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<strong>The Disgruntled Chemist</strong>

3/12/2006

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.