Belgian Quad Blind Tasting Results

[Belgian]

Mark, what is your opinion of La Trappe Quad? We have it, StB 12 and R10 available in Ontario at the moment.

Not a fan, just sorta sweet, lacking in complexity.

I've had ones that were mind-blowing in layers and complexity, and some that were fairly sweet and simple alco-bombs. I don't know what to say. It's probably a good one to try and cellar a year or two?

Achel too, the Blonde can be sweetly straightforward, or have a lot of really amazing layered complex candy and herbal aromas. I know this isn't a quad / Abt I was saying these brewers can be variable, and even the vaunted Rochefort and (still more so) Westvleteren can have a 'weird' batch that doesn't show the brewery at their best. I will for example bring home a case of Rochefort and try it immediately to be sure I liked the flavor balance of that batch!

[midlife crisis]

Funny you should mention that - I was a little concerned that the much over-hyped Westy release of last fall was in fact a "weird batch". I tried one out of my six pack more or less right away and was completely unimpressed. I haven't touched any of the others - I'm hoping the advice that they come into their own after five years holds true with this batch too. I'd be interested to hear whether others who got one of these packs have cracked a bottle recently.

[Belgian]

I was a little concerned that the much over-hyped Westy release of last fall was in fact a "weird batch"...

Hard to say, because you opened it fairly close to bottling I would only guess - ie. somewhat less than the 'minimum' time of bottle re-fermentation and possibly a bit 'green' (might need to check this with proper sources.)

When I used to follow RateBeer every day, guys in Belgium would speak of their experience with Westvleteren - that there could be a 'just good' batch, then one spectacular, then one comparatively awful. It's hearsay I repeat of course, but guys who drive there all the time to buy a 24-case of W12 or W8 know better than me, and have no illusions of holy-grailness around this or other beers they can easily get over there at low cost.

That's almost another thread - "Who is really consistent?" I'd vote for Westmalle! St. Bernie never failed me. Orval is intentionally inconsistent by the way. They change it up so it's never quite the same each time... as if Orval's beer wasn't already freaky enough.

[midlife crisis]

Yeah, as I mentioned in another thread, I cracked two bottles of Orval on Christmas Day and they even had different abv's - 6.9 vs 6.2.

[JeffPorter]

It'll be interesting to get some age on those W12 bottles, but I've always preferred 2-3 year old R10 as my quad of choice. The three year old St. Bernies are great, too, of course...but I think I just prefer the, I dunno, robustness(?) of R10.

Having said that, these current bottles seem to have a lot of heat on them right now, so I'd wait a while for these to settle down.

[esprit]

FYI, we just received a new shipment of Achel Extra and it's going through LCBO lab. It'll be about $75 for 6 x 750ml.

Peter
espritagencies@sympatico.ca

[atomeyes]

^Interesting, thanks.

Checking some other bottles of Roch I now realize I was looking at the wrong numbers (there's two sets in the bb box). So the bb is actually 21 08 2018, which makes the beer 4 months old (which makes sense, as it was a recent purchase). Now I'll let my other Roch bottles wait until Aug 2015. However, I do have a chimay blue that is approaching its 5 yr bb, so it'll be up any day now.

when i was in Antwerp in May, i drank a Chimay blue from 2000. it was delicious. just sayin'...

[schomberger]

^I don't know if I can find the inner strength to wait another 8 years!

[atomeyes]

^I don't know if I can find the inner strength to wait another 8 years!

they're at the lcbo. so buy 3 extra and hide them. did that with my st berny 12 from a few winters ago. did that with a case of Orval from last year. did that with my westys.

[icemachine]

also, for Westy 12, the sweet spot's apparently year 5-6 of cellaring. i've had Westy fresh at the monestary and it was ok. nothing special. also drank it as table beer in Belgium and, again, it's good but not amazing. but i've had aged westy before and it does get the delicious brown sugar notes with time.

Interesting, I've had the Westy 12 a couple times with 2-3 years age on it and found it thin and lacking flavour, while the bottles I had at the Brewery cafe were fuller and richer tasting, albeit with slightly more alcoholic heat

[Belgian]

Now I'll let my other Roch bottles wait until Aug 2015. However, I do have a chimay blue that is approaching its 5 yr bb, so it'll be up any day now.

when i was in Antwerp in May, i drank a Chimay blue from 2000. it was delicious. just sayin'...

Cool. I've got a half case of 2006 Chimay Bleue that is showing no signs of fading either.

Still one of my favorite glasses too. Chunky but with a fine lip.

[boney]

Interesting to hear everyones preferences/experiences.

I did a broad Trappist tasting a little over a year ago, including all the Trappist beers minus the 3 Westies, Achel Extra and obviously the newer La Trappe Chimay variants. All aged 5 years. Here were my thoughts.....

-La Trappe, Westmalle and Achel's: All age wery well, especially the La Trappe Quad and the 2 Westmalle. The Westmalle Dubbel is super boring when fresh, but gets crazy complex and rich with age, which is a pattern I note with most Dubbels.

-Rochefort: Pretty much the same as when fresh, maybe even a little worse for wear. Full disclosure, I've never been a huge fan, even of the 10.

-Chimay: All 3 deteriorated majorly. I've been told of similar experiences by others who claim it's because Chimay uses dextrose and extracts. However, not being a home brewer and not having experience with such materials, I can't really say why Chimay was so poor relative to the others. I also don't know how common those materials are in the other Trappists either.

[atomeyes]

I disagree with the Chimay.
I've had the blue magnum that was 10 years old and, to be honest, THAT was disappointing. not sure if it was due to the cellar conditions (i.e. under the sink cabinet in my friend's condo). the red, after 1 year, was better than the red fresh. the white, don't age. the blue, age.

you have to look at each beer and decide what it is that you like about it and if those characteristics will fade.

I look at the alcohol heat, sweetness, bitterness, spicyness, etc. So let's look at the beer:

Achel brun extra - this is a sweet, dark beer. turns to chocolate with 1-2 years of cellaring, which is why I love it.

Chimay - fig/fruit is there, but not overbearing when fresh. picks up more or a port character with time, becomes deeper in flavor

Rochforte 10 - probably the most bitter of the quads/tripels. not sure how it would benefit with age. maybe more depth. maybe a bit sweeter.

St Berny 12 - definitely gets sweeter and more complex after 2 years. curious as to how it stands up when the same vintage is consumed with Westy 12.

La Trappe - to me, this is the thinnest of the quads. someone who's aged is should chime in

Cuve de Keizer Blau - cherry coke after 2 years in a lovely way. very nice.

Westy 12 - brown sugar after it ages. more bitter and less depth when fresh. night vs day with age.

other beer that may be in the list: Oerbier (it ages, just not sure if I notice a change), Pannepot (same as Oerbier), Pannepot Reserva (depends on the vintage)

[markaberrant]

St Berny 12 - definitely gets sweeter and more complex after 2 years. curious as to how it stands up when the same vintage is consumed with Westy 12.

The flavour profile of the 2 is actually quite similar at 2 years of age, but the Westy is thinner, drier and has more alcohol heat that detracts from enjoyment.

[boney]

Would agree that Chimay improves over the first 1-2 years, even the White. Just had a 2010 Magnum of the Blue over Christmas and felt that even at that age it may have been just starting to accumulate some wear. Could just be my tastes, though.

The Cuvee Van de Keizer Blauw is an absolute beast, no matter the age. Had a 2006 about a year ago with massive diabetes inducing caramel, dark fruit and port notes. Sitting on a nearly complete 7 year vertical that needs to be broken out one of these days.

St. Berny ages like a champ as well. Had several bottles of the 60th Anniversary up until a couple of years ago. That version was more hop forward (spicey) that the regular bottles, which was awesome contrasted against toffee and plum. That may have been my favorite Belgian beer of all time. Would have loved to be able to cellar more bottles.