cherry and peach flavors were coming through strong as well. With the slight pullback in ester flavors, the malt is making a more of a presence without a slight biscuity flavor.
Cellar Outlook: At 9% ABV and bottle-conditioned like all of Allagash’s brews, it should hold up well in the cellar. How the wine yeast strain will react over the years here is the big question mark.
Six-Month Cellar Outlook: I expect the trends I saw in the six-month tasting to continue. The decline in ester flavor will most likely march on, allowing more and more maltiness (is that a word?) to come to the front.
Next Tasting: November 2008
Jason
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