La Trappe Quadrupel

Brewed by De Koningshoeven (Bavaria - Netherlands)
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Tilburg, Netherlands

One of my cellar favorites. For taste alone, I like the tripel a bit more. It has to me more muted tastes on the tongue and not as sweet as the tripel. Danger Will Robbinson!! Don’t drink a bottle on an empty stomach.

This time a Trappist beer from the Netherlands. A dark red beer. A little bit sweet with a smooth caramel taste. Also there are dark fruits, like raisains. The 10 % alc. gives you a warm feeling inside. A very good and noble beer.

11.2 oz. slender trappist style bottle, coded freshness date on the back label, sampled in a tulip glass. L: Hazy reddish brown with a robust pale tan head of bubbly topped, frothy foam that slowly settled into a thin creamy skim. A good deal of splotchy curtain-like lace circles the glass. S: Raisins, dates, plums, nutty banana bread and earthy spices, along with traces of clove and pepper. A light whiff of alcohol in the nose. F&T: Crisp moderate body, smooth and slightly creamy, this is a pleasant sipper. Fruity flavors of raisins, figs and plums that are bolstered by tastes of earth peppery spices, nuts, dark brown bread and candied sugar. The finish has a soft spiciness bitterness and is alcoholic dry. A really nice quadrupel, comforting on a cold rainy winter night.

Draft at Monks in Brookline. Gorgeous brown color that I’d expect in a quad. Aroma was on the sweet side, malty, with just a touch of dried fruit. Beautiful mouthfeel... glides across your palate. Yeast aroma is present but doesn’t dominate. Great beer.

Bottle. Wonderful brew; picked up a six-pack in a Dutch grocery store. Short review for when I have another bottle and can review as I type. Yeasty, spicy fluffy feel, well hidden alcohol, orangey, plummy taste.

March 2006 - Wow...I don’t get the hype around this beer...AT ALL. Pour was that of dark apple juice. Very little murkiness or darkness. Flavor was sickly sweet...and that of candied sugar...very little dark fruit or complexity...maybe some apples. Tasted like a "fake quad", akin to Avery the Rev or something else. I didn’t dig this AT ALL.

This might be as close to perfection as I have found. I’ve never been a huge fan of Belgian ales - but after trying this one, I’m hooked. I’ll be brewing something like this for my next homebrew.

Konings bottle- Light maly yeast aroma. Dark amber, dark honey color. A little sweet, a little fruity, maybe thick oragne and plummy with some light spice. Alc is well hidden. Pleasent mouth feel, easy to drink for a srong beer. Good, but not elite.