[4/13] Bottle, 14C. Almost black with a light tan head that lasts OK. Had a little taster off keg at Slowbeer on a warm day a while back and could mainly smell whisky, but it’s back in the pack to some degree here (thankfully). Aroma of plums, blackberries, chocolate, (good) bread, vanilla, whisky, Palo Cortado. Very silky mouthfeel, low carbonation. Whisky and an overt alcohol presence in the mouth. Sweetish with blackberries, chocolate, licorice, plums, muscatels, white pepper. A fair bit of heat from the alcohol at the end. It’s the alcohol that’s the problem here for me: maybe it’ll settle down after a while or maybe there’s just too much whisky barrel. [3.8]Almost black, tan head is a rim and island then gone. Lots of lovely dried fruit and over-ripe berries, but still far too overtly boozy and whisky-dominated in the mouth for me. Aroma is great though.

From a 330ml bottle on 27/3/2013. Pours the darkest of brown with next to no head. Has a quite strong aroma of caramel, chocolate, a hint of berries, and a big waft of alcohol. Flavour wise, this very complex, with lots of chocolate, caramel fudge, a hint of dark fruit, some berries, a touch of spicy Belgian yeast, and a firm, slightly sour roasty bitterness, all against a subtle background of warming alcohol. The body is full and the carbonation quite high for the style. Reasonably easy to get through given it’s bigness. All up, a very nice quad.