Allagash Spontaneous debuts in Belgium and the U.S.

(Portland, ME) – Allagash Spontaneous . . . finally some news out there.

For those who don’t know and I am assuming most do, in the words of Allagash Brewing’s Jason Perkins, this is the “first Lambic traditionally brewed with the use of spontaneous fermentation in a koelschip in the U.S.” [Update: Perhaps that is semantically accurate though most beer buffs would disagree with it on a technical basis. See my article on Jolly Pumpkin Lambicus Dexterius.] You can check out the video on Youtube (complete with music from Sufjan Stevens) from when the brewery first started the project early December 2007. The brewery has a write-up on its official site as well.

The Atlantic’s Clay Risen also had a nice write-up on the beer two days ago that is worth reading.

[Update: Also check out Jeff Alworth's great post from a year ago on the brewery and the koelschip project.]

Flash forward two years later to present day and the brewery has debuted the very first batch. Unfortunately for most BN readers, it took place in Belgium at The Day of the Lambic, a festival featuring more than fifteen unblended Lambics from nine breweries. The brewery has a few photos up from the event here and some photos of the koelschip here.

So when does the beer make its U.S. debut? Tomorrow night according to Felicia D’Ambrosio of the Philadelphia City Paper: “Rob Tod, owner of Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine, will visit Philadelphia to make the U.S. debut of the first-ever American spontaneously fermented lambic in a Tria Fermentation School class on Thursday, Dec. 17. Hyped lambic-heads have already sold the class out, a testament to Philadelphia’s devotion to the rarest and weirdest of all artisanal beer styles.”

The City Paper interview with Tod has some other interesting tidbits: there have been eight batches total, each with what appears to be a few to several barrels a batch. The brewery is experimenting with a lot of different fruits like cherries, raspberries, and Maine blueberries. The one thing concerning is that these batches may never be bottled though my gut tells me that Tod is just being cautious. I would be surprised if at least one of these batches doesn’t get featured as one of the brewery’s limited 375 mL bottle releases. It would be a perfect match.

Photo credit:

(yes, I know those are Bourbon barrels but I couldn’t find a good clear pic of the barrels of Lambic)

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