La Trappe Quadrupel

33cl bottle, dark amber colour with sediments floating, minimal but persistent beige head, caramel and dark fruits (mostly raisins) aroma, sweet chocolate flavor, full body, finish with spices and warming alcohol presence, better than la trappe tripel tasted at the same time

On tap at The Brass Rail. Hazy brown with a creamy head. Dark fruit, molasses, and toffee flavors. Smooth and easy drinking. Not as complex as some of the better quads.

Très bonne quadrupel classique. De couleur brun orangée et d’arômes de caramel et d’alcool. En bouche, on peut facilement sentir le caramel, ainsi que des notes d’oranges et une chaude sensation d’alcool en finale.

A wonderful barleywine. Some say the following: ’not the best quad out there....’ Then list other beers which are not ’quads’. What is a ’quad’? This is the ’quad’. The more I drink these barleywines, the less I can stomach English real ale. Much like other such beers, delicious a bit older. I had one some three years old that was wonderful: sweet, rich, no trace of the hit of booze one finds in younger beers.

Bottle. The aroma reminds me of wine with a little bit of paint thinner, very sweet and heavy. The head is small, fizzy and white, very fast disappearing. The body is red. The taste is very sweet and drinkable, only the finish is light bitter. A very nice balanced taste. The body is medium to very strong, oily and with a soft carbonation. A very nice beer.

330ml bottle. Pours a ruby to brown colour with a fluffy tan head that quickly settles. Audible crackle as the head settles. Mild carbonation with an aroma of sweet spices and hops. The favour dances on the tongue and is almost liquer like. Strong aniseed like taste. You can feel the alcohol and it is almost tongue numbing. One to sip and savour.

It poured a hazy amber liquid with a huge foam (had to be fast to pour after opening). It had a strong smell with hints of dried fruit, bread, red wine, spices and alcohol. As with the tripel this one also tickled but this time on the top of my mouth. I wonder what the cause is of that sensation; it’s almost like eating kiwi. The taste was similar to the smell with lots of spices, dried fruit, bread and allot of alcohol. I found it to be a bit to fizzy for my taste though, even after letting it rest for a while, but still a good beer with a very round and complex taste.

Bottle. Pours a semi-translucent brown with a small tan head. Aroma of raisins, molasses, and sugary sweet malt. Flavor of raisins, sweet dark fruits, apple juice, sweet malt, and bready malt. Very sweet A bit hard to drink and not even close to the complexity of the other Belgian quads. 6/4/6/3/12 (3.1/5)

Rerate 07/22/09: Wow, this is a sweet, sticky mess. It is bad. An awful quad, basically undrinkable. A 3.1 is generous so I’m downgrading this. 6/4/4/2/10 (2.6/10)