7 Swans-A-Swimming
(has 2 batches)
The Bruery in Placentia, California, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series|
Score
7.21
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Belgian-Style Quadrupel Ale
7 Swans-A-Swimming is the 7th beer in our 12 Days of Christmas™ series. For this verse of the story, we chose the path we don't often take - we brewed to style. No bells, no whistles, just our best take on the Belgian Quadrupel style. Brewed with nothing but water, malt, yeast, hops and a bit of Belgian dark candied sugar, this beer may not be as out-of-the-box as some of our past winter brews, but it's just as tasty. Rich and complex, this robust dark ale juggles notes of raisin bread, dried apricots, burnt caramel and roasted pecans. The barrel-aged edition layers on complexities of oak, plums, toffee, tobacco and liquefied dates, with the Belgian yeast esters mimicking winter-like spicing on a warm bourbon backdrop.
7 Swans-A-Swimming is the 7th beer in our 12 Days of Christmas™ series. For this verse of the story, we chose the path we don't often take - we brewed to style. No bells, no whistles, just our best take on the Belgian Quadrupel style. Brewed with nothing but water, malt, yeast, hops and a bit of Belgian dark candied sugar, this beer may not be as out-of-the-box as some of our past winter brews, but it's just as tasty. Rich and complex, this robust dark ale juggles notes of raisin bread, dried apricots, burnt caramel and roasted pecans. The barrel-aged edition layers on complexities of oak, plums, toffee, tobacco and liquefied dates, with the Belgian yeast esters mimicking winter-like spicing on a warm bourbon backdrop.
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7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
750 mL bottle from 2014. Pours a murky, brown color, with a medium, fizzy, tan head. The nose is molasses, dates, anise, and sherry. Sweet and syrupy, with a chemical, estery finish. Heavy body, with a hot, sticky palate. This is a fun beer with a lot of character, but the years have not been kind to this bottle.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Jan 2021
at 22:39
8.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle 750ml @ Sommerhuset
Pours dark reddish brown with a beige head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, alcohol, dried fruits, fig, dades and raisin. Taste is heavy sweet and light bitter with a long warm caramel and dried fruity finish. Body is full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.
Pours dark reddish brown with a beige head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, alcohol, dried fruits, fig, dades and raisin. Taste is heavy sweet and light bitter with a long warm caramel and dried fruity finish. Body is full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Jul 2020
at 21:46
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Old 750 ml bottle and rebrewed 375 ml bottle tried side-by-side. Aroma is malt forward with lots of caramel, toffee, toasted bread and nuts. Light brunt sugar and hints of chocolate. Loads of raisin, cherry, prune and fig. Light spicy coriander and clove notes. The older bottle has a much larger spice note and a more muted malt profile. The old bottle has a bit of a cocoa cola aroma. Medium light alcohol spice. Pours dark brown with a large, thick, frothy, dark tan head that recedes slowly but steadily to a film on the edges. Moderate lacing and moderate length legs. Flavor is fairly sweet with lots of malt character. The rebrew has loads of caramel, toffee and toasted bread with lighter nuts, burnt sugar and faint chocolate. Light cherry, raisin, prune, plum and fig notes. Medium light alcohol spice. The original bottle is super fruity and almost tastes infected. Some spicy, herbal notes that are not pleasant. New bottle has hints of spice but nothing off putting. Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and low, but present alcohol warmth. Overall, the new beer is good but the old one is pretty bad. It has that coca cola, overly fruity, overly spicy note to it. The new version has great malt notes and balanced Belgian yeast profile. Old beer gets like maybe a 3.0, while I am rating the new beer 3.6
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Jan 2020
at 06:50
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
750ml bottle from Jeremy. Dark brown pour with some ruby highlights, beige head. Aroma is sweet malts and fruit, cherries. Taste brings some cherry cola flavors, leather, tobacco. Touch of Belgian yeast
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Dec 2019
at 01:41
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
On tap at The Ginger Man - Boston, pours a deep dark mahogany with a tiny white head. Aroma brings out toasted chestnuts, along with brown sugar and dark dried red fruits. Flavour is quite booze, wth dark dried fruits, caramel, some Belgian yeast, brown sugar and alcohol. Complex and well-coordinated. This is great.
Tried
from Draft
on 02 Aug 2018
at 04:12
8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Deep dark brown coloured body with a rich, tall four to five centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of sugars, molasses, prunes, raisins and a good deal of malt and yeast. Medium-bodied; Super sweet and mellow flavour of pitted fruits, raisins, figs, plums, prunes and pure sugars. Aftertaste shows a rich flavour with a good deal of malt, a solid amount of light and assertive enough spices, but more sugar than anything else and a bit of the alcohol on the end, but this shows a touch thin, so this goes down very easily, since the taste is definitely sweetness-centric. Overall, a nice and very mellow Quadruple with a ton of sweetness and a solid malt backbone along with a good complexity showing pitted fruits and some raisin/fig sweetness as well. Great to sample, especially after a bit of aging of this, seemingly the body to thin quite a bit and any assertive flavours seems to have been smashed irrevocably and leave just sweetness, a bit of grain and earthiness. I sampled this 75 cL bottle purchased from Crystal City Wine Shop in Arlington, Virginia (Crystal City) (20th Street Location) on 12-December-2014 for US$12,99 sampled at home in Washington on 24-December-2017//Christmas Eve as a sample for the song, just a few years late.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Dec 2017
at 23:47