Beer Spotlight!

Allagash Curieux

$17.99 for the 12oz four-pack
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tripel

Back in 2004, Allagash founder Rob Tod was sitting on some newly emptied Jim Bean Bourbon barrels. What to do? What to do? Suddenly, he was curious to see what would happen if he aged Allagash’s Tripel in said barrels. The rest is brewstory.

To make the Curieux, Allagash still ages their Tripel in fresh bourbon barrels. After about seven weeks, they take out the beer and blend it with un-barrel-aged Tripel to get the flavor just right — and the flavor is just right.

The Curieux first hits your nose with the spicy minerality of its hops, tricking you into thinking that that’s what’s in store, but no. Oh, no. Surprisingly smooth, the Curieux presents the breadiness of a croissant, offering up caramel and vanilla flavors. The sweetness of the bourbon seamlessly blends with the hops, and the whole thing is wrapped in a delightfully crisp package courtesy of the mineral rich water of Allagash’s water source, Sebago Lake — one of only fifty American surface water supplies that is so clean that it doesn’t need to be filtered.

You can drink the Curieux just cool to make it extra rich, but we like to have it quite cold to make it ultra-refreshing. After years of satisfying your curiosity, isn’t it about time that a curiosity satisfied you?