Sorry for the lack of new posts this week. Things have just been extra uber crazy trying to get my life in order following its recent upheaval. But there is one thing I wanted to be sure and bring to really everyone’s attention because the release of this beer is just that important, but this particular event is one that especially the locals should know about.

This Thursday morning Maine’s most famous (in the Beer Geek community, anyway) brewery, Allagash Brewing, will release their brand new brew, Gargamel, for the very first time. According to the brewery, a beer which has been 16 months in the making (I first wrote about it in February of 2008), Gargamel, is a Belgian style sour ale and the first offering in their limited release 375ml series. The Allagash brewers used a blend of American 2-row barley malt, raw & malted wheat and selected caramel malt to brew this 9.2% ABV beer. After primary fermentation, the beer was inoculated with the Allagash house Brettanomyces strain, then aged in French Oak wine barrels with a generous amount of local raspberries for over 18 months. Gargamel’s aroma is described as being,

“Full of un-ripened raspberry, vanilla and citrus notes. This medium bodied beer has hints of biscuit, and graham cracker with a clean, fruity and refreshingly tart finish.”

The Allagash retail store (located at 50 Industrial Way in Portland, ME) will open at 10:00am on Thursday, May 7th for the release of Gargamel. The 375ml bottles will cost $10 a bottle and there is a 2 bottle per person limit. Get there early, there’s sure to be a line (and while you’re in line, if you see me there, be sure and wave)!

I just recently picked up a 22oz bottle of the Long Trail Brewing Double IPA — the second release in the Vermont brewery’s new “Brewmasters Series” — from my local Whole Foods; what a tasty brew! The Long Trail dIPA is hoppy enough and complex enough for hop heads and beer geeks, but downright tasty enough for even the beer drinking masses.

The Long Trail Double IPA pours a great orange mustard color with tons of pillowy offwhite head that never entirely disappears and leaves behind some great lacing. The nose packs a citrus — white grapfruit, tangerine and probably pineapple — punch which filled my entire kitchen as I poured the beer.

All of the citrus flavors come through in the initial taste as well. The hop presence is definitely there but maybe not as much as you’d expect from something called a “double IPA” — but don’t let that deter you from the beer, either, even if you’re all about the hops. And the hop flavors that are there mix very well with the solid caramel and biscuit-flavored malty backbone. All of which cover up the 8+ percent ABV flavors perfectly.

My favorite thing about the beer, though, was that the citrus hop flavors which were present in the initial sips (and were awfully tasty) slowly gave way to a very piney taste (which was equally tasty) as the beer sat and warmed. So if you’re a fan of both the grapfruit-like hop flavors common of American-style beers and the more intense pine flavors of traditional IPAs, than this beer truly has it all.

I’m not sure how long this beer will be around, especially since the Long Trail Coffee Stout — the first installment of the Brewmaster’s Series — was only on store shelves for a short time. So if you happen across a bottle, definitely be sure and grab one. And with an average rating on the BA boards of an A-, it seems like plenty of people agree — you’ll be happy you did. Cheers.