Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Ovila Quad

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Chico, California USA

Serve in Trappist glass

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Notes of dark fruit, strong raisins and plum. Very tasty and a good beer to sit back and take your time drinking.

Bottle shared by Dallas, thanks
Clear dark brown with a small beige head and some lacing. Aroma is woody, brandy and dark fruit. Flavors of woody, brandy, oak and brown sugar
Nice and easy drinking

Poured from a 375ml bottle. Some hot alcohol, dark stone fruits, prunes, plums, raisin, warming. Very tasty quad. I like the brandy treatment to this beer.

Brown, clear, beige head. Aroma of dark fruit, alcohol, brown sugar. Flavor of plumbs, raisins, some floral notes, warming alcohol. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle thanks to Dallas. Pours a dark red color with a medium light beige head. A rich heat and vinous nose. Malty, dry, vinous, pepper, very rich. Only mellow brandy. Raisins

Bottle. Pours a nice dark mahogany brown, decent frothy head. Smells of dark fruits and spices. Pretty standard, but a good beer. Doesn’t taste boozy, surprisingly given the ABV.

Draft. Dark reddish brown pour, with a biege head. Plum, raisin, sweet bread, notes of brandy, yeast, oak, and some caramel. Ok.

On tap at burger. in Santa Cruz. Leathery brown with a ruby heart and a paltry glazing of khaki bubblature. Molten candy corn aroma, like walking into a caramel factory made of caramel, plus creme brulee and a touch of brandy heat. Flavor carries a similar profile as the aroma with some caramel, smores, candi sugar, dark fruit.

Draft at Capone’s. Poured hazy burnt sienna with minimal head. Nose was figgy fruit, raisin, oaky, vanilla, brandy. Tastes on the hot side of the -OH spectrum (not unexpected), with notes of oaky bourbon, pruney fruit, vanilla, brandy, and toffee. Came off on the dry side in the finish.

Pours a warm, dark brown. The head is small, beige and a bit rocky. The beer is transparent, and it can be seen through pretty easily. No apparent haze or cloudiness from lees (don’t see any lees in the bottle, either). The aroma is sweet and rich. There’s lots of doughy, fruity malt flavors mixing with well-integrated barrel notes and a Belgian yeast that brings earth, spice and more fruit. The notes that I’m getting from the aroma are raisins, molten brown sugar, dates, maple syrup, vanilla, peaches, molasses, caramel, port, brandy, light wood, grapes, and Belgian spice. That was a long list. I had a similar thought about the Ovila Quad with Plums, but it really smells like a fancy bread pudding. This is less fruity and more brandy, but that’s the general flavor that I get. There’s lots of doughy malt, rich sugars and refined barrel flavors. The taste kicks off with a good dose of malt sweetness. Warm brandy and dark stone fruit notes follow, and the beer dries out a bit as the spice and wood comes through. The finish is wood with some warming, integrated booze and a nice earthy flavor. Mouthfeel is smooth and just a touch sticky. The beer provides some gentle heat, as well. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first round of normal Ovila offerings, but the recent release of barrel-aged quad, dubbel and quad with plums have been quite impressive. While I’m a fan of this beer, the barrel-aged dubbel is still my favorite. That said, I’m not normally a big fan of barrel-aged quads, and this one definitely won me over. So, kudos to Sierra Nevada. Always great to see them flex their muscles a bit and put out some fanciness.