Beer Blogging

The quadrupel is a style of Belgian ale that is rarely brewed, and in fact I've never had one before. In terms of flavor, they're more like a wine than a beer, and supposedly the flavors can mature with time if you age them correctly.

But I want it now! And so, I just opened this bottle of Avery Brewing's The Reverend, a Belgian-style quadrupel ale brewed in Boulder, CO.



If I showed you that picture and told you that this beer has 10% alcohol by volume, you'd probably expect a strong, bitter flavor with a strong sense of all that alcohol. Well, not so much. The Reverend gets almost no bitterness from its Styrian Goldings hops; the main component of the taste is a strong sweetness. The malt from this beer is imported from Belgium, and you can taste it for about 30 seconds after you swallow. The taste of alcohol is there, but you really have to look for it as soon as the beer hits your tongue. Overall, I'd say that this beer has the color and flavor of sweet molasses, with a hint of cherry.

My complaint with The Reverend is that it's too sweet; the complexity for which this style of ale is renowned gets drowned out by all that sweetness. It's got a lot of flavor, which is admirable, but it's all the same flavor. When I spend nine bucks on a one pint six ounce beer, I'm looking for a little more than I'm tasting here. I'll definitely pick up more quadrupels in the future, but I don't know if I'll buy this one again. I think that this was probably a good introduction to the genre; maybe it'll make me appreciate a more finely crafted quadrupel when I try one.

Rating: 6/10. It's good, but it's not nearly what I expected from a quadrupel. Maybe next time.

Beer Blogging Returns

This blog has spent too long focusing on the unimportant things: race, religion and politics. Well, it's time to get back to what matters: beer. Tonight, I'll be drinking a beer that's been sitting around for a while, looking for a good excuse to be enjoyed. Thursday sounds like a good excuse!

I give you the Chimay Premiére Trappist Ale, brewed in an abbey in Belgium.



Presentation is important for a beer, and that brings me to the first cool thing about Chimay Premiére. Besides coming in an enormous bottle (750 mL, the size of a bottle of wine), it has a cork:



Once you get the cork off, the fun starts. The back of the bottle describes this beer as having a "pleasant sharpness and light hint of bitterness", and the beer doesn't disappoint. It's unfiltered and there's a ton of yeast, which means the beer ferments in the bottle. That gives it a very rich taste and an alcohol content that's probably higher than the 7% on the label. The bitterness is slight, but it really asserts itself in the aftertaste. The beer does have some sweetness, but there's only a very slight hint of it when it initially hits your mouth; other than that, this beer is all about bold flavor. And that's not a bad thing at all. I'd recommend this beer if you like beers with strong flavors in general.

Rating: 7/10