Hoppy Table Beer the first year-round, hop-forward beer from Allagash

What it is: Allagash, the Portland, Maine, brewery that clued America into the genius of cloudy, spiced Belgian-style wheat beers with its namesake White, has released its first year-round, hop-forward beer: Hoppy Table Beer.

A loosely defined Belgian style, table beer generally equates to easy-drinking and low-alcohol (as low as 1.5 percent), to be consumed with a meal without the distraction of a buzz. In the spirit of American craft beer, Allagash takes liberties with a European tradition, nudging up the alcohol content in Hoppy Table Beer to contemporary session IPA territory. And in a sense, that’s what this beer is: a session Belgian-style IPA. Or, if you prefer, a Belgian pale ale.

In the bottle: Hoppy Table Beer boasts a wonderful nose of bright fruit and citrus (lime meets grapefruit) with vague notes of cotton candy and bubble gum (as a result of both being dry hopped and the earthy Belgian yeast within). Interestingly, the beer doesn’t quite mimic those flavors on the palate — a spry bitterness upfront tantalizes the taste buds, followed by lingering elements of grapefruit pith and stone fruit. Hoppy Table Beer features oats for a slightly creamier texture than expected, but retains a bright effervescence due to being bottle conditioned. A simple but elegant, versatile beer.

Alcohol: 4.8 percent

Drink it with: Table beer is intended to pair with most foods, and so it is for Hoppy Table Beer. It would do well beside a robust salad, roast chicken or a hamburger — most anything with a little heft, really.

Find it: Hoppy Table Beer is available in four-packs of 12-ounce bottles ($9.99) at stores likely to carry Allagash White. It should be on draft at Au Cheval (800 W. Randolph St.) and Bar Deville (701 N. Damen Ave.) at least through the end of February.

[email protected]

Twitter @joshbnoel

.galleries:after {
content: ”;
display: block;
background-color: #144A7C;
margin: 16px auto 0;
height: 5px;
width: 100px;

}
.galleries:before {
content: “Food & Dining Photos and Video”;
display: block;
font: 700 23px/25px Georgia,serif;
text-align: center;
color: #1e1e1e;

var tid; function dosearch() {
if (tid) { window.clearTimeout(tid); }
tid = window.setTimeout(function(){console.log(“Search”);
postMessage(“search#”+document.getElementById(‘searchbox’).value,”*”);},800);
}

div.video_header {
width:100%;
clear:both;
border-top:3px solid black;
}
div.video_header h3 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 10px;
color: #000;
font-family: Georgia,’Droid Serif’,serif;
}
div.video_header div.vuemix_video {
width:50%;
float:left;
}

div.vuemix_search {
float:right;
width:40%;
}

div.video_header input {
text-align: right;
font-size: 20px;
border: 0;
font-weight: 200;
outline: none;
letter-spacing: 1px;
margin: 10px;
padding:0px 25px 0px 0px;
clear:left;
float:right;
background-image: url(/2017/02/02/hoppy-table-beer-the-first-year-round-hop-forward-beer-from-allagash/&);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right top;
}

.embed-container {
position: relative;
padding-bottom: 19.56%;
height: 0;
overflow: hidden;
max-width: 100%;
border-top:1px solid #bbbbbb;
clear: both;
}
.embed-container iframe,
.embed-container object,
.embed-container embed {
position: absolute;
top: -10;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
.embed-container {
padding-bottom: 180%;
}
}

//d3ik2vfsvyg6fu.cloudfront.net/js/vuemix.all.tca.js
window.onload = function() { vxconfig(“vuemix”,{market:”www.chicagotribune.com”,playlist:”ct-dailymeal”,layout:”autoblurb”,linkenable:false,clickexp:true,oneclick:true}); }