Allagash Brewing Reveals 2026 Coolship Red & Once Upon an Orchard Fruited Sour Releases

This morning, I’m excited to highlight the upcoming 2026 releases from Allagash Brewing Company, the award‑winning Portland, Maine brewery known for its Belgian‑inspired ales, Coolship program, and highly sought‑after fruited sour beers. Allagash is preparing to bring back two classic fan‑favorite offerings, each one showcasing the brewery’s mastery of mixed fermentation, fruit aging, and small‑format bottle releases.

First up is the return of Once Upon an Orchard, a sour brown ale aged on cherries, raspberries, and vanilla beans. This complex, fruit‑forward ale layers deep malt character with bright cherry acidity, raspberry tartness, and soft vanilla sweetness. The 2026 edition will clock in at 7.9% ABV, making it a rich, flavorful, dessert‑leaning sour ale that continues to stand out in Allagash’s lineup of barrel‑aged and orchard‑inspired beers. With its blend of stone fruit, red berries, and vanilla, Once Upon an Orchard remains one of the brewery’s most anticipated seasonal returns.

Joining it is the latest vintage of Allagash Coolship Red, a cornerstone of the brewery’s renowned Coolship program. Coolship Red is a spontaneously fermented ale aged with raspberries, delivering a beautifully tart, earthy, and fruit‑saturated profile that highlights Allagash’s commitment to traditional lambic‑style brewing. The 2026 release will land at a sessionable 5.5% ABV, offering drinkers a bright, refreshing, raspberry‑driven wild ale that continues to be one of the most recognizable Coolship offerings in the United States.

Both Once Upon an Orchard and Coolship Red will be packaged in 12.7‑oz (375 mL) bottles for the 2026 season, an ideal format for cellaring, sharing, and showcasing the brewery’s barrel‑aged and spontaneously fermented specialties. These releases reinforce Allagash Brewing’s position as a leader in American wild ales, fruited sour ales, and mixed‑culture fermentation.

Stay tuned for official 2026 release timing, distribution details, and full tasting notes, as Allagash Brewing Company prepares to roll out these two highly anticipated fruited sour ale offerings.

Label Text Allagash Once Upon An Orchard:

“Once, a traveling group of brewers happened upon three arguing gnomes: each thought they had the best ingredient to put into a beer. One had fresh cherries. One had fresh raspberries. One had vanilla beans. To settle their argument, the brewers proposed that they simply put all three into a balanced sour beer. The gnomes agreed, and the harmonious notes of berry and rich cherry, all wrapped in a hug of vanilla, put an end to their arguments for good.”

Label Text Allagash Coolship Red:

“This spontaneously fermented beer is aged with local raspberries. We brew Coolship Red with two‑row malted barley, 40% raw wheat, and aged whole‑leaf hops. After brewing, we transfer the hot wort into our coolship—a large, shallow pan that allows the wort to mingle with wild yeast and souring microbiota from the Maine air. The beer then ferments and ages in oak wine barrels for over two years. We add raspberries and let the beer rest for an additional four to five months. The resulting beer is bright red in color with aromas of raspberry and oak. The flavor is of raspberry, apricot, light funk, and a tart, dry finish.”

About Allagash Brewing:

Allagash Brewing Company is a Certified B Corp founded in Portland, Maine, by James Beard Award-winner Rob Tod. Since 1995, the brewery has been dedicated to crafting the best Belgian-inspired beers in the world, all while giving back to the community that has supported them along the way. Earning coveted Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, and European Beer Star Awards, Allagash has been deemed one of the best American Breweries of the decade. Allagash was named “Brewery of the Year” in its category size by the Brewers Association, and included on Inc. Magazine’s “Best in Business” list. Allagash is available in CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, Chicagoland, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT, and WI. Learn more onallagash.com and connect with us on our Webby-honored social channels:Instagram,Facebook, andTwitter. From Maine, with love.

From small beginnings as a one-person brewery in the corner of a warehouse, to a destination brewery made up of more than 100 passionate people—here’s the full story of how Allagash Brewing Company came to be the awarded, innovative, and purpose-driven company that it is today.

1995 – One Brewery. One Employee.
In 1995, Rob Tod opened a brewery. The year prior, he worked at Otter Creek Brewery—doing everything from washing kegs, to cleaning tanks, to brewing beer. Rob rented a spot in the corner of a warehouse in an industrial park and called it Allagash Brewing Company.

1995 – Yankee Ingenuity
Over the next couple months, Rob literally welded together a 15-barrel brewing system and jackhammered a few drains into the floor. After a couple pilot batches, he started brewing in earnest. He wanted to start with one beer, and one beer only: a Belgian-style wheat beer called Allagash White.

1996 – What’s Wrong With This Beer?
At first, beer drinkers didn’t really know what to think of Allagash White. It was nothing like the clear, crisp lagers they’d been drinking for years. It was hazy. It was brewed with spices (coriander and Curacao orange peel). Luckily, once people started to get it, they came back to Allagash White again and again.

1998 – Allagash White Wins Gold
Allagash White wins its first Gold medal at the World Beer Cup

1999 – Digging in on Belgian Beers
It was also around this time that we picked up a brewer from Vermont named Jason Perkins. A dedicated brewer who would help us expand our brewing operation far beyond that one Belgian-style wheat beer.

2002 – Another Medal at GABF
Allagash White wins its second gold medal, this time at the Great American Beer Festival.

2004 – Enter Curieux
By 2004, we were brewing quite a few more beers than White. One of our favorites, Tripel—a belgian-style golden ale—we tried aging in bourbon barrels. Depending on who you ask, Jason or Rob, it was either a happy accident or a calculated experiment. Either way, the resulting beer became Curieux, one of our most beloved year-round beers.

2005 – Going Wild
Jason’s initiative and brewing knowledge helped us build out our, now extensive, wild beer program. Interlude, a mixed-fermentation ale aged in wine barrels, was the first bottled wild beer we ever sold.

2007 – Brewing with a Coolship
Rob took a trip to Belgium with a storied group of brewers: Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Adam Avery (Avery Brewing), Tomme Arthur (Lost Abbey), and Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River). While on the trip, Rob got the idea to try to brew traditional, Belgian-style spontaneously fermented beer back in Maine.

2007 – Brewing History
Traditional, Lambic-style spontaneously fermented beers had never been brewed on American soil before 2007. We just happened to be the first ones to try it. After around three years of aging in barrels, we blended the beer back together. The result: Coolship Resurgam, a beer we’ve been brewing ever since.

2010 – Building Out
While 2007 marked the first of many brewery expansions, 2010 was when things really began to grow. In 2010, we officially moved our primary brewing and bottling equipment out of our original building and into a larger brewery space we built next door. In 2011 we installed a new keg line. In 2013 we added on a larger tasting room and installed our high-efficiency BrauKon brewing system. And in 2015 we expanded our bottling line.

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