Motif Speaks with Allagash’s Rob Tod

Rob Tod fell into brewing shortly after college, and has since risen to great heights within the fermented fluid manufacturing field. As founder and head beer scientist of Allagash, he’s helped advance craft beer and in particular, brought Belgian styles to the forefront of the craft beer world, everything from White Ales to Trappists, Lambics and more have graced the store shelves under the Allagash label.

In 1995, Rob founded Allagash Brewing Company in Maine, taking with him both the passion and knowledge he acquired from working at Otter Creek. Since then, his experimental brews, have allowed Allagash not only to thrive, but to expand.

He is one of the keynote speakers at Beervana in a few weeks, and I was fortunate enough to share a few words with him about the beer business, and his role in the upcoming craft beer festival of enlightenment.

How did you get started in the brewing biz?

I got a job washing kegs in a brewery in Vermont years ago. I sort of stumbled into it. I went to school in Vermont, moved to Colorado, then I moved back to Vermont without any plan of going into the beer business. I was looking for a job, finally got one washing kegs, and just fell in love with it, the whole thing.

What’s your favorite part of the beer business?

You know what? That’s exactly why I got into it, I like all of it. I love the mechanical side of it, the pumps and electrical workings side of it, formulating recipes, coming up with recipes, the science behind it, the lab work and science behind yeast. And I love spending time with distributors and retailers, as well as customers who support us. My favorite part is spending time with people at the brewery; they are amazing people down there.

Will you be bringing anything special to Beervana that we can look forward to? Or is it top secret?

It’s not secret, but I don’t know the exact details of what we’re doing. I think we’ll be tasting the red. It will be the red, at least one of our spontaneously fermented beers. At least for that talk, I’ll have something special to pour.

What’s your seminar going to be about? Or is that top secret as well?

Not secret at all. The topic will be innovation, how it’s been such an important core value at the brewery, how it’s led to the creation of new beers that we love: The Curieux or even with White. It’s going to be a talk about innovation, and the role it’s played at Allagash.

Look for Rob Tod among the many other maestros of brewing at Beervana, at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, October 18.