Pours dark Brown , no real head. Smell is bit whiskey’ taste is intense, sweet. Whiskey, in. Nice way. Chocolate as well as spices, dark fruits. Very Nice.

Commissioned quadrupel aged on oak chips, bottle from Wijnegemse Drankenhal. Quite a lot of pressure was released upon opening but no gushing. Creamy, irregular, moussy, beige-ish egg-white head quickly showing gaps in the middle but well retaining in general; deep burgundy colour, translucent with a purplish hue, typical quad look. Aroma of stewed plums, brown sugar, ripe banana, gingerbread, pear syrup, honey, candied fig, milk chocolate, candied cherries, vanilla-like oak hints and some wet wood in general, ruby port, fudge, kahlua, overripe blackberries, soapy coriander (even lavender), bubblegum or even ’gummi bears’, varnish, tea, caramel candy, dried leaves. Sweetish onset but not overly sugary, more of a fruit sweetness with hints of banana, apricot, fig and blackberry, light sourish accent underneath, vague umami touch here and there (gravy), softish carbo fit for this style; explicit candi sugar sweetness is there and will accompany the rest of the palate, but (fortunately) does not become too cloying. Fruitiness and some spicy phenols surround a thick malty core in the middle, very caramelly and toffeeish with a toasted touch, very light coffee accent even, more or less dried by the wood chip effect, indeed releasing some tannins as well as retronasal wood and vanilla hints but subtly so; maltiness continues in the end, thick and ’filling’, with a dash of earthy, lightly peppery hops providing some welcome bitterness, quite a lot of soapy coriander, a starch-like hint of yeast and - unsurprisingly - a glow of warming, port- or even rum-like alcohol, quite strong but nowhere wry or astringent (though a certain amount of ’heat’ is palpable here and there). I suppose this type of beer would be better fit for a gloomy winter evening than for a bright summer day like today but in its style, this is actually better than I had expected; it has the big brown sugar sweetness of a typical Belgian quad but at the same time avoids exaggerated stickiness, it has a considerable alcohol warmth but avoids astringency, and it has enough layers of flavor to remain interesting, though it does lack the finesse of the truly great (trappist) quads in my opinion. Oak chips usually - and naturally - have a less extensive wood effect than actual barrel ageing, but if the latter is not an option, they can still provide an extra layer of flavors and dryness which blend well with the lush and luscious, ’baroque’ properties of a quadrupel. The coriander could be toned down a bit (as is often the case in Belgian strong ales), but apart from that, this is a decent Belgian quad in several respects. Likely the best brew I had so far coming out of Hofbrouwerijke’s kettles. --- Beer merged from original tick of Oak Barrel Aged on 12 Feb 2018 at 11:01 - Score: Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5. Original review text: After the first 'oaked' version of Mareklop Quadrupel, which was aged on wood chips and simply called Mareklop Oak, this brewer now presents us with the logical extension of this idea, namely Mareklop Quadrupel which has effectively been aged (for a year) on an actual wooden barrel - making the intermediate step of Mareklop Oak seem a bit redundant in retrospect. The barrel previously contained "jenever", the traditional gin variant of the Low Countries, but from what I heard, a whisky barrel version is also being made, or already released meanwhile. Thin, pale beige head, quickly dissipating under influence of the alcohol I assume, leaving behind not much more than a thin ring around the glass, over a hazy (in the end rather 'muddy') chestnut brown beer with ochre-ish hue. Aroma breathes a lot of alcohol, plum brandy, old 'jenever' and cognac, as well as quite a lot of actual oak wood and a solventy aspect of fresh paint, positioned (a bit too) heavily next to the beer's own properties which include aspects of fried banana, soggy brown bread, toffee, hazelnut paste, candied fig, old raisin, apple sauce, gingerbread, moist chocolate bars. Sweet onset, lots of bursting ripe plums, raisins and dried banana, sourish blackberry-ish undercurrent; lots of heating, almost 'stinging' alcohol burn already from the start. Soft carbonation, full and as said, 'hot' mouthfeel; caramelly, 'brown' bready maltiness with a lot of lingering candi sugar sweetness. Drying finish with a dash of herbal hops, but stronger in woody tannins and, expectedly, a whole lot of booze, gin-like and heating up the finish in an astringently drying way, adding actual 'jenever' flavours. Rich beer, but going a bit into overdrive in booziness - the Oak version with mere oak chips was subtler and more refined. Bit crude and too alcoholic for me even for a B.A. quad, seems like the regular version was mixed with an actual shot of 'jenever', but interesting and drinkable enough as a slow, warming winter sipper. Some months of cellaring may shave off the booziness (and solventy paint-like acerbity) a bit so may have more potential.