Sunday, February 27, 2011

Allagash Odyssey clone

The first time I tried Allagash Odyssey, I was supremely impressed. This is a special beer: it is technically a Belgian Quad, but it is also a wheat beer, and darker than most quads. A portion of it is aged in new American oak barrels, and is blended before bottling. The result is a complex chocolate-covered cherry character, the sweetness of which is tempered by the typical Belgian-esque dryness and the drying oak finish. This is a big beer yet subtle where it counts; suitable for long-term aging and special occasions.

Being so impressed with this beer, I thought it couldn't hurt to email Allagash and ask for tips on how to brew this thing. I was pleasantly surprised when they responded to me with more than enough info to formulate a clone recipe. One of the big surprises for me was the simple grain bill: nothing more than American 2-row, red wheat malt, and roasted barley. Cane sugar is also used. Tettnang and Hallertau hops in the kettle. But the key, I was told, was the extended aging. About 1/5 of the batch is aged in fresh medium-toast American oak barrels (the rest is aged in stainless) for 10 months (!!) prior to bottling.

Regarding recipe formulation: I wasn't told the specific percentages of each grain used, but to my eyes an SRM of mid-20s seemed about right, so about 3.5% roasted barley. On their website they call this a "wheat beer", which implied to me a substantial portion of wheat, so I went with 40%. This is a highly-attenuated beer (something around 91%), so a big addition of cane sugar seemed appropriate: we went with 13.6%. One thing worth noting: the starting and final gravities of this beer took some guesswork: I was told by the brewer they target 1.080, but the website says 1.086. The latter gravity seems about right, as the abv is listed at 10.4%; this would require a final gravity of 1.007 (vs. 1.001 if the og was 1.080--that is way too dry). Also, I guessed the IBUs at around 30-- this is slightly on the high side for a quad, but since it would be aged for a while the extra IBUs would fade a bit over time. The final x-factor was yeast selection. I was told by the brewer that they use their house strain, but that any commercial strain described as having spicy esters could work. I looked long and hard on the internet, but could not find reliable info as to the identity of the Allagash house strain. Their flagship beer is a witbier (and a damn good one), so I would assume their house yeast should first and foremost be a good witbier yeast. I decided on Wyeast 3522 (Ardennes) which is described by Wyeast as producing "a beautiful balance of delicate fruit esters and subtle spicy notes". I'm still not sure this is the right yeast- it seemed a little too fruity. Next time it might be worth culturing dregs from Allagash White (this beer is bottle conditioned with the fermentation strain, so this should be representative of their "house" strain). Finally, we were not willing to buy a wine barrel, so oak cubes seemed like a good option. The oak in Odyssey is subtle and integrated, so the brewer recommended a low quantity of oak over an extended aging period. We decided on 1/2 oz for 3 months (we weren't willing to wait 10 months for our first attempt, maybe next time though!).


Allagash Odyssey clone v1
Belgian quad
6.25 gal batch, brewed 9/25/10

8 lbs US 2-row (Rahr)
7.2 lbs Red wheat malt (Rahr)
0.65 lbs Roasted barley (Simpson's)
2.5 lbs Organic table sugar (added at end of boil)

2 oz Hallertau (4.2% aa) @ 65 min
2 oz Tettnang (3.5% aa) @ 20 min

starting gravity 1.084
final gravity 1.008
10.0% abv
30 IBUs
25 SRM

Yeast propagation: Wyeast 3522, 4-day-old starter, 1.5 gal
Water profile: Custom based on various Trappist breweries (78 ppm Ca++, 7.7 ppm Mg++, 19 ppm Cl-, 30 ppm SO4, 23 ppm Na+, 162 ppm carbonate)
Mash at 147 for 60 minutes
Pitched at 64 F, let rise to 69 F for first 4 days, over next 5 days letting rise to 74 F.

9/26 - Pitched @ 64 F
10/20 - Down to 1.008. Tasted fantastic.
10/27 - Racked, purging secondary w/ CO2. Added 1/2 oz of oak cubes (medium-plus toast) boiled for about 1 minute prior to use
1/22 - Bottled. Tasted great but oak was mellow.

Review 2/27: Blind taste-test with a real Allagash Odyssey
(I should note that, although this started as a blind tasting, we both instantly recognized the real Allagash Odyssey as it was already 2 years old at this point (bottling from Sept. 2009). So, it isn't really appropriate to compare a 2-year-old beer to a fresh beer, but it's the best we could do.)

Appearance - Color is practically identical (Corey swears his Allagash sample is more reddish). Allagash has a bit more lacing. Ok, now that the homebrew warmed up a little, it has more lacing.

Aroma - Ours is much more oaky, less dark fruit character, much fresher. By comparison the Allagash smells "old", almost oxidized. The real one has a definite date-like aroma. It seems to have lost some complexity, so for future reference I don't think I'll age Odyssey longer than a year or so. Ours has a bit more fusel heat; overripe cherries, woody, chocolate.

Flavor - Ours: Dark fruit, oak finish, faint chocolate. Brighter, less muted than the Allagash, but generally pretty similar. Allagash has less oak character than ours, but this oak character seems to be a lot lower than I remember in previous bottles of Odyssey (no doubt due to the extended aging of this bottle). Ours is a bit sweeter, which could be due to the fact that the carbonation is a bit lower than the Allagash.

Mouthfeel - Ours is a bit fuller and the carbonation is slightly lower. But even the Allagash has pretty low carbonation, more like the carbonation you'd expect in a pale ale, not highly carbonated like many Belgian beers (I have been told by the brewery that this is normal and intentional.) Allagash has a little more oak on the finish, not so much flavor, but more in how it dries out your mouth a little.

Overall - I like our homebrew substantially better. Corey liked the Allagash better mostly because he liked the dark fruit flavors which had really developed with age (maybe too much for my taste). I think the Allagash is a bit past its prime. Would be good to try bottles of similar age. Maybe use a little more oak next time, either that, or use the same amount of oak but try aging longer. Rethink yeast selection? In any case, I am very happy with this beer. Very complex, alcohol well hidden, but warming. Would be a very nice beer to sip at a fireplace.

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