Allagash James Bean - Allagash Brewing Company

ChainGangGuy

Georgia

4.04/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

10 ounce pour - $6.00 at Leon’s Full Service in Decatur, Georgia as part of their Allagash Takeover event.

Appearance: Heavily hazed, darkened gold body with a nearly white head, just shy of a full inch.

Smell: My stars! Certainly a stronger coffee aroma than I had anticipated, delightfully roasty, nutty. Undertone of gently sweet-scented bourbon notes. Faintly fruity, with a bit of lemon, leaving little of the original tripel to recognize.

Taste: Sweetish flavor of roasted coffee beans -- it really does have a surprising depth of coffee in the taste. No, really, it does! Caramel, vanilla, and wooden bourbon accents follow. Then, way waaaay back is the original Allagash Tripel. Ultra faint citrus. Sweetish, coffee finish with a sliver of bourbon and a slight, warming alcohol quality.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-plus carbonation. Smooth mouthfeel.

Overall: I would enjoy starting my day by downing a pint of James Bean.

Serving type: on-tap

05-19-2013 22:45:20 | More by ChainGangGuy

jlindros

Massachusetts

3.63/5  rDev -9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Tap at prohibition pig
Light fizzy head, touch of lacing, hazy golden tan color, typical of a tripel at 11%.

Nose light creamy malt, hint of vanilla aroma like barrel, hint of fruity esters, nice mocha vanilla coffee aroma, quite strong, and slightly nutty.

Wow coffee flavor really comes out, fresh roasted coffee beans with cold extraction smoothness. Booze starts to tingle a bit, with a mild sweetness, light taste of the syrup that would be used to flavor coffee, light creamy golden malts, just a hint of citrus. Finish is long, slight bitterness, long smooth nutty coffee finish, still fairly sweet, hint of booze on the finish.

Mouth is med to fuller bodied, decent carb, some warming and tingly booze borderline fuesel.

Overall interesting, lots of coffee flavor packed into the small amount of beer, although the beer itself kind of gets lost in the coffee, smooth cold extracted coffee though, and booze gets a bit much especially as it warms.

Serving type: on-tap

07-09-2012 13:26:35 | More by jlindros

thagr81us

South Carolina

3.8/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Served from tap into a Raleigh Rare & Vintage Beer Tasting snifter. Poured a hazy golden yellow-orange with a minimal white head. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, fruit, wood, coffee, and vanilla. The flavor was of sweet malt, fruit, wood, dark chocolate, coffee, and sweet alcohol. It had a light feel on the palate with high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty decent brew. I am a pretty big fan of the base brew as far as a representation of the style and this one was no exception. All of the right right things going on that you would expect plus that nice touch of coffee. The coffee seemed to be more integrated on the nose than in the flavor which was a bit of a letdown for me. Still a solid offering that I would not hesitate to try again in the future if I have the opportunity.

Serving type: on-tap

02-06-2013 12:06:27 | More by thagr81us

axeman9182

New Jersey

3.58/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Served in a goblet during Barcade's 8th anniversary party.

Coffee Curieux pours an opaque tangerine, with about a finger of white head produced by the pour. Retention and lacing are both present, but neither particularly impress. There's very little of the base tripel in the nose, just a bit of a green apple note. The coffee overpowers the Jim Beam barrels in terms of aroma, to an interesting effect. There's a bit more of a pale fruit character to start off the flavor profile. The coffee and bourbon barrels fill in the rest of the blanks. What's unique is that when I look for those flavors I find them separately, but when I let everything just come to me, they meld together to create a slightly toasty peanut butter flavor. The mouthfeel is decidedly not Belgian, as the body"s a little too full and the carbonation is slightly dull. When I first heard about Coffee Curieix I was skeptical best that it could be pulled off, but Allagash did an admirable job with this.

Serving type: on-tap

10-18-2012 21:16:48 | More by axeman9182

MusicaleMike

Pennsylvania

4.15/5  rDev +4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.5

Served in a balloon glass.

Pours a cloudy, yellow color with a deep orange hue. Big white head that leaves decent lacing. Could improve on the clarity and head retention.

Very interesting aroma! James Bean has notes of green tea, coconut, maple yogurt, and when it warms up, freshly roasted coffee. Complex, layered and more than just coffee.

Amazing coffee flavor...just amazing.... Tastes like a typical coffee beer but with light malts and hints of coconut, cacao, and vanilla.

Extremely smooth body, but could use more carbonation, in my opinion for a Tripel.

Great beer. Yet again, awesome coffee flavor and aroma. It is amazing that Allagash could get the taste like that and keep the beer blonde. I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend trying it if you see it on draft.

Serving type: on-tap

03-22-2013 18:52:59 | More by MusicaleMike