From Maine, With Love - An Allagash Brewing Podcast

S2 Episode 1: The Report Series, Special Releases, and More

• Allagash Brewing Company • Season 2 • Episode 1

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In the first episode of our second season of From Maine, With Love, your faithful hosts Liz and Brett celebrate the series’ continuation! First, we run though our Report Series of beers, containing: Wildlife Report, Beach Report, and Snow Report. Then, we share some happenings in and around the brewery that have us excited. For a brief update of everything exciting happening at Allagash right now, there’s no better episode than this one.

Brett Willis:

This is From Maine, With Love, an Allagash Brewing podcast where we talk about beer, our community here in Maine, and things that generally make us happy. Well, hi, Liz.

Liz Wilson:

Hey, Brett.

Brett Willis:

How are you doing? Good. It's 2023. Wow. Wow. The first episode of season two of From Maine, With Love.

Liz Wilson:

They let us keep doing this.

Brett Willis:

They really did.<laugh>, we didn't know we were gonna, you know, they kept it on. So here we are. We're not stopping. Um, yes, I mean, we have some things, some interesting beer tidbits that, uh, we thought would be really interesting for people to just hear about some, uh, some new beers we have coming out. Some kind of behind the scenes of how those beers came to be. Yeah. And, uh, some events, just some, some fun stuff coming out. Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

Somehow it's already February and, um, yeah, a lot, a lot has been happening around here at the brewery, so it's

Brett Willis:

A busy year.

Liz Wilson:

Let's, uh, let's

Brett Willis:

Talk about it. Let's get into it. Yeah. So, I mean, this year we have, uh, a slightly different format. We talked about this a little bit on the last episode, but the idea is we're gonna have on some cool community partners that we have great relationships with. And then we're also gonna pepper in some just some fun episodes where we're gonna talk about stuff going on at the brewery. So it should be a fun mix.

Liz Wilson:

It'll be great. Yeah. And if you've got any feedback for us, um, we always love to hear your thoughts or your ideas for episodes. Yep. That's super interesting. So totally don't forget to email us, uh, at podcast@allagash.com

Brett Willis:

podcast@allagash.com. And Liz, I already have your secret question. Oh boy. Who I think, uh, I think it's gonna be a good one, because I'm actually interested in your answer. Well, I'm always interested in your answer. That was, that came off poorly. I'm sorry,<laugh>. Uh, I'm very interested.

Liz Wilson:

I'm not offended.

Brett Willis:

Uh, and so the question is, what is your one kind of top party planning tip?

Liz Wilson:

Ooh, put my husband in charge of it.

Brett Willis:

<laugh>.

Liz Wilson:

Think that he's a big party planner. Yeah. Um, I, gosh, there's a lot of great entertaining advice out there, Brett. Sure. Um, we like to often prep as many sneak snacks Mm. As we can so that we don't have to do it during the party. Smart. Yeah. That's good. And you know what, I love a fun party, uh, napkin, just a little cocktail napkin as well. A little flair or pizzazz to it. Oh,

Brett Willis:

That does, that, uh, feels like that would be the detail that would add that extra bit of like, wow. They really care. They care.

Liz Wilson:

They're having a good time

Brett Willis:

Yeah. They didn't just rip up some paper towel like Brett does when he has people over. Yeah. You know,

Liz Wilson:

These are for like, um, yeah, that's like a, I, we throw a cup, we throw sort of a summer party and a holiday party and

Brett Willis:

Sweep the graham cracker crumbs off the couch,<laugh>, you know, just really do it up.

Liz Wilson:

Set the dog out before you just clean everything up. Uh, yeah.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. There you go. Um, you don't need to ask me a question, Liz. I, I just, uh, unless you have one.

Liz Wilson:

Well, Brett, we got to spend some time in the car last week that, that's true. And, um, we got talking about music, so I figured I Do you have any shows lined up for this year? Or anything you've been eyeing that you wanna grab tickets for?

Brett Willis:

Yeah, I was gonna, well, actually, LCD Sound system is, uh, one of my mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, favorite bands. But then also, uh, there's a band Big Thief that just came and played at the state theater, and I was thinking about going to see them. That was like a weekend or two ago. Unfortunately. The, uh, the tickets were, uh, slightly pricier than I, uh, wanted to Yeah. To go for it. And so, like, because I'm like, I'm a fan, but I'm not like a big fan. Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

Do it. Yeah. Um, got

Brett Willis:

Any

Liz Wilson:

Good ones? No, I, and this is, I'm a huge Beyonce fan. Oh. But not huge enough that I know the details of when the tickets are out, although I know it is sometimes soon. Yeah. So I might we'll see. Um, good luck. Good luck to me. Yeah. So what is coming up here at the brewery that you are particularly excited

Brett Willis:

I am particularly excited about the Report Series. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, it's a series of three beers that we just announced on our social media. Um, and it is, uh, I mean, we can go through each one of them, but, uh, the, uh, the names of the beers are gonna be Wildlife Report in the spring, Beach Report in the summer, and then Snow Report in the winter.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. These are fun.

Brett Willis:

Totally.

Liz Wilson:

I think we were sort of asked on the marketing and branding side to come up with a series of beers, and we've certainly released things in the past that have seasonality to them. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, but not in a really cohesive year round way, I don't think. Totally. So coming up with something that was connected and then finding names for things that were connected that

Brett Willis:

Were not already taken,

Liz Wilson:

We're not already taken. Yes. Um, was a fun task. So it was, what do we got?

Brett Willis:

So, yeah, I mean, just a, a little bit of background, the, we had a beer called Foliage Report mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, that is our dubbel, that has done really well in the tasting room, and it's just a delicious beer. And so I think it was kind of, we love that beer so much that we're like, oh, can we kind of bring this around and do this? Like, it, can we do a report series? And so I think we're, we, I think I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think everything makes sense. And so, to start with Wildlife Report, that's a, um, a farmhouse style ale. It's 8% ABV, uh, it is actually in style, a biere de garde, which is a really cool style that I did not know existed until I had the From Maine, With Love version of that beer. Uh, which is From Maine, With Love Number 10. And I like fell in love with this style. It's like literally one of my new favorite styles.

Liz Wilson:

It's a delicious beer. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, it's, I feel like a good representation of this time of year too. 8% a B V, it's a little bit high, a little bit more robust. So

Brett Willis:

It's a sneaky Yeah. High. Like, it does not taste like an 8% beer. It tastes like 6%. And it's got, so if you're familiar with Saisons, it's like a, a cousin of the saison Yeah. Sort of a thing. biere de garde actually means beer for keeping. And, uh, it, this one has, I think we put down Notes of Honey and Pear, but like all yeast forward beers like a saison or biere de garde, where the yeast is kind of one of the dominant flavor components. It has so much going on in it. Yeah. It's just like, and, but it's, you know, like many of our beers too, super clean and crisp and just Yeah. That flavor. It's just a really nice dry, delicious, delicious drinkable beer.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. And these are national releases. So these are, these are going out into the world. Um, you can find them on our locator Yeah. On our website, allagash.com/locator. Um, the report comes in, you know, we, you think of Wildlife Report, you start tracking wildlife. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, whether you're living in somewhere that's still covered in snow, like we are here in Maine, and maybe you get to see your, you know, little deer tracks or mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you've got little foxes. Yeah. If you're lucky you see a fox, if you're a little rabbit, little racking. Um, I know there's many places in the United States that are much warmer than we are, so, um, got some fun wild wildlife that we think this beer Yeah. It's a perfect compliment to all your seeking out your Spring wildlife, taking

Brett Willis:

A, taking a trail walk,

Liz Wilson:

Taking a trail walk, perfect. Backyard, birding,

Brett Willis:

Backyard birding.

Liz Wilson:

Lots of fun things to do. Yeah. So the Report Series was inspired by Foliage Report, which is a thing I think in many New England states where in the fall the leaves start to change, and that's a very exciting time of year. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> often people travel to Maine in Vermont, New Hampshire to literally look at the leaves and we call'em Leaf pees, but Yep. In Maine, um, there's the Maine Foliage report, which literally tracks the foliage, um, in Maine and tells you if it's near peak or you know, where it is. And so people can go around and if they're really dedicated to watching the foliage change, they know where they should go for optimizing. Um, leaf peeping maxitude<laugh>. Uh, and so we, we love this, this is one of our favorite things to get excited about in the fall. And, um, it's a, it's a great account to follow. And I think, um, a couple people on the marketing team, myself included, were driving up to our friends at Appalachian Mountain Club, um, one fall, and I think it just sort of dawned on us like, oh my God, what a, what a fun name for a beer foliage report. It's totally a thing here. Totally. And, um, it just got us thinking about sort of how we could run with that name. And so when we were presented the idea of sort of making a seasonal series, I think we sort of took a nudge from, from that beer in particular. Yeah. Um, and<laugh>, you could report on so many other things. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

So, yeah. Yeah. And we had some fun with Foliage Report too. Yeah. I think that's what you'll find in like, kind of our descriptions of a lot of these beers, like Foliage Report. So we, we coupled it, I think, you know, we have a wonderful photographer in Mat who works on our team, and he took an incredible foliage picture, and he takes a lot of them, but we had this incredible foliage picture for like, the social media of talking about it. And then we just kind of coupled that with like, some really wacky, sort of goofy like, language around it. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> of like incredibly imprecise foliage stuff of like, you know, orange Poofers and Ruby Red droppers. Yeah. And just

Liz Wilson:

We're no experts

Brett Willis:

No. And, and we leaned into the art in-expertness. And so, uh, yeah, it was a really fun combination. I mean, that social post did super well, that beer continues to do super well. And I think, like for anyone wondering, I think talked about this little, but like for anyone wondering, there's an interesting thing of like, okay, so Foliage Report started this series. Why is Foliage Report not included in the series? And, uh, a little background beer stuff? We, so as a series, it comes out seasonally. We also have a fall beer, wind Foliage Report would be the one to come out. And that fall beer that we have is called Haunted House. And Haunted House is Beloved Beer here around the brewery, beloved in a lot of the places that we sell beer. And so that kind of was and is the default of that spot. Yeah. And so we can't really sell two fall beers at once, because then they're kind of fighting each other. It doesn't make as much sense. So Foliage Report will still actually exist in our tasting room. We're gonna be releasing that beer there coming back. Don't worry. But it there, that's, that's why there is the fall break in the series. Yeah. Of we're going spring, summer, winter,

Liz Wilson:

The technicalities.

Brett Willis:

Oh, the technicalities.

Liz Wilson:

So moving right along to summer, whoa. What's happening in summer?

Brett Willis:

Summer is Beach Report. It's, uh, 4.2% crisp, bright lager with a slight snap of happiness. And, uh, if you're an Allagash fan and you had seconds to summer, this is from the same Creative Mind. And I don't think we actually mentioned it, but the, the, the Wildlife Report came from a beer idea from Mike Billon who works in our lab. He's our, he's our microbiologist. And, uh, I'm sure we're gonna have him on the podcast at some point cuz he just, everything he does is so interesting about East Propagation and everything like that. But Beach Report, um, is from Corey McNutt, you, you would've heard him on the Hop Reach podcast as well, describing those flavors. He is, uh, just a very talented brewer, and he just made this really, really delicious lager. I think this was, this was one, another one of those ones where I think when it went on tap on the pilot system,<laugh>, the brewery was just kinda like, oh,

Liz Wilson:

<laugh>, this is one, this came out originally as FMWL 16. So if anyone happened to have that here at the brewery, it is now scaled up into, um, beach Report. And so I think, you know, when these things zip through the tasting room, that gives us a good indication of, um, of how excited people are about it. So Brett, can you give us a little flavor detail on this

Brett Willis:

One? Oh, yeah. Flavor details, I mean,

Liz Wilson:

Notes,

Brett Willis:

It's always hard, I feel like with lagers because I think all of, of the lager flavor notes, when you're trying to be accurate around describing the beer, are like, not necessarily that appetizing sounding like bread dough or like, you know, like grassy, like grassy. I don't think the fact that, I don't remember if that applies to this beer, but I think that like, if you are looking for a super easy drinking yet still flavorful and also just super like, uh, refreshing lager. This one is just, it just hits all the notes. I just remember tasting this beer and being like, yep, that's, that's what I wanted.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. This one comes in at 4.2 ABV. So a great little crusher for the warmer weather. Exactly.

Brett Willis:

Yeah.

Liz Wilson:

I can't wait for that one to come out.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. And all of these are in four-packs of 16 ounce cans. That's, that's, uh, the way that you're gonna find them out in the world. And then that brings us to Snow Report,

Liz Wilson:

Snow Report, not the current winter season that we are in<laugh>, which is a very hard thing to describe. Yeah. It will come out, I think the November, 2023. Yeah, that sounds right. So the tail end of this year, when you're thinking about your weekend getaways in the mountains, um, you're heading out with your friends.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. I, this is another, I mean, there are a lot of great beers that come through our pilot system. I think we brewed 98 pilot beers last year. Oh yeah. So we get to taste a lot of really cool, really interesting, thoughtful beers. This is another one of those ones that stood out. Um, it's a saison, it's brewed with Wildflower honey. Yeah. And it is a higher ABV saison, which normally saisons, I feel like cover around the six percent-ish Yeah. Range. But this one's 8.6%. Um, and warm, you're

Liz Wilson:

Warm you Right up Cool. After a day in the snow, but it's,

Brett Willis:

Yeah, just such great flavor. Just like so many fruit ish notes that you find from that, like saison yeast. And so we put Melon, green, apple, touch of honey. I think those kind of characterize the flavor, but really it's so much more than that. There is so many other flavors that you can't really pin down. Uh, and when it comes to being like a, we put it as, uh, if you want to stay in or go out for a little snowy walk, it's kind of both of these things. It's, it's just like, yeah, it'll be really nice in enough

Liz Wilson:

If you wanna build a snowman, maybe.

Brett Willis:

Whoa. Snowman beer. Is that a thing?

Liz Wilson:

Um, we could make it a thing<laugh>. Sure. There

Brett Willis:

There we go. Snowman Beer in, in a lot of other winter ales. I think a lot of people, when they think of winter, they think of stouts. Yeah. They think of dark beers and dark kind of sweet heavier beers, which I like, I'm a big fan of, so this is kind of an unexpected winter beer, but it's like, it just fits so nicely. Right. So Liz and it, I mean, if you see these beers on the shelf, you might notice they don't look exactly like every other beer we've made. So, Liz, do you wanna talk a little bit about,

Liz Wilson:

Bit about that? Yeah. We worked with a local, um, sort of design and branding firm, our friends here at Pulp and Wire who really helped, um, bring this concept to life across all three cans. So I think you'll notice a lot of similarities in sort of the artistic styling, um, of these three beers. And so it was really fun to collaborate on this series, not only from a, like how do we create a seasonal series mm-hmm.<affirmative> and what does that mean and how do you name it and make it engaging, but also on the branding side to work with a partner to, to help translate what that meant. And so, um, you know, we've done some work with them in the past. They're, they're a great partner to us. So, um, yeah. Thanks. Thanks. Our friends at Pulp& Wire. Thank

Brett Willis:

You. They look awesome. So that, that is the report series. We have another beer, uh, that is out now, uh, that, I mean I, I'm really excited about from kind of every single way that one can be excited about a beer. Yeah. Um, and what beer is that? Liz,

Liz Wilson:

That is called Cur-8. Curate. C u r dash eight, the number that

Brett Willis:

Right.

Liz Wilson:

Um, gosh, there is so much to say about this beer. It's like hard to<laugh>. Like where do you even start?

Brett Willis:

I can, I can, I can try. Go for it. All right. So Cur-8 is our collaboration with Crowns& Hops. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> a black-owned brewery out of Inglewood, California. Yep. And so we got together with them at the Barrel&Flow Fest, uh, this past year in Pittsburgh. Yep. Um, and we brewed a beer called Cur-8 for that. And the beer curate is 80% of their 8 Trill Pils and then 20% of our Curieux. Um, it is just a super tasty beer.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. Yeah. And we were super lucky to have Benny and Teo, the founder of, of Crowns and Hops visit Allagash last summer. And they got to come and do a full day of, um, you know, they were working on the blend of the beer. Yep. They were, you know, Rob got to take them around the brewery and, and sort of introduce'em to everybody here. And so, you know, we got to, to know them pretty well through that visit. And certainly, um, Rob has spent time with them at the Barrel and Flow Fest in Pittsburgh too. Totally. Um, and we, so this has been, uh, a partnership that's been going on now for, gosh, it'll almost a year. Yeah.

Brett Willis:

Nearly

Liz Wilson:

A year. Uh, and

Brett Willis:

Even more actually, cuz I think Rob was on a podcast with them like in like 2020 maybe, or 2021. But anyway, yes.

Liz Wilson:

And so the proceeds of Cur-8, um, we'll go to the 8 Trill Initiative, which is a nonprofit that, uh, Benny and Teo started mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, you know, they raised funds to help provide opportunities to, um, black-owned brewers. And so we're super excited. This beer is finally on shelf mm-hmm.<affirmative> to celebration of Black History Month. And so, um, it will be available in limited footprint, but we'll be available in California, New York, um, here at the tasting room, Georgia and Florida. So if you see it on the shelves, we highly recommend picking it

Brett Willis:

Up. Yeah. And that, uh, that can just looks super, super good. The Cur-8 is all in gold and it's just this really nicely, it's like just such a like vibrant form of gold. Yeah, it is. Uh, yeah, everything about that beer, and you're probably gonna hear quite a bit more about it in our next podcast because I think we're gonna be talking to Benny and Teo and Rob as well. So Yes. You

Liz Wilson:

Can look forward

Brett Willis:

To That's, to that. Yeah. Little, little, little brief one little small one. Hop Reach,

Liz Wilson:

Hop Reach

Brett Willis:

We're excited about Hop Reach,

Liz Wilson:

Hop Reach IPA

Brett Willis:

Hop Reach ipa or First year Round ipa.

Liz Wilson:

Uh, it is, it's, yeah, it's making its way onto Shelfs, so you should be able to get your hands on it. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, it has been selling pretty darn well here in our tasting room, which is, uh, very exciting for people. And so I think even a few times has outsold Allagash White here in the tasting room, which

Brett Willis:

Not even a few times it Yeah. That's the little insider info. It is, it has since it's gone on tap in our tasting room, outsold Allagash White in on tap and, uh, in package in like people taking it out from the brewer.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. And it not much throws off Allagash White in the tasting room. Yeah. So, um, yeah, that's just some, some really exciting, uh,

Brett Willis:

Cool anecdotal news

Liz Wilson:

Totally as we launch it, our first year round ipa. Yeah. So, um, if you're looking for it, then yeah. Again, head to our locator on our website. It should be making its way to shelves near you.

Brett Willis:

What about that? Yeah. Everywhere. Yeah. Everywhere we're sold. So it's definitely getting out there. So it being, you know, just around the end of the year, uh, and talking, thinking about the brewery and what's been going on here, we had a pretty cool number that we wanted to share with everyone.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah. We got the final, um, the amount of money that our guests left to our charitable partners last year. Um,$122,000, almost$123,000 went to local nonprofits in 2022. Yeah. That is pretty astounding. All from

Brett Willis:

All from people that are coming through the tasting room.

Liz Wilson:

Broke our record mm-hmm.<affirmative> for the most amount given. So for anybody who came and visited us and left, uh, money Beyond their tab, it went to our nonprofit partners and just thank you so much. Um, it makes a huge difference. It does. Uh, when we've heard Yeah. Uh, overwhelmingly nice responses from our charitable partners. So we just wanted to pass that along to you and say thank you so much for, for helping to contribute to some really amazing nonprofits that we have here in Maine.

Brett Willis:

Yeah. Thank you. And then Liz, I think we had some, some things happening at the brewery. Yeah. If you happen to be in our area,

Liz Wilson:

If you happen to be visiting us from afar, if you're considering visiting us or if you're local here in Maine mm-hmm.<affirmative>, we've got some fun things coming up. We have, um, um, well, we've got a few From Maine With Love beers coming out in the near future. So those are gonna be brewery-only releases. Um, you can follow at Allagash tasting, uh, to see what those are will be. So we've got From Maine with Love 24 coming out today, which is February 9th. Yes. Um, it's a Belgian Dark Ale, and it is, um, believe this was an idea from Tom and Keith and Tom and Keith, these two, they're incredible duo

Brett Willis:

All Star Duo

Liz Wilson:

All-Star in our warehouse team. So if you've ever received a package from Allagash Yep. These two have had something to do with it.

Brett Willis:

If you've been on our, um, uh, shop page on the website as well and have laughed at the descriptions of our items, that is all Tom. Yep. Tom just absolutely crushes those.

Liz Wilson:

Yeah, he does. Yeah. Um, so again, we've got some great releases here, and then we've got our Cellars experiences, which are going strong. Yeah. Our, our Cellars is in our wild, uh, and, a nd barrel room here at the brewery mm-hmm.<affirmative>. U m, we've got our barrel and beers experience, which is, um, a, you would get beers that are only available in the cellars that sort of celebrate barrel aged or, you know, wild and sour Y ep. Type beers. U m, and you get, you know, L indsay and the team i n the sellers goes through those one by o ne. You get a, a great look at sort of the vessels a nd the space. Yeah. And then we also have a pairing o f a beer and food pairing experience in February, which you'll get a curated selection of beers. Cheese and chocolate. That's right. So you can check that out on our website too. What

Brett Willis:

Is the, what is the, it's Ragged Coast Chocolates and Winter Winter Hill Cheese. Winter Hill, yeah. The really tasty stuff. And I think that one's especially exciting for me because I think as long as I've been in Allagash, we've been trying to kind of push this idea of beer and food goes together well mm-hmm.<affirmative>, and I think it's kind of stuck in everyone's mind where, you know, for good reason wine and food is a great pairing, but beer is just such an expressive thing to be able to drink and also is so versatile mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And so when you get to try it alongside some of these cheeses and some of these chocolates, it's just really cool the sort of Yeah. Flavors you can find in the beer, flavors you can find in the food that you wouldn't have found otherwise. And so that experience is kind of just like your curated intro to like, here's a really interesting beer, here's a really interesting cheese or chocolate. And, uh, it's, uh, the other part about those experiences in the Cellars that I think is just so exciting for me is like, they leave a ton of room for you to Yeah. Ask questions or to just hang out with the, whoever you're with or like, you know, it's an, it's an hour and a half long experience and I think you're tasting four samples mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Yeah. Um, with a little bit of Allagash White thrown in there because Yeah. You're at, you're at Allagash Capital, Allagash White. Um, and I think having, having done one, it's just, there is so much to talk about behind these beers because beers beer is just such a complex and really interesting and really deep subject if you want to kind of go there. And I think it's the perfect place to do it because not only are you hearing all this stuff, but you get to just taste it. You get to taste it. Yeah. Right there. Talk about it what you're tasting and,

Liz Wilson:

And see the barrels and a lot of these beers that are in Yeah. Part of this experience. I mean, they've been aging for 18 plus months Yeah. In these, you know, different vessels and barrels and all, and you get to be in that space and sort of, it's easier to take it all in when you're sort of surrounded by the process of of how it's made. Yeah,

Brett Willis:

Yeah, yeah. It's made And the, the, what days is that? It is

Liz Wilson:

Sunday.

Brett Willis:

That, that happens on,

Liz Wilson:

No, I'm sorry. Friday, Fridays through Mondays.

Brett Willis:

Fridays through Mondays is when you can, and you can go onto our website. If you go to the visit, go to the sellers, uh, you can book your, uh, book pretty far in advance. I think we have them open in like weeks in advance. So if you're thinking about stopping by, that would be a really fun date night, I will say.

Liz Wilson:

It would be, yeah. It would be a great date night. So yeah, that's, uh, that's what's going on. That's

Brett Willis:

What's going on.

Liz Wilson:

This has been an Allagash Brewing production. If you have something you'd like us to talk about on the show, send us a message@podcastallagash.com.

Brett Willis:

Thank you for listening.