[4/20 Update: The video above is courtesy of the Brewpublic crew. That is Part I. A brief part 2 can be found on Vimeo.]

(Portland, ME) – A couple Fridays ago, I had the privilege of spending some time at Allagash Brewing with Brewmaster, Jason Perkins, and Luke Livingston of the newly announced Baxter Brewing. Lucky for us, we happened to visit as they were making Fluxus 2010 . . .

Allagash Brewing will release Fluxus 2010 this summer. This is an annual release that changes each year though it is the first time that the brewery has opted to go for a stout. For this beer, they did something unusual in that they collected the wort runnings from the second mash and then used those to mash in a second time. They also added in cacao nibs from Taza Chocolate into the boil. This will be a big stout, at least 10% ABV, assuming the pilot batches hold true on the bigger system. A brewer on the staff, otherwise known as “Doug,” is the brains behind the double mash concept. Perkins told me a few days after the visit that they were up until 2am (on Saturday) cleaning up the mess from brew day.

In other scintillating tidbits, the brewery is aging Allagash Black in several Jim Beam bourbon barrels. There has been no timetable set though this will eventually hit bottles.

Allagash continues work on its spontaneous fermentation project. The brewery now has nine different batches of beer made from its coolship. While there, we were able to try a Gueuze, a version with cherries and a couple others. The beers are still young and there’s nothing new to report in terms of whether any of the batches are commercially released in bottles.

On the subject of the Limited Release 375 mL series, Perkins said that the next one probably wouldn’t be for several months.

We took a trip into the barrel room as well; there’s got to be at least 200 barrels in there. Mattina Rossa‘s status is still up in the air. We also discovered a large oak foudre in the barrel room that is holding what Perkins described as a Golden Belgian Strong aged with a blend of several strains of Brettanomyces and Lactic Acid bacteria. And then there are all these barrels with names that you and I have never heard of (wink, wink!).

In terms of its regular beer schedule, Allagash Victor and Victoria are the latest specialty releases from the brewery. The schedule says June for Fluxus though that may not be set in stone.