Allagash Brewing Company: Curieux clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.073   FG = 1.006
IBU = 30   SRM = 4   ABV = 9.3%

“Curieux is a fairly simple recipe starting with our Tripel, which is then aged in bourbon barrels and blended with another batch of fresh Tripel.” – Michael O’Connor, Allagash Brewing Company

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) 2-row pale malt or Pilsner malt
1.7 lbs. (0.77 kg) granulated sugar (10 min.)
3 AAU German Perle hops (75 min.) (0.8 oz./23 g at 8% alpha acids)
3 AAU German Spalt hops (10 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 4.2% alpha acids)
0.9 oz. (26 g) Styrian Golding hops (0 min.)
1⁄2 tsp. yeast nutrient (10 min.)
1⁄2 Whirlfloc tablet (10 min.)
Bourbon soaked oak chips or spirals
Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) yeast or White Labs WLP530 (Abbey Ale) or Wyeast 1214 (Belgian Abbey) or White Labs WLP550 (Belgian Ale) or yeast harvested from Allagash White yeast
3⁄4 cup (150 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step
Mash at 149 °F (65 °C) for 45 minutes using 3.75 gallons (14.2 L) of strike water. You can perform a mash-out if you’d like but it’s not necessary. Run off, sparge with enough water to collect 7 gallons (26.5 L), and boil the wort for 90 minutes adding hops at times indicated in the ingredients list. Add the sugar, yeast nutrients, and Whirlfloc® with 10 minutes remaining in the boil. After the boil, chill to 65 °F (18 °C) and oxygenate. Rack to your fermenter and pitch yeast. You can allow the temperature to rise after a couple days of fermentation. The beer’s terminal gravity should be around 1.006.

For wood-aging and blending, O’Connor states, “we generally age Tripel in bourbon barrels for 6–8 weeks at 55 °F (18 °C). It is then blended to taste with fresh Tripel before packaging. Curieux should have a subtle bourbon character with hints of vanilla and coconut. To replicate this at home, try soaking 1–2 oz. of oak chips or spirals in your favorite bourbon for a couple weeks. Then when fermentation is complete, rack into a secondary vessel on top of the bourbon soaked oak. I recommend tasting the beer every two to three days. It probably won’t take long for the beer to develop the subtle flavors that you’re looking for. Oak cubes are also an option but be aware that the entire process may take much longer when both soaking the oak in bourbon and aging the beer on the cubes.

Package the beer as soon as it has developed the desired character. Allagash bottles/keg conditions, but feel free to package the beer any way you choose.” If the beer has been aging for several months, you can opt to add extra yeast if you plan to bottle condition this beer.

Extract only option: Substitute the 2-row/Pilsner pale malt in the all-grain recipe with 6.5 lbs. (3 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract. Heat 6.5 gallons (25 L) water in your brew pot up to a boil. Add the dried malt extract when the water approaches a boil. Stir well then bring it to a boil. Boil the wort for 75 minutes adding hops at times indicated in the ingredients list. Add the sugar, yeast nutrients, and Whirlfloc® with 10 minutes remaining in the boil. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.

Tips for Success: Allagash has their own proprietary strain of yeast. The ingredients list contains several great strains readily available to homebrewers. O’Connor recommends, “If you’re feeling adventurous and practice excellent sanitation, you can propagate the Allagash house yeast from a bottle of Allagash White. Our other beers contain an additional yeast strain added just before packaging so a bottle of white is the only way to procure the house strain.”