Allagash brings back Coolship Red and Once Upon an Orchard in 2026
Allagash brought back Coolship Red and Once Upon an Orchard, putting its Maine coolship program and fruit-driven barrel beers back in the spotlight.
Allagash Brewing Company put Coolship Red and Once Upon an Orchard back in front of drinkers in 2026, a reminder that the Portland, Maine brewery still treats mixed fermentation and fruited sour beer as a serious program, not a side project. In a crowded craft market, that kind of continuity matters because it shows exactly where Allagash keeps investing its time, barrels, and patience.
That commitment starts with the coolship. Allagash describes its coolship beers as a traditional Belgian method of spontaneous fermentation, where hot wort cools overnight in a large shallow pan and picks up wild yeast and microbiota from the air around the brewery before heading into French oak wine barrels for aging over 1 to 3 years. Founder Rob Tod first pushed the idea in 2007 after consulting Belgian brewers, and the brewery has been working that lane ever since. The beer archive is full of coolship and wild-ale releases, which is part of why these bottles still carry weight. They are the output of a long-running technical project, not a one-off gimmick dressed up as heritage.
Coolship Red remains one of the clearest examples of that approach. Allagash says the beer uses the centuries-old Belgian tradition to build complexity with wild yeast floating in the Maine air, and the accolades on its page back up the reputation: two gold medals in 2017, VinePair Best Beer in 2016, and a silver at the 2013 Brussels Beer Challenge. For drinkers who track this category, those honors tell the story of a beer that has already earned its place.
Once Upon an Orchard keeps the fruit side of the brewery’s sour work equally focused. Allagash describes Once Upon an Orchard: Cherries, Plums, and Raspberries as a sour red ale aged with fresh cherries, plums, and raspberries for 2 1/2 months, with fruit sourced from local farmer friends in Maine. The series has also shown up with cherries alone, cherries and raspberries, and even a raspberries, blueberries, and vanilla bean version, which makes the 2026 return feel like the next chapter in an established line rather than nostalgia for its own sake.
That is the real signal in bringing these beers back. Allagash is still betting that drinkers want cellar-driven sour beer with a sense of place, and that homebrewers and beer nerds still notice when a brewery keeps its coolship program alive long enough to matter.
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