Brew Review

Heady Success

And a river runs through it.

BY JEFF LYONS & PETE LYONS

THE ANDROSCOGGIN, Kennebec, Penobscot, Presumpscot, and Saco rivers ow east into the Gulf of Maine. But farther north, the Allagash River has always rushed with a wild and independent streak, carving its own route into Canada. Its namesake, Allagash Brewing Company, has also dared to go its own way for the last 27 years.

AGAINST THE FLOW

“In 1995 there were quite a few Englishstyle beers and pale ales around, and [founder] Rob [Tod] didn't see the point in brewing a beer that quite a few other people were already brewing,” says Brett Willis of Allagash. “So he started brewing a Belgian-style witbier.”

Allagash has come a long way since then. Portland’s largest brewery is now the 23rd largest cra brewery in the United States by sales volume, according to the Brewers Association. It has won 19 brewing awards at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival, including Brewery and Brewer of the Year in 2021. In 2019 Tod won the James Beard award for Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional.

But in the beginning there were a lot more doubts and a lot less beer. Tod launched Allagash in the corner of a warehouse on Industrial Way in 1995, brewing only Allagash White (5.2% ABV), a classic Belgian-style witbier brewed with coriander and orange peel. It’s both sweet and sour, refreshing and drinkable, but it didn’t look or taste anything like what most American beer drinkers were used to. Nevertheless, Tod persisted.

In 1998 Allagash White won its rst gold medal at the World Beer Cup, and the course was set. rough several expansions the brewery remains in the same location a stone’s throw from the Riverton Trolley Park trail.

In 1896, the Portland Railroad Company opened Riverton Park in the area where Allagash now sits, drawing thousands of pleasure seekers by trolley from Monument Square. e park’s 30-acre grounds included a riverside casino designed by John Calvin Stevens, a dance hall, a bandstand, an outdoor theater seating 2,500, a boathouse, a croquet eld, a petting zoo, a trout pond, and a deer run. With the rise of the automobile, it morphed into an amusement park and eventually closed as a casualty of the Great Depression. Today the park is supported by the Friends of Riverton Trolley Park and Portland Trails, with sponsorship from Adopt-a-Trail partner Allagash Brewing Company.

BREWERS’ ROW

For nearly three decades, this area has been a magnet for beer seekers visiting Allagash and the cluster of other breweries that now ourish around it. Several have moved on—most notably Bissell Brothers, to ompson’s Point—but most remain: Foundation Brewing Company, De nitive Brewing Company, Battery Steele Brewing, and Austin Street Brewery are all worthy stops on an Industrial Way brewery tour.

While staying true to its Belgian roots, Allagash brews such an array of lambics, sours, wheat beers, wild ales, and more that locavore tipplers advise visitors to the tasting room to try anything and everything but the White available nationwide. On a recent visit, we tasted the Allagash Tripel (9% ABV), a strong golden ale that has hints of honey, banana, and passion fruit amongst the hops. We also enjoyed a North Sky (7.5% ABV), a Belgian-inspired stout that’s light and sweet, mildly chocolatey, and darkly fruity with a silky mouthfeel.

Visitors cite going to a local brewery is their No. 2 activity.

—Brett Willis

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK

For a fun drinking game while sipping Sixteen Counties (6.5% ABV), try to remember (or learn) the lyrics to the “Sixteen Counties” song all Mainers memorize in elementary school. is strong ale honors Maine’s farming tradition with Mainegrown barley, wheat, and oats; its lemon, oral, and herbal notes smooth out any excess bitterness. e Bite Into Maine food truck provides Allagash with food that follows the award-winning trend of its beers: Food and