Stochasticity Project: Quadrotriticale
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
Belgian Style - Quadrupel / Dark Strong Series Out of Production|
Score
7.09
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A Belgian Style Quadrupel Ale Brewerd with Triticale Grain
Trappist ales as we know them have a proud lineage dating back nearly a century. Rather than follow the footsteps of the monks who forged the quadrupel—the warmest and darkest of monastery offerings—we aimed to test its inherent makeup. In doing so, we added triticale, a hybrid grain combining the pleasant flavor of wheat with the elemental durability and spice of rye, to breathe new life into the malt bill. Because of this, this reimagined brew comes across differently than its classic Belgian predecessors, and beautifully so. Lower in sweetness, but rich with flavors mirroring dried fruit, it’s a modern interpretation of one of the most historically sacred styles on Earth.
The Star Trek geek in me inspired this beer. The classic episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” referenced a type of grain called quadrotriticale (pronounced "quádro-trítĭ-kay-lee"). As described in the episode, this was a high-yield, four-lobed grain hybrid of wheat and rye with a bluish color. The flaked triticale we used is a cross between rye and wheat and makes up about 10 percent of the grain bill in this Belgian-style quadrupel.
Trappist ales as we know them have a proud lineage dating back nearly a century. Rather than follow the footsteps of the monks who forged the quadrupel—the warmest and darkest of monastery offerings—we aimed to test its inherent makeup. In doing so, we added triticale, a hybrid grain combining the pleasant flavor of wheat with the elemental durability and spice of rye, to breathe new life into the malt bill. Because of this, this reimagined brew comes across differently than its classic Belgian predecessors, and beautifully so. Lower in sweetness, but rich with flavors mirroring dried fruit, it’s a modern interpretation of one of the most historically sacred styles on Earth.
The Star Trek geek in me inspired this beer. The classic episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles,” referenced a type of grain called quadrotriticale (pronounced "quádro-trítĭ-kay-lee"). As described in the episode, this was a high-yield, four-lobed grain hybrid of wheat and rye with a bluish color. The flaked triticale we used is a cross between rye and wheat and makes up about 10 percent of the grain bill in this Belgian-style quadrupel.
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5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4
8oz pour at Specific Gravity. Pours murky amber with some creamy white head. Nose has lots of candy sugar, an odd amount of grapefruit, extremely medicinal, heavy, prune juice. Flavor is all raisins and prunes, candy, spice, some blood orange bitterness. Full, sticky, medicinal finish. Rough.
Tried
from Can
on 25 Oct 2014
at 13:04
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg at BrewDog CJ. It pours clear deep brown with a decent beige head. The nose is earth, wood, spice, unami, sweet dark fruits, toffee and candy. The taste is sweet, raisin, day, warming alcohol, wood, marmite, spice, candy, brown bread, leather, caramelized banana and some solid bitterness with a dry, warming finish. Fullish body and moderate carbonation. Pretty punchy, yet remains rather drinkable. Solid quad.
Tried
from Can
on 20 Oct 2014
at 09:36
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
New Beer Distributors, NYC 650 ml: Pours dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is a lot of different fruit: got your banana and your plum and your raisin. Caramel and molasses are there too. That said, I found that the taste was almost not as complex as I would have expected it to be. The body was similarly way lighter than what you would expect from a quad. I don’t know what the triticale added. Wasn’t bad. Easy drinking quad.
Tried
on 12 Oct 2014
at 12:59
7.3/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Tap at World Craft Beer Tasting 2014. Estery nose, peaches, treacle, spicy yeast, caramel. A bit light and oily for the style. Sweet, somewhat syrupy. Not bad for an American "Quad" but really doesn’t deserve that name. Enjoyable enough though.
Tried
from Draft
on 27 Sep 2014
at 20:44
4.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
This is poured into a chalice.
The appearance was a nice hazy dark golden brown color with a slim one finger white foamy head that dissipated within less than thirty seconds.
It left a slim lacing sliding into the beer.
The smell had a weird grainy somewhat sweet drying fruitiness about it.
The taste was mainly sweet and grainy, light fruits.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body. Wait a minute, since when do quads sit this light? Well, this one does. There’s a sweet sticky aftertaste and finish.
Overall, I’m not exactly sure what happened with this one but there are other quads I’d rather have before this. Aw man, and I usually like Stone alot. Nice to try but I can’t see why I would seek this one out again.
The appearance was a nice hazy dark golden brown color with a slim one finger white foamy head that dissipated within less than thirty seconds.
It left a slim lacing sliding into the beer.
The smell had a weird grainy somewhat sweet drying fruitiness about it.
The taste was mainly sweet and grainy, light fruits.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body. Wait a minute, since when do quads sit this light? Well, this one does. There’s a sweet sticky aftertaste and finish.
Overall, I’m not exactly sure what happened with this one but there are other quads I’d rather have before this. Aw man, and I usually like Stone alot. Nice to try but I can’t see why I would seek this one out again.
Tried
from Can
on 23 Sep 2014
at 00:09
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle from CBB. It pours a dark ruby brown with a minimal brown head. The aroma is chewy caramel malts. The taste is well balanced sweet caramel with bitter citrusy malts. Much more English IPA than US IPA... wait what? Just read here this is supposed to be a Quad?? It is a fine hoppy beer from Stone but in not really a quad in my book...
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Sep 2014
at 17:24