We arrived about 40 minutes before the next tour, so it gave us plenty of time to explore and talk to all the friendly employees. Everyone was super nice and very informative! Unfortunately, you have to make reservations for the tour. Thankfully, they let the two of us in on the next tour even with 2 groups of bachelorette parties. What was different about this tour, was that you drink the beer first, then explore. We tasted the Allagash blonde, white, and black.
Our tour guide, Lisa, then took us through the brewery with lots of interesting beer facts along the way.
There were plenty of weird sightings throughout the brewery.....
That barrel, with a bloody arm hanging out of, was HUGE. They even mentioned that because of its size, the beer may take twice as long to mature/age, or may not at all. Still, it was fun to look at. We went into the barrel room, which was awesome. There were at least over 50 barrels, all with different beers and dates attached. We even saw a Pleepleus barrel, which was a collaboration beer with Zane Lamprey of "Three Sheets" & "Drinking Made Easy."
They also gave us a little information about their Coolship Beers. Just for your information, a coolship is a large shallow pan used to cool wort overnight using outside air temperature. During the cooling process, naturally occurring yeast from the air inoculates the wort. In the morning, the cooled wort is transferred into barrels where the fermentation process begins. Until recently, Allagash were the only brewery in the US to utilize beers using this process (Russian River has started using the same process, but Allagash was the first). I haven't tried any, but they're supposed to be incredible.
After the tour, we went back to the tasting room and bought lots of beer and swag, of course.
This was the perfect end to the perfect brewery trip. We definetly had our fill of great beers and cannot wait for the next trip.....out west maybe? I didn't take any pictures of the trunk/backseat of our car, but let's just say that with all the beer in tow, we had over 4 coolers and lots of icing/re-icing everyday. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. If you're looking for some sweet Allagash beer for #PBW and meet Rod Tod, the founder and head brewer, check out Memphis Taproom on June 5 from 7-10pm.
Watch out for a new blog post tomorrow all about Philly Beer Week and where I will be heading for the best beers and exciting events!
Cheers,
Megan
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