La Trappe Quadrupel

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

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.

Dark amber, retaining head. Medium bubbles - nice. Aroma: Argh! Seems I have a cold comming - no sense of smell. Wife says not strong aroma, sweet. Alcohol in the initial taste, but quickly dampened, then a little sweet and watery for the rest. Impressive given the ABV, but somewhat boring. Watery, thin bodied. Flat. In the end not so bad. Sipping ends with a licorice dry tongue. Quite nice. Purchased in SuperBest.

BeerBaron617 picked up this bottle a few days ago and shared it with me today :) I sure am glad he did. It poured a really pretty golden amber color with a white head that left really nice lacing in the glass. Aroma and taste both were quite complex. It had a slight scent of tropical fruits with mild spice. There was definitely a bit of alcohol on the nose as well...considering when I smelled it, it sort of burned the inside of my nose. Taste was just the same, tropical fruits, as well as a bit of a white wine flavor, alcohol warming and spice. Overall quite tasty, I wish I had more.

Shared a 750ml bottle of this with MereLikesBeer, and my father. Pours a light amber, with a darker core, really nice color in the light. The aroma is classic Belgian, with some slight honey notes on the finish. The flavor is also classic, with some melon and tropical fruitiness. This was also accentuated by the carbonation, which was perfect. Really great stuff! Cheers!

Bottle at Stella’s cafe. Nose is very bright and citrusy. Grapefruit rind, mild spice, banana, brandy, ripe red fruits, a touch boozy. Palate is softer and mellower than the nose. Still plenty of syrupy red fruit, a bit overly boozy, and a bit thin. In no way the equal of Roquefort or other top quads. Below average.

750 Koningshoeven bottle, at-least a year old, could be up to two, 08:32 K26D7, whatever that means. Pours a darker glowing orangish red with a tall foamy beige very thick creamy froth. Aroma is strong of fruity esters, alcohol, hint of banana phenols, some vanilla, quite rich. Flavor is much the same, hot and rich, touch of banana, caramel, toasted light brown sugar, touch of sweet white raisins, a bit doughy, rich and sugary but mostly without depth, little bit of vanilla towards the finish, some lingering burn. Develops more of a Gulden Draak candy sweetness and burn along side a Unibroue yeast quality. Medium/full bodied, creamy and fluffy with some sharp fine carbonation and leftover stickiness. Actually quite good for a Quad, still prefer any Abt though.

This is certainly an enjoyable beer, but trying the Dubbel, Tripel and Quad together, I’m highly confused about the Quad’s significantly higher ratings. True, it’s a bit better. The flavor is fuller, the malt is richer and the beer is a bit more warming, but the flavor profile is in line with the rest of the lineup with the smaller beers. I’m even lowering the rating a bit in deference to style comparisons. On a flat rating scale, this would be more highly rated than the Tripel or the Dubbel. At any rate, the Quad pours a deep medium red. It’s translucent with amber highlight at certain angles. It’s actually less murky than the Tripel (maybe a function of the pour). There’s a bit more lacing, though. The aroma has more banana bread and clove than I noticed in the previous Koningshoeven beers. There are also aromas of vanilla, brandy and apricots/plums. The flavor is similar with peppery spicing. I’m again impressed at the depth of flavor these Trappist brewers are able to get out of such simple ingredients. It’s one hell of a strain of a yeast that can impart this depth of flavor. If not for style comparisons, I’d bump up my ratings in every category.