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On April 19, 2008, at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, CA, Allagash was awarded three medals in the World Beer Cup.

Allagash Dubbel was awarded the Gold Medal in the Belgian-style Dubbel category.

Allagash Tripel was awarded the Silver Medal in the Belgian-style Tripel category.

Allagash Curieux was awarded the Bronze Medal in the wood and barrel-aged strong beer category.

The Brewer’s Association World Beer Cup is held every two years and is the only international competition that awards just three medals for each category. This year Allagash was competing against 2,864 beers representing 644 breweries from 58 different countries! Allagash was one of only 17 breweries to wine three or more medals.

A hearty congratulations to Rob Tod and the crew at Allagash. I’ll be toasting to them tonight (with an Allagash beer, of course)!

This is based on tasting notes that are several weeks old. My recent business trips have caused quite a backlog of reviews, so I’m going to try to get through a few of them over the next couple days.

Continuing my infatuation with Belgian beer, I tried a Delirium Tremens a few weeks ago. This style is listed as a Strong Pale Ale, as opposed to the Strong Darks I’ve found so satisfying of late. It definitely poured a lighter color than the Nocturnum I’d had a week or two earlier. It was a nice medium gold color with lots of carbonation. The typical massive white head was present. The nose struck me mostly as fruit–bananas, specifically. Not being a huge fan of bananas, I was a little concerned.

The taste very much matched the banana scent. I found it to be a little overwhelming. It was something like drinking banana flavored bubblegum. It’s not overly sweet; in fact, this reminds me a bit of a very yeasty, fruity hefe weizen. The mouth feel is smooth and there’s a good bit of warming in the finish, owing to the 9% ABV. I think this is quite drinkable, but I don’t care for it as much as the Nocturnum. Several comments on BeerAdvocate mention giving this beer a second and third chance before you can really appreciate all the nuance, and I’d certainly be willing to oblige. For now I’m going to say “good, but not great.” It does taste and feel like a well-crafted beer. The bananas are just too much for me.

My Rating:

I spent a goodly portion of last week in northern New Jersey for work. While there, I met some fraternity brothers for dinner and a few beers after work. One of my brothers suggested Andy’s Corner Bar as it was only a few miles from my hotel and had a good reputation. Andy’s is a very small place and easy to miss if you’re not looking for the blue awning. But finding it is worth the effort.

First, be forewarned that Andy’s has no kitchen. The most you can get to eat there is a handful of the pretzels the barkeep hangs from each pint on a skewer. However, he was more than happy to provide us a stack of takeout menus for places that would deliver. So if you’re looking for dinner and beer, you may want to look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for beer and want to get something to eat while doing so, check this one out.

The bartender was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his beers. I didn’t actually ask his name, but I get the feeling this was Andy himself. The place only has some ten taps (none of which are brewed by anything bigger than Boston Beer Company), but it complements this with 100 bottled craft and imported brews. There are some great local and regional beers on tap. Amusingly the night I was in, they featured three of Peak Brewing’s four offerings. Having already had those, I opted for a Ramstein Maibock and a Tröeg’s Hopback Amber Ale (stay tuned for reviews).

The atmosphere was very relaxed. It was not very busy for a Thursday night (we were there till nearly midnight), but there was plenty of hophead discussion to be had. If you find yourself in the Hackensack area and are craving a good beer and someone to chat about it with, I suggest venturing to Bogota in search of Andy’s. You’ll be glad you did.