Allen's Coffee Brandy
{{Short description|Liqueur in New England}}
Allen's Coffee Brandy is a coffee-flavored liqueur popular in New England, especially Maine. Allen's Coffee Brandy is prepared and bottled by M.S. Walker, Inc. of Norwood, Massachusetts.{{cite web |last1=McGuire |first1=Peter |title=Hot-selling Fireball passes Allen's as biggest money maker in Maine liquor market |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/01/15/allens-coffee-brandy-overtaken-by-fireball/ |work=Portland Press Herald |accessdate=29 May 2019 |date=16 June 2018}} The beverage is 60 proof.
In the 1990s into the 2000s, the product was the best-selling liquor product in Maine for about 20 years.{{cite web |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209053522/http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104451&catid=2 |archive-date=9 February 2013 |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104451&catid=2 |title=Coffee Brandy Top-Selling Liquor In Maine |date=May 8, 2009 |work=wcsh6.com |access-date=13 October 2024 }} Sales in 2008 were 1,100,000 bottles.{{cite news |first=David A. |last=Fahrenthold |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800808.html |title=A Bittersweet 'Champagne of Maine' |date=January 9, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=August 13, 2018 }} Gary Shaw, vice president of M.S. Walker, has noted that his company ships "a phenomenal amount" of brandy to Maine each month.{{cite news |date=October 19, 1997 |title=Coffee brandy ranks as state's drug of choice |url=http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/specialrpts/alcohol/d1brandy.htm |work=Portland Press Herald |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040819105912/http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/specialrpts/alcohol/d1brandy.htm |archivedate=August 19, 2004 |accessdate=August 13, 2018 }}
Uses
Allen's Coffee Brandy is typically served in a drink consisting of equal parts brandy and milk in a pint glass, sometimes called a "Fat Ass in a Glass". According to Gary Shaw, an executive of the drink's parent company, the brandy's popularity in Maine may originate from fisherman adding it to coffee, "maybe to kind of warm 'em up from the inside as well as the outside". Allen's is also popularly mixed with another Maine staple, Moxie, to produce the "Burnt Trailer", or (with Diet Moxie), the "Welfare Mom".{{Cite web |last=Burnham |first=Emily |date=2015-02-10 |title=It makes Mainers mighty: 6 Moxie cocktails to mix up this winter |url=https://www.bangordailynews.com/2015/02/10/living/it-makes-mainers-mighty-6-moxie-cocktails-to-mix-up-this-winter/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US}}{{cite news |url=https://themorningnews.org/article/the-champagne-of-maine |work=The Morning News |date=November 25, 2013 |title=The Champagne of Maine |first=Martin |last=Connelly |accessdate=August 13, 2018 }}
Consumers of Allen's are known to call the drink by various humorous names, including "Hancock County Panty Remover", "The Champagne of Maine", "Lewiston Martini", and numerous others.
New concoctions and mixers have resulted in new variants and naming conventions. "Maine Breakfast" (alternatively: "Corker") is an Allen's and oat milk.
Legality
Allen's came into some legal question when the United States placed a ban on caffeinated alcoholic beverages. However, with a significantly lower caffeine content, produced by the coffee flavorings and not added intentionally as with (the original) Four Loko and the other alcoholic energy drinks targeted by the ban, Allen's Coffee Brandy is still legal to sell.{{cite news|last1=Carpenter|first1=Murray|title=Coffee Brandy Escapes Energy Drinks' Troubles|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/us/16brandy.html|work=New York Times|date=15 November 2010}}
See also
{{portal-inline|Drink}}
{{portal-inline|Coffee}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://allenscoffeebrandy.com/ Allen's Coffee Brandy]
- [http://www.mswalker.com/ M.S. Walker, Inc.]
{{Alcoholic drinks}}