Allagash Brewing turns thirty years old in 2025, and Washington, DC is a top-five market for the brewery. That’s a lot of Allagash White! We chatted with founder Rob Tod about the brewery and the beer that made it famous.
DC Beer: New England in general, and Portland in particular with Geary’s and Shipyard, had a reputation for British-style ales in 1995. What inspired you to go in a different direction with Allagash White?
Rob Tod: I first tried Belgian-style beers while working at my first job in the beer industry. A couple of years after college I joined Otter Creek in Vermont as a keg washer. Those beers sparked something in me. I got really curious about Belgian brewing traditions and started digging into all these incredible, centuries-old styles that just weren’t being made in the U.S. much, especially not in our region.
That’s how Allagash White came to be. I didn’t want to just follow the crowd—I wanted to offer something unique that people hadn’t experienced before.
DCB: Has the recipe changed much over time? Does White now incorporate Maine-grown ingredients?
RT: I’m really happy to say that the recipe has hardly changed since we debuted Allagash White in 1995! The key ingredients are still fresh coriander and curaçao orange peel. But yes, these days Allagash White is brewed with around thirty-six percent of locally grown grain. We started incorporating more local grains into the recipe in 2016 as part of our commitment to brew with one million pounds of Maine-grown grain (which we’ve since fulfilled and exceeded). But Allagash White still tastes like it did 30 years ago, and people continue to be drawn to it because of the complexity, the balance, and all the subtle flavors.”
DCB: Favorite food pairings with Allagash White?
RT: The first choice of many people visiting us here in Maine is to pair it with a lobster roll. Which is just a classic combination. But because I can’t actually eat lobster—I’m allergic!—I’d have to give the nod to moules frites—mussels and french fries in English. It’s a classic Belgian dish and you can even incorporate Allagash White into the broth of the mussels. And last but certainly not least—a classic American hotdog, or hamburger, pairs perfectly with Allagash White.
DCB: A bar here used to pour a “Belgian sunrise,” White with a float of Lindeman’s Framboise. I assume you’ve seen a few of these concoctions and perhaps even cocktails with White as an ingredient over the last 30 years. Have any stood out, in a surprisingly good way?
RT: One that came about recently was actually a collaboration we did with Milk Street’s podcast where they made an Allagash Spritz, that was a take on an Aperol Spritz that was more fit for cooler weather. The recipe basically substitutes Allagash White for Aperol, and adds a bit of extra orange, and just a dash of salt. It was good! Definitely not an application we would have thought of for Allagash White.
DCB: What’s your second favorite Belgian-style witbier?
RT: This is a tough one. There are honestly a bunch of really great witbiers out there. But I think that I’d have to go for one that I’m not even sure is made anymore? Witte-Pol, brewed by Brasserie Inter-Pol in Houffalize, Belgium. The last time I was there, I believe it was the smallest brewery in Belgium. It may have moved during COVID, but it was one of my favorite spots to drink beer in Belgium. And Pol, the owner, made a really great wit!
As a bonus, Allagash’s Sales Director Josh Fruchtman, is local. We had a few questions for him, too.
DCB: Saison Day just happened. How did this start, and what did Allagash bring to Bluejacket?
Josh Fruchtman: It started, really, out of our love for the Saison style of beer. It was, and largely continues to be (in our opinion) an under-appreciated style that is just so versatile, refreshing, complex, and delicious. Because of the beer’s rustic origins, there really is this mystique about it among brewers, where there’s a more defined style right now, but also all of this lore around “using what was on hand” allowing for so much experimentation.
This year, we brought a few special saisons that came from our wild beer cellars, including one larger release that has come back multiple times to our tasting room: Floating Holiday, a saison with lemon peel and sea salt.
DCB: Where does DC rank in terms of sales for the brewery?
JF: It’s up there. It’s a top-five market for us, and one that we have a long history in.
DCB: Not many people realize that Allagash actually has 2 employees in non-beer rep positions (Hi Josh, hi Abby!) in the DC-metro area. Thanks for making their work-life balance a little easier. How did that come about?
JF: Thanks for the high five! It came about really because of the way Allagash looks at hiring: the best person for the job. We’re lucky to get a wide applicant pool from a wide variety of places, and so we’re able to pick the folks whose skill sets, and more importantly, whose mindsets will fit in with our culture. A culture of positivity, of collaboration, and of constantly looking at what we’re doing and seeing if there’s a better way we could be doing it.
Happy thirtieth, Allagash!
