Pages

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tall glass of Allens anyone?

PORTLAND, Maine -- The dark-brown liquid that some people call "the champagne of Maine" tastes, to the uninitiated, like equal parts alcohol, sugar and coffee-pot slag. It puckers the cheeks, coats the tongue with syrupy sweetness and leaves a mouthwash feeling on the lips.

This is coffee-flavored brandy. It is one of the odder stories of American imbibing, the number-one-for-20-years-running liquor obsession of Maine.

The caffeine-infused spirit, largely unknown outside New England, is a staple at house parties, mill town bars and urban street corners here -- popular enough that a Bangor newspaperman once suggested putting it on the back of Maine's state quarter.




2 comments:

Keith said...

Neil, I miss you. I misss your musk, I miss being near you. Are you coming ice fishing with us this year? I think it's important that you do. The BFCA is in full effect bro.

Jesse Lance Robbins said...

The Brown Trout:

one pint glass, 3/4 full of ice
3/5 pint glass Allen's
2/5 pint glass cream soda

next stop, drunkenness!