La Trappe Quadrupel

Draft at Ebenezer’s. Pours a lighter look than I would anticipate. More ambery. Nose is vinous and grapy, slight funk to it. Mouthfeel is lighter than I’d like. Finish is dry and spice. Bready, though not super rich. Alright.

Labeled as Koningshoeven Quadrupel: Perfect aroma consisting of bread dough, sweetened plums, raisins and dark cherries with a heavy dose of buckwheat pancakes, spicy clove, honey and even some molasses. A plethora of layered aromatics. Cloudy amber-brown body, lasting 1/2" off white head that looks like a warm blanket. Thick lacing covers much of the glass. Sweet and dry body with a strong kick. Flavor has a lot of dark, fermented fruits, cherry and raisins stick out. Hints of anise and clove lead way to a nice thick taste of fresh sticky buns and multi-grain bread. Aftertaste is of a mild port wine with some brown sugar. This is world class.

Dark amber coloured, white head, staying for a half cm. Hints of candy, caramel, roasted nuts. Lots of carbonation, tastes bitter, sweety, with coffee and the bitterness of cacao.

Drank on tap at Burp Monk in New York with Tim Dziubek and Anuj Kumar. This was a very nice mildly bitter and full bodied beer. The color is a deep and dark amber with a creamy off-white head. The aroma is hoppy with a very sweet underlying flavor. I wish this were not my last beer of the night. The full alcoholic body knocked me out!

750 ml Knoings Hoeven bottle -- corked with metal cage. Pours a a hazy dark amber-brown with a creamy white head. Aroma is hoppy with a maple character. The aroma is relatively complex -- other elements are noticeably present but difficult to distinguish -- and culminates in a sort of earthy, fresh smell of the outdoors. Flavor comes in three stages: initially a strong maple character, then a wave of fig and dark fruit that crescendos to a strongly alcoholic, malty finish -- a flavor that is sweetly balanced and symphonically complex. Very strong with a light-to-medium body. A distinctly earthly character that resonates with the sound of silence.

Poured into goblet, had a nice finger of sodaesque head that slowly becomes a small island with a nice lacing ring around the edges. Carbonation rises to continue to create pockets of head. Smell is damn good; fruity, sweet like a champagne, scent of grapes, rasins, malt. No detectable hop smell or any defects. Taste is good. It is very strong, light bodied, and a dry feeling. Very earthy flavor with a tiny bite of bitterness at the end. Very good, though probably the least favorite of the quads that I have had. Drinkability is medium, I probably wouldn’t be able to do more than one of these and would just go to another quad if I could.

750 ml Konings Hoeven bottle. Nice amber color with a sweet aroma. Another great Trappist Quad. This one is from the Netherlands and is just a bit sweeter and thinner than the Belgians. A very nice beer and a solid choice anytime.

1995 bottle. Pours a hazy orange color with nearly no head. Malty toffeeish aroma with fairly some oxidation including sherry and faint cardboard notes. Taste is raisins, chocolate, spicy notes, sherry. Faintly tart finish. Medium bodied and lightly carbonated. Holding up pretty well after all these years.