Bottle, 13C. Deep amber with a beige head that fades to a coat fairly quickly but never quite departs. Aroma of dried and stewed fruit, leather, brandy, oak. Creamy getting towards syrupy texture, lowish carbonation. Very sweet with burnt sugars, peach, grapes, pineapple. Mace and pepper creep up along with oak and firmish bitterness. Heavier but if anything less obviously boozy than the normal Quadrupel. Brandy is obvious in the aroma but disappears after that. Lots of grapey/ dried fruit complexity, no sign of any aged and/or sherry notes. Is complexity good?-- Not of itself, but here the extras hang together with what was already there well enough; maybe they’d go even better in a while. A slow drinker rather than a sipper. Interesting, good.

Bottle courtesy of rlgk. Pours hazy goldenish dark brown with a small ring of offwhite head that doesn’t leave much trace while dissipating. Smell is malty and estery with dark bread, caramel, oatmeal, charred wood, baked pears, caramelised apples, dark grapes, vanilla, rubber, alcohol and glue. Taste is sweet, malty, estery and boozy with dark bread, oatmeal, charred wood, vanilla, pears, apples, almonds, moist soil and burning alcohol. Mouthfeel is soft, round, tiny velvety, boozy and medium bodied. Finish is sweet and tiny sour with sweet bread, oatmeal, charred wood, grapes, prunes, pears, apples, hay, dry soil, minerals, vanilla, butter and alcohol. Very hot and glue-like boozy. Heavy estery without much balance or refinement. Not a a fan...

Bottle 375ml. corked. [ As La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged Batch #17 ].Light unclear medium red amber color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, sweet malt, wood, oak, alcohol. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet with a long duration, dry, wood, alcohol, oak, dried fruit, sweet alcohol. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is flat, finish is moderate alcoholic. [20140929]

Bottle at Het Brouwcafe, Scheveningen. Poured a clear copper colour with a bubbly round head. The aroma is rich vanilla, caramel, toasty, vinous boozy alcohol. The flavour is moderate sweet with a big alcoholic, malt, vinous oaky palate and a bubbly mouthfeel with a sweet warm alcoholic finish. Moderate to light bodied with average carbonation. This one is really all about the alcohol which really dominates this beer. I’ve tasted quite a few of the La Trappe Quads and I’ve always been satisfied. I’m not unsatisfied with this one but it’s far from being one of the best in this awesome series.

375 ml. bottle @ home. I have tasted every variation of this beer made so far, my opinions were formed in comparison to my recollections of previous variations. I know very little about wine but it is my understanding that all barrels here contained previously very sweet red wines, distilled or otherwise. Appearance is a very dark shade of the usual dark pomegranate copper of La Trappe Quadrupel. Small fading coffee head. Nose is very thick vanilla from oak mixed with strong spirit overtones and fruity La Trappe Quadrupel. Taste is sweet vanilla and sugar followed immediately by very strong alcoholic & spirit mixed with lots of rotting red grapes, somewhat reminiscent of some cheap wines I have taste, lots of rotting wood in the finish. There is a light metallic & wine leaves-like note before the aftertaste hits. Overall this is very raw & empty, highly uneven. A big step down from the wonderful #16 with this one being basically Moscatel + #16 as far as barrels go. The best Oak Aged variations for me are the ones that have the most Vanilla from pure oak to them, this one has some of that but the spirit & wine totally dominates. Body feels a bit hollowed out and a bit metallic for me. Maybe this is too fresh but if that is the issue than the brewery should have waited with releasing this one. I come away with the feeling that wine drinkers will probably enjoy this one more than I did due to the strong wine presence. This is more vinous in the way that a wine is than a beer aged on said barrels. As a beer drinker, I came away feeling that this one is one of the weaker variations that I have tried up until now. It is still decent but objectively it isn’t worth the cost. I also feel that after #8 the series lost its plot a bit. The offerings are uneven and some have been great but they seem to have lost a clear goal & now they are just releasing more because people like me are buying them which is understanding. I do feel like at this point they should either go weird or go bust.

[9/29/14] Bottle at Arendsnest in Amsterdam. Deep amber-brown. Vinous woody aroma with dark fruits, cookies, some spiciness and an alcoholic touch. Sweet flavor with dark fruits, caramel, malt, lots of wood and vanilla, light spicy notes and an alcoholic note. Rounded mouthfeel. Nice.

Bottle in a vertical of several batches, small sample, served in a taster glass. Slight hazy amber color, short head, just a bit darker than the regular Quad. Aroma is slight boozy, bit fruity, still some spicy yeast notes (as it is the freshest batch available till now). Bit harsher booze and dry and spicy notes in the taste together with the caramelly sweetness. Seems to not be completely balanced out yet. Or maybe it was released too early before it could balance. The new oak wood gives it that dry and oaky feel as well, together with the boozy alcohol barrels. Ok-ish.