Allagash Brewery

It being a rainy Wednesday afternoon, we decided to pack the car a head to Portland to take the tour of Allagash Brewery. We were not the only ones bored with the weather as demonstrated by the size of the tour. We joined about 20 other beer lovers in the lobby of Allagash, off outer Forest Ave., in the very industrial Riverside Industrial Park, for our tour.

Our able tour guide started us off with a very brief history and some tasting. After some well place questions we learned that the owner Rob Tod earned his degree in beer drinking from Middlebury College and worked while there at Otter Creek Brewing. After graduating, he came to Portland and set up his first brewery in some rented space in the industrial park where they are now located. No garage brewing for young Mr. Tod. Thanks to his generous father, and his vision to create an all Belgian style brewery, and some initial lonely days brewing and tasting beer, Allagash Brewery has seen steady exponential growth since. We did have a sighting of Mr. Tod, but no verbal contact.

Once we got out of the lobby,we did weasel out some important trade secrets from our guide: Allagash's water is from Sebago Lake (Portland tap water), their yeast was a fortunate contamination, in true Belgium style, and they have been able to preserve it since, the name Hugh Malone come from the Latin name of hops, Humulus lupus ( see comment on Hugh Malone review).

Tasting which was held prior to the tour included White, Dubbel, Triple, and Hugh Malone. Beer was served in plastic glasses in the cement lobby while standing. Certainly not the ambiance, personal touch or quantity which we were fortunate to get at Redhook. I asked several time about casks, which are used for storage in the cold room, but was not invited to see them. Overall, however, the tour was interesting. The tour guide was pleasant and could not be stumped, although we tried hard. We were allowed to walk on the floor during production. I stopped a worker who was very friendly and informative. At the end of the tour we showed our appreciation by being good consumers in the gift shop, and made our way to Bray's to complete our total beer afternoon.