Recently in Quadrupel Category

Allright, stay with me here. In 2012, Kane was celebrating their first anniversary, and they put out a beer called Three Hundred Sixty Five (the significance of this name is obviously a total mystery.) It was comprised of a blend of 70% Belgian-style quadrupel and 30% barrel-aged imperial stout. Most of that was released then, but some of the finished blend was racked back into bourbon barrels for another year. At their second anniversary party in 2013, they incorporated some of that aged juice into their next anniversary beer, Seven Hundred Thirty (again with the cryptic name), but reserved some of it for release on draft on its own. At their third anniversary in 2014, they incorporated Seven Hundred Thirty into their next anniversary beer, One Thousand Ninety Five (I suppose I've worn this naming joke down to the bone, so I'll refrain this time and this time only). I think you're getting the solera-like pattern here, but the point is that at that third anniversary, they finally released some of the original Bourbon Barrel-Aged Three Hundred and Sixty Five in bottles. So if I've got the chronology right, they brewed and blended it, aged it in bourbon barrels for a year, then bottle conditioned for another year before releasing.

Then it made it's way to me after another, er, 3-4 years or so in the bottle. Quite the storied beer. As we've seen recently, Kane's got a pretty darned good barrel program, so let's dig in:

Kane Bourbon Barrel Aged Three Hundred and Sixty Five - Pours a murky, very dark brown color with a half finger of off white, fizzy head that does not stick around very long. Smells nice, lots of that bourbon, oak, and vanilla, along with some almost cola-like spice notes. Taste is very sweet, hits some Belgian yeast spiciness, that cola-like character is there too, with a nice, boozy bourbon, oak, and vanilla character. Mouthfeel is on the lighter end of full bodied, rich but again on the lighter side of that spectrum, nice tight carbonation too. Overall, it has a neat sorta bourbon barrel aged coke feel to it, with some added Belgian yeast notes for complexity. Having had some of the newer anniversary blends, I suspect that while this was quite nice, it would have been better if not aged as long as it was. Still really happy to have tried it! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 12.2% ABV bottled (750 ml silver wax). Drank out of a tulip glass on 6/22/18. Released: 2014.

Many thanks to Gene of Talkbeer for sending this my way (he was very generously making good on a mixup from a while back that was totally not his fault). I will most certainly be seeking out more from Kane's barrel program.

So I've been aging beer for a while now, both intentionally and unintentionally, and it's often an interesting exercise. However, it's also pretty rare for a beer to get better over time. It's usually different and sometimes worse than fresh, but better is, again, rare.

In general, my advice continues to be to drink fresh. If you can only get one bottle of something special, drink it fresh. If you can get a second bottle, it's a fun exercise to age it, but seldom does a beer age incredibly well. At least, not for very long periods of time. Lots of beers can get better or be just as good over a few months, but not many will last over a year and the ones that can last 5 years are even more rare. Of course, there are many variables. My "cellar" doesn't exactly have ideal conditions, so you may have better luck. Bottle variation exists, especially when it comes to wild ales. Some people don't like harsh booziness and time can clear that up sometimes. And so on.

Since Victory is local, I've stockpiled plenty of their offerings over the years. Readily available, not too pricy, and quality beer - they make good candidates for aging experimentation. Let's see if this patience has paid off:

Victory V-Twelve (2011) - This is a special one. I loved it fresh back in the day and squirreled this away to see how it would age. High alcohol, darkish beer, I thought it would do well. Naturally, I haven't thought too much about it in the intervening time, especially as my tastes evolved over the years. In a recent attempt to drink down a bit of my cellar I noticed something curious. The bottle sez "Should be enjoyed within 5 years" and the bottling date was Nov 11 2011. So of course, I popped the cork on Nov 11 2016. Nailed it.

Pours a murky amber orange brown color with just a cap of off white head. Smells nice, lots of yeast-driven, rich, dark fruit, brown sugar, maybe even a little floral aroma, toffee too, hints of spice. Taste is rich and sweet, ample malt backbone, dark fruit, raisins, dates, yeasty esters, a little oxidation definitely showing, but nothing overwhelming, sherry, toffee, brown sugar, finishing with hints of Belgian yeast spice and a bit of booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, a sipper for sure. Overall, this is still fantastic. I haven't had it fresh since, oh, 2011, but it's holding up pretty darned well. A high B+ (I originally rated this an A, but taking into account ratings inflation puts this about on par with my feelings on it fresh.

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/11/16. Bottled: Nov 11 2011. "Should be enjoyed within 5 years" (Nailed it.)

Victory Java Cask (2015) - The story on coffee beer is that the coffee tends to fade over time and hoo boy is that the case here. For the coffee ambivalents like myself, that's not a huge deal, but this was a huge coffee bomb when fresh, and while the coffee character is still there if you look for it (or if you're particularly sensitive to it, ahem), the bourbon barrel stout character is now the majority of this beer. It's actually quite pleasant, but then, I'm one of the aforementioned coffee ambivalents, so I would be like that. I'm still hoping that Victory will put out a non-coffee version of this same beer someday, but that's not in the cards this year (FYI, this was written in November 2016 - ed.). We've got a Rye barrel variant this year, as well as a rebrew of this, but I hold out hope. Still, I'm quite enjoying this and won't even drop the grade. Again, coffee-heads will be disappointed by an aged bottle of this stuff (and anecdotally, I'd say most of the dropoff had occurred within 6 months). A-

Beer Nerd Details: 14.3% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a charente glass on 11/8/16. Fucking election day. Enjoy by: 10 Nov 2016, cutting it close.

Victory Otto (2011) - A smoked dubbel? Not your common style, and at the time, the smoke completely overwhelmed any Belgian yeast characteristics. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of almost white head. Smells of belgian yest, raisins, and just a bit of smoke. Taste goes similarly, the smoke has really mellowed out over time (fresh, the smoke was potent and overpowering, now it's barely there). Proooobably held on to it too long, but it's held up much better than your typical dubbel. Will try the Bourbon Barrel version next (it was a massive improvement over the original). B- (Update, I brought Otto in Oak to a share recently and it has fared a little better, but is also well past its prime. Solid B material.)

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/1/16. Bottled: Sept 21 2011 (I think that's what it sez)

Victory Old Horizontal (2013) - No fancy stories here, just realized it had been about 3 years, which is plenty for a beer like this. Turns out, I think it could probably stand up to more, but I'm still really glad I opened this when I did. Pours a dark amber color with a finger of white head. Smells of caramel and toffee, hints of dried, candied fruit. Taste also has that rich caramel and toffee character, sweet but not cloying, some modest hop character too. Some oxidation present, but nothing overwhelming and it ends up adding complexity. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, moderate carbonation, hints of booze. Overall, this has aged very well, would do again. I still have a couple of Oak Horizontals laying around, so I should probably strap one of those in next. B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 5/22/16. Enjoy by Oct 25 2018. (deduced bottling date: October 25 2013)

So there you have it. 5 years probably too long, even for something like V-Twelve. Three years, though, seemed fruitful. Stay tuned for more vintage drinking, including one that was 7 years old (and still drank incredibly well).

According to my record-keeping gnomes, I have reviewed beers from 318 breweries (check them out over there on the right of the page), which sounds like a lot and also like I should seek professional, medical help, but given that the good ol' USA has surpassed 4000 craft breweries (not to mention non-craft and imports), I've barely scratched the surface. To the procurement department! These folks are always busy here at Kaedrin, such that we often collect too much beer, but they also keep their eye out for breweries that are new to me and that are putting out interesting stuff.

Enter Mother Earth Brew Co., a San Diego area brewery that friends have nice things to say about, but which I know almost nothing about. Everyone seems charmed by their IPAs, but we thought we'd check out their barrel program, because we're like that. Four Seasons of Mother Earth is a quarterly release roughly aligned with the various equinoxes and solstices, and every release is different. Last year's Autumn release was a BA stout, this year it's a Bourbon Barrel Aged Quadrupel. There's some florid description about "Johnny Law" on the back of the bottle, but barrel aged quad? Procurement department done good:

Mother Earth Four Seasons Of Mother Earth - Autumn: Johnny Law - Pours a murky amber brown color with a cap of head that is short for this world. Smells utterly fantastic, boozy bourbon and oak, rich caramel, toffee, dark fruit, vanilla. Taste feels a bit muted compared to the nose, but the flavor profile is similar. Caramel and toffee, but not nearly as rich or sweet as you'd expect from the nose. Not as much dark fruit either, but it's there. Bourbon, oak, and vanilla, but surprisingly balanced, maybe more booze emerges as it warms up. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and surprisingly dry, only a hint of stickiness in the finish along with a little boozy heat. Overall, quite an interesting brew, I usually think of dry belgian ales as not working so well with bourbon barrels, but this one bucks the trend, even if it's not necessarily top tier. A high B+

Beer Nerd Details: 12% ABV bottled (22 ounce bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 10/9/15. Vintage: Autumn 2015.

Certainly a good first impression, and clearly I need to try out more of their stuff. Also of note, a NC based brewery of basically the same name. I smell epic legal showdown in the future.

Tonight was beer club! For the uninitiated, beer club is a monthly gathering of like-minded coworkers and acquaintances at a local BYOB for drinks, food, and general revelry. This time, we stopped in at a local Pizza place for some deep fried dough, strombolis, and yes, pizza. It's not a big place and the pizza isn't as spectacular as the last beer club gathering, but we always manage to make due. Good attendance tonight too, and plenty of beer.

(Click to embiggen)

For the sake of posterity, some half-addled thoughts on each beer are listed below. Standard disclaimers apply, this was a social gathering, so I wasn't paying too close of attention to what I was drinking and you should totes ignore what I'm writing and make up your own mind because I'm totally the worst and this post is definitely an ill-advised idea that I'm only doing out of tradition because I've done it for all previous iterations of beer club and are you even reading this? Why? The beer notes are below, in order of tasting, not necessarily in the order pictured (and some later attendees brought some stuff that is not pictured):

• Platform Speed Merchant White IPA - Not expecting much out of this Ohio beer brought back by a visitor, fantastic citrusy nose, more typical IPA-like taste. Quite solid though, and worth a look on its own. B+
• Pizza Boy Hop Test #1 (Cascade Single Hop) - Yep, it's a pale ale. The very definition of cromulence, this does nothing particularly special, but it's an enjoyable little pale ale. B
• New Belgium Pumpkick - Whoa there, this is quite perfumey, moar ginger than anything else, but that perfumey character really overpowers everything else with this beer. Not horrendous, but not a particularly good pumpkin beer either. C+
• Firestone Walker Union Jack - Back in the early days of this blog, this would have been an A worthy beer, but grade inflation is a bitch. It's still an accomplished and emminently accomplished IPA, well worth checking out. Delicious citrus/pine/malt balance. B+
• Weyerbacher Tarte Nouveau - Very nice little tart beer, tart, crisp, refreshing, very light bodied and easy going, sorta beginner sour stuff but quite nice on its own. B+
• Overshores Tripel Brun - Bottle a bit of a gusher, and thus carbonation levels a bit off, but this is basically a very raisiny Belgian strong dark. B
• Brasserie De Blaugies / Hill Farmstead La Vermontoise - I know I've had this before, but apparently I never reviewed it. It's not quite up to speed with the best of Hill Farmstead, but it's a rock solid saison, earthy and spicy, quite delicious. B+
• Fantôme Coffee Ruby - One of my contributions, this came off as surprisingly muted. There's some coffee character that is definitely present, but it's not overpowering at all, despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be a ton of other stuff going on with this beer. It's got a very, very mild funk to it, and the combination of the base with coffee doesn't entirely blesh, but it's certainly an interesting beer. A little weird, but could more interesting with more funk. Keeping in mind my legendary indifference to coffee, I'll give it a B
• Cascade Figaro - This is typical Cascade sour here, which is to say, it's a fantastic little sour. I don't get a lot of fig or lemon peel out of it, but it's got that trademark Cascade lactic sour and oak character that just work so damn well. Generally agreed to be one of the best of the night. A-
• White Birch Indulgence Ale (2014) - Not sure which version of this beer I tried (I think it's this retired 2014 version), but it was labeled as a Belgian Imperial Stout, and it definitely had a sorta brighter take on the imperial stout style that worked really well. Lots of rich malt, light roast, some hints of Belgian character, but with the style's inherent dark malt sweetness (i.e. not a dry or highly carbonated beer). Actually quite nice and among the better of the night. B+
• Brewmaster Jack Barrel Aged Prinsipia Quad - Sounds great, but came out kinda limp, very boozy, a little raisiny Belgian character, but not at all balanced. Not terrible, but not quite getting the job done either. B-

And that just about covers it. We just got this one in under the wire, last day of the month. Will need to try and plan the next beer club soon. Great time, as always.

Firestone Walker's excellent barrel aging program essentially grew out of their Anniversary beers. For their first entry in that series, they brewed 4 different beers and aged them in 6 different barrels (yielding 10 lots to blend, as it was their 10th anniversary). Some of these have gone on to become standard annual offerings on their own, like §ucaba or Parabola, but some have only been released in minute quantities at the brewery itself (or perhaps the occasional beer week surprise). For the past few years, Firestone Walker has been releasing larger doses of individual components in one-off bottles, and Stickee Monkey was 2014's entry.

They describe the base of this beer as a Central Coast Quad, and unlike many of their other beers, the ingredients are mostly "undisclosed". What we do know is that it "formulated to sit on the sweeter and malty side so that we could utilize it for blending" (bottle sez 22 IBU, which is indeed pretty low for such a big beer) and that it incorporates Turbinado brown sugar from Mexico in place of the traditional Belgian candi sugar. The result is decidedly more barleywine-ish or perhaps old-ale-ish than Quad-like, but I'm not complaining about this barrel of monkeys, it's delicious:

Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee - Pours a striking clear chestnut brown color with a cap of tan, fizzy head that quickly resolves into a ring around the edge of the glass. Smells of rich caramelized fruits, plums and the like, maybe some molasses, with huge barrel character, vanilla, oak, and bourbon. Taste follows the nose with a large, rich caramel presence, very sweet (but not cloying), a hint of fruit in the background, molasses, and that huge barrel presence brings the vanilla, oak, and bourbon, big time. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and chewy, with ample carbonation to offset the sweetness, though it does finish with a bit of a sticky presence. Pleasant booze makes itself known with a little heat and warming in the belly. Overall, what we have here is a superb, complex, and intense barrel aged brew. A

Beer Nerd Details: 13.4% ABV bottled (22 ounce boxed bomber). Drank out of a snifter on 12/27/14. 2014 Vintage. Bottled 04/18/14.

I will never tire of Firestone Walker's barrel aged beers, despite being somewhat difficult to procure using standard methods. Even their sours and wilds are starting to come along. Up next: Firestone XVIII (14% of which is actually Stickee Monkey, heh). After that, well, Firestone has said that Double DBA will no longer be bottled, setting the stage for some sort of replacement. To my knowledge, this has not been chosen yet, but I'm guessing Parabajava (a coffee infused version of Parabola, relatively new) or Bravo (BA imperial brown ale, been around since the beginning). In any case, I'll still be hunting down bottles of §ucaba and Parabola, because they're so reliably great.

One of the simultaneous strengths and weaknesses of American craft beer is its relationship to traditional style, or lack thereof. On the one hand, if it can be brewed, it's probably being brewed in America somewhere. Want a braggot? Sahti? Grätzer? Someone in America is keeping these obscure styles alive. Want a beer brewed with goat brains? We got you covered. On the other hand, who are we kidding? IPAs and Stouts are mainstays and they're where the buzz is at (I suppose sours can be included in that these days). And to be honest, it can get a bit tiresome to wade through all of the "off centerd", "genre-tilting", "innovative" beers that are continually being thrust our way. That goat brain beer? I think it's both awesome and a little gross that it exists.

The Bruery is one of those breweries that straddles the line. They do some (more or less) traditional stuff, but then, they also like to put big twists on traditional styles. Their 12 Days of Christmas series, in which they release a new beer every year that is meant to last until the release of 12 Drummers Drumming (making for one heck of a vertical), started off with some traditional stuff. Partridge In A Pear Tree was basically a Belgian Strong Dark, 2 Turtle Doves was a little more adventurous, a sorta Belgian Porter made with cocoa nibs, toasted pecans, and caramelized sugar, and aged in bourbon barrels (seems to be the best received entry), 3 French Hens was another straightforward Belgian Strong Dark, but it was partially aged in French Oak, 4 Calling Birds was a sorta Belgian Winter Warmer (almost a stout, if I remember correctly), 5 Golden Rings went way off the reservation, being a Belgian Strong Pale Ale made with Pineapple juice (and, quite frankly, the worst in the series so far), 6 Geese A Laying returned to the Belgian Strong Dark formula, but incorporated Gooseberries. For the most part, this has been a series of diminishing returns and escalating weirdness (or "off centeredness" or "innovative" or whatever you want to call it). I've not had the first two entries, but they have decent reputations. The 3rd and 4th entries were quite nice. All the ones up to that point were pretty straightforward. The 5th was... not bad, per say, but not particularly good either, and that pineapple juice made it a little too weird. The 6th was better, but not quite up to par with the rest of The Bruery's output, and the gooseberries made it a little weird.

And now we come to 7 Swans A Swimming, which returns to traditional brewing tactics land. It's basically a straight up Quadrupel, period. No weird adjucts or additions, just traditional Belgian Strong Dark beer. Not having had Partridge in a Pear tree, they seem similar, but I can't say for sure. So how does this fare?

The Bruery 7 Swans-A-Swimming - Pours a dark brown color with hints of amber when held up to light and a nice finger or two of head. Smells nice, bready belgian yeast, spice, dark fruits, plums, and the like. Taste is also nice, lots of dark fruits, plums, a little raisin, plenty of yeast spice to cut through it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, well carbonated (but not quite as perfect as top tier quads), and a little sticky in the finish. Overall, its a very nice, on-style take on the quadrupel. Drinking a whole 750 makes it feel a bit one note, and I feel like the complexity sorta fades as it goes, but it works nonetheless. I'll still give it a B, but it's a high B and I like it better than the last couple entries in the series (ratings inflation continues unabated).

Beer nerd Details: 11% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a goblet on 12/13/14. Bottled 11/10/14.

At some point, I thought it would be cool to save up all the 12 days of christmas beers for a big vertical (which is coming up fast), but I basically only have 4 Calling Birds in my cellar. This is the first time since then that I'm seriously considering grabbing another bottle for the cellar, even if it wasn't particularly spectacular (it seems like it could age well). I guess we'll see.

Well, let's hope this goes better than the last time I tried a beer from Avery's Barrel-Aged Series. Black Tot sounded good in theory, but wound up infected. Such are the perils of barrel aging. This one shows promise, if you can call not being infected promise. Which I think I can, so I will. You're not the boss of me!

So anyway, they're calling this a Belgian Style Quintupel ale, which is like 5 times better than regular beer. It's kind of a joke, but then this does clock in at a hefty 19.39% ABV which, yes, looks to have nudged out Black Tuesday as the strongest beer I've ever had. Fortunately, this time around, we've got a simple 12 ounce bottle, so it appears that Avery isn't trying to completely annihilate me. The ultra-high ABV game gets tiresome pretty quickly, but sometimes it can work. Is that the case here? Only one way to find out:

Avery 5 Monks - Pours a turbid, muddy brown color with half a finger of tan head that fizzes down to a ring around the edge of the glass pretty quickly. Smells of dark fruits, molasses, and boozy bourbon. The taste hits pretty hard with that molasses character, with some really rich caramel and brown sugar, maybe even a hint of dark chocolate, less in the way of dark fruit than the nose would imply, though maybe some of it peeks through. Tons of booze, bourbon, and a little of the rich sugary oak and vanilla character from the barrels. It's sweet, but never approaches cloying levels. Mouthfeel is rich, chewy, thick, and full bodied, a real monster. Lots of alcohol heat, it doesn't quite burn on the way down, but you'll get a warming feeling in your belly pretty quickly. Despite this prominent alcohol character, it's not as overwhelming as you might expect - there's enough other stuff going on that it all works. Very well carbonated and a surprising lack of stickiness make it more approachable than you might think. Overall, this is intense and complex, a boozy monster that has no real pretensions of balance, but works nonetheless. Kinda reminiscent of a boozier version of The Bruery's anniversary beers, with more molasses than fruit. It's probably the sort of thing that should be shared 3 ways from a 12 ounce bottle like this, but it made for an excellent sipping beer, something that works over long periods of time. I like. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 19.39% ABV bottled (12 ounce). Drank out of a snifter on 9/27/14. Bottled: July 17 2014.

So yes, I will most certainly be seeking out more Barrel Aged Avery. I actually have a bottle of something I've been aging for a while that might be worth pulling out now, so keep your eyes peeled. I'm sure we'll get to it soon enough.

So a couple years ago, the Lost Abbey started a series of beers inspired by rock music that was themed by heaven or hell (as befitting the Last Abbey's general brand). Each month, they released a new "track", a special edition beer available only at their tasting room and limited to just 450 bottles each. These are exactly the sort of beers that an east coast dork like myself could never dream of acquiring. But at the end of the year, Lost Abbey did a "Box Set" of all the beers, and some seemed popular enough to brew again.

As far as I'm aware, this is the only one that was made again, and it's received pretty broad distribution (so I'm guessing significantly more than 450 bottles this time around). This takes their Judgment Day, a Belgian Quad made with raisins, and ages it in Bourbon barrels along with cinnamon and chile peppers. The result was one of the more popular tracks in the series. Why it's got the subtitle of The Number of the Beast (why wouldn't that be track #6?), I don't know, but it's got a nice story about how Damien was tricked into writing the number of the beast onto his gradeschool chalk board. It's all for you, Damien. Or in this case, the beer is all for me:

Lost Abbey Track #8 - Number Of The Beast - Pours a deep, dark brown color with half a finger of fizzy tan head. Smells of bourbon, oak, and vanilla along with some dark fruits, raisons and the like, and just a bit of Belgian yeast spice. As it warms up, you get more sorta Christmas spice character, cinnamon and the like. Taste is very sweet, with some nice fruity esters, dark fruits, raisins and the like, spicy phenols, maybe some of that cinnamon, rich caramel, bourbon, oak, and vanilla. As it warms, the spicy chile emerges a bit, but it's just enough to add complexity and never threatens to overwhelm or knock anything out of balance. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, rich, full bodied, a little sticky as it warms up. I've found that Belgian styles have mixed success when barrel aged, but this works very well. Overall, this is among the better barrel aged Belgian quads I've ever had, rich and complex, well worth seeking out. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 13.7% ABV bottled (375 ml caged and corked). Drank out of a snifter on 8/23/14. Vintage: 2014.

Yet another winner from Lost Abbey. Someday, I'll need to get around to trying Cuvee De Tomme or Duck Duck Gooze, but until then... I'll just have to deal with all this other beer I have laying around.