Allagash Brewing North Sky
From Allagash Brewing: Like a clear night lit by stars, this silky Belgian-inspired stout balances light notes of fruit and sweetness with roasty malt. Inspired by late evenings spent around a crackling campfire, North Sky is brewed to merge lightness and darkness into a super-sippable stout.
Allagash Brewing North Sky- 16 oz. can poured into Poured into a 12 oz glass. 7.5% abv.
In my estimation, Allagash is up there with the likes of New Glarus and Sierra Nevada: creating pitch-perfect examples of classic beer styles, day in and day out. Allagash made their bones on the back of a Witbier for crying out loud! As they have navigated a tough US beer market, they still see play out in California. Their distro portfolio has been honed to a nice set of lighter beer styles; I am pleased to see this non-adjunct stout on my grocery shelf.
Appearance: Pitch-black with a voluminous mocha tan head. I keep forgetting that stouts can maintain lacing while drinking them; oh, this doesn’t have any adjuncts. Got it.
Aroma: Coffee, toffee, dark berry, vanilla, cream. Sometimes we forget just how much complexity can be derived from just malt and yeast.
Flavor: Medium bitterness, evolving into a nice combo of dark chocolate, espresso, and pleasant darker fruits (thinking blackberry and plum). While clocking in at 7.5%, North Sky hides its alcohol quite well. The beer doesn’t hang too long on the palate, with a medium body and off-dry finish provided by ample roast character. All the flavors linger in the aftertaste. Insanely well-balanced.
Overall: Some people like to say It’s Always Stout Season, and with a game-day player like North Sky, I couldn’t agree more. Much like the recent arc back to cleaner West Coast IPAs, the adjunctless stout is poised for a return. Classic dark ales like Anderson Valley Barley Flats and Deschutes Black Butte Porter are here to remind us just what a dark beer can provide. North Sky would be fantastic with a hearty bowl of chili, or with a curated assortment of fresh fruit.
