Allagash Hoppy Table Beer

Allagash Hoppy Table Beer is a funky looking potion. It’s a hazy golden brew that pours under a white head and with a yeasty presence that drops through the poured beer like a lava lamp. Brewed in Portland, Maine, by the Allagash Brewing Company, this 4.8% Belgian-style ale comes in 12oz bottles.

AHTB has a spicy, yeast-heavy aroma. For flavour, there is a load of Belgian-inspired elements led by wild yeast and tangy funk. Where the beer really sorta breaks down is at the finish, which is brief but which yields little of the eponymous hoppiness that I was hoping for.

A nice take on the table beer with some quality effervescence and some yeasty resolve. However, the promised hoppiness was in too limited supply, which left me underwhelmed.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Three Jars Belgian Table Beer

I love a beer in service of a good cause, and that’s just what I got from Three Jars Belgian Table Beer. Brewed in Newmarket, Ontario by Market Brewing Co., this brewed supported by a number of Newmarket pubs restos and is sold in support of the Newmarket Food Pantry. According to the copy on the 473mL can, all profits from sale of the beer go to support the charity, which is excellent!

A 4% alcohol ale, Three Jars is a sunny yellow ale. Slightly hazy, it pours with a short but sustained layer of bright white head. It has a fresh, yeasty aroma with a suggestion of tartness. The ale is crisp, but yeasty. It has emphatic drinkability, though the mouthfeel is a bit on the brittle side—not all that surprising for a 4% alcohol ale.

Light and refreshing, but with a surfeit of flavour, Three Jars was a pretty good beer brewed in service of a great cause.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.