Urthel Samaranth

Brouwerij De Leyerth
Brewed at De Koningshoeven (Bavaria - Netherlands)
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Ruiselede, Belgium

Bottle with friend 2009-12-18, Gøteborg AR: scotch fudge, red fruits AP: amber body, wee white head F: christmas toofee, a bit bitterness - seet and a bit oliy - as usual when it’s a good quality beer

Urthel Samaranth Quadrium Ale Pours reddish brown with a creamy tan head. Looks nice. Aroma of caramel, belgian yeast, spices, cherries and alcohol. Flavor is extremely pleasant, with toffee, booze and a spicy note. Some surprising but not overwhelming hop bitterness at the finish. Mouthfeel is crisp from the good head retention. Pretty flippin’ good.

Pours from the 750 ml a surprisingly clear amber-burgundy color propping up a solid 1/2" tight beige head. Admirable retention throughout the chalice with some spotty lacing noted. Aroma was fruity sweet with a rich nose of ripe red apple, pear, banana, toffee, brown sugar supported by fainter notes of chocolate, spices, vanilla bean and oak. Mouthfeel was full and round with just the right level of spritzy carbonation as expected for the style. The first sip seems to be a huge blast of alcohol with backs you up a bit. But as venture further you realize how deeply complex and layered this Belgian Ale is. Starts out with a gentle ripe fruity and brown sugar sweetness with background notes of caramel candy, toffee, toasted malts and spices. this gradually settles into a firm, earthy, herbal hop bitterness in the long finish. Deceptively easy to drink. Once you start sippin’ the alcohol seems to settle way into the background..

Much like Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece Barry Lyndon, an inexplicably, ridiculously underrated beer. Orange-amber glowing hue with a frothy head that reminds me at first of a cumulonimbumbubblicious cloud. Flavor is that of a near-top-notch quadrupel with strong fruity highlights. Don’t ask me to pinpoint which fruits, as I haven’t the slightest, and it’s of little to no importance as long as it tastes good, which it does. Okay, I get some musty fizzy banana in the aroma, but that’s it! -- don’t ask me to delve any further. Okay, so maybe it’s not the twin sister of Stanley’s underheralded masterpiece, as that’s a perfect film, and this might not quite be the perfect beer. "I simply ask that you give yourself over to the experience." One of the most satisfying strong Belgian ales I’ve had.

Very big and sweet aroma with spices - corriander. Thick sweet malts, smooth bodied with tiny soft champagne bubbles. Finish is medium dry and full of corriander. Excellent head and lacing on top of it’s orange/apple juice colored body. Didn’t taste the alcohol - surprising at this strength. This is an excellent brew.

Aroma: apricot, malt and creamy notes. Appearance: amber heading to brown just hazy, tan head with sheet lacing. Flavour: creamy apricot, spiritous and massively malty sweet with butterscotch esters as well as some medicinal notes. Palate: massively thick, finishes sweet and leaves some hoppy finish.

A "Quadrium Ale", according to the label, whatever that is, and also, we are told, this was brewed by Hildegard. Thanks, Hildy! Let’s uncork this sucker and see what your talents have wrought... Looks lovely in my Tripel Karmeliet glass, a gorgeous peachy orange tone, foam filling half the vessel, delicate and lacey, softly collapsing, very elegant. Aroma tickles the nose, funky, citric, spicy, ripe orange and grapefruit peels, lemons, cherries, quite a fruity combo, certainly a delight. And a joy on the tongue, as well, a spicy, spritzy dance on the palate, that mellows much from it’s initial entrance, but never leaves, just keeps rolling along. Gets a bit bubblegummy later in, not that there’s anything wrong with that. This is very tasty, very nice, and I can’t taste the 11.5% the label speaks of...can that be right? I thought this would be like a Quadrupel style, like La Trappe’s classic version, and maybe it is, if the only consistent characteristic were alcoholic content. But as for taste, it’s surprising and unique. I expected a darker, winey-ier brew, and got something very different, but very delicious. This 750 ml bottle will be drained with astonishing quickness, and I can be counted for picking up more bottles, to guarantee future happiness.

Caged and corked 750ml - Solid toned color of lightly burnt orange and semi opaque in its glow. Gorgeous crown of fluffy smooth off-yellow sits tall and thick and man does that sucker keep its hold. It maintains its presence at about a 1/4 inch thee entire time it had liquid. Impressive. Lace is light and intricate with thin ink splotchy patterns. Aroma is peppery and alive with fruity zazz and highly effervescent with spices. Cracked pepper, both white and black, make a noticeable spice over some custard zingyness, yeasty esters tend to be earthy and floral. Mild undertone play of pear, orange rind, and apple make up the fruit side thats hepling create a close balance. But the spices win out by alot. Taste is smoothly inclined with broad fruity flavors of pear, apricot, apple, and orange. Gently musty and earthy overscore. A wonderfully delicate nature to its character overall as it rounds off very nicely into the spices while maintaining its fruity base. Balance is better in the taste dept. then what I perceived in the aroma. Finish is a complex glide of alcoholic spices, floral dryness, and lightly fluffy kick backs of the fruity stuff. Kinda lemony with pear and apple. One tasty treat. Mildly complexing with a well balanced forum of flavors. Feel is quite nice as well. Again the balance is key to its overall welcoming component. Firm, steady, steardy, nearly full body with a great fluffy maltish texture and unfiltered film that coats the mouth with a light grab of spice and floral nuances. The fruity side keeps the overall kinship but always steps aside to let in the other ingredients do the thing. It’s a well balanced, spicy, fruity, firm quad that really sinks its teeth into ya. It goes down just right for its higher ABV and will hit ya late as it dwells in the head. Recommended.