Tonight, I'll review the last beer from Allagash that I bought my last trip out, their Grand Cru. I paid $9.35 for a four pack; this is not cheap beer. It weighs in at a somewhat mild 7%, though. This is much weaker than Avery's Grand Cru.
The beer pours a nice cloudy amber color with a modest head. It's a little darker than the triple, but it's a fair bit lighter than Avery's. Honestly, I'm not really sure what it means to be a Grand Cru, so I can't comment which brewer got it "right."
The aroma is malty and yeasty with a little bit of apricot. The flavor is pretty mild. It's not nearly as bold as the Avery, which bore some resemblance to an English-style barley wine, where as this is more like a milder, somewhat darker Belgian trippel. I'm going to award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. It's good, but it's seeming like Allagash's quality is going down as their beer gets darker. Their white, their trippel, and the Curieux are all-stars, the Grand Cru doesn't live up to it, and the Dubbel is lower still. I can't recommend buying this beer. Nearly $10 for just a four pack of 3.5 beer doesn't cut it. There are better ways to spend your money.