A quadrupel to sample that came from Finest Belgian in a 33 cl bottle. I have a Belgian glass of sorts from Delirium to use for the tasting and so I proceed. I see a dark caramel-colored body topped with a limited, khaki tan head. The nose is interesting with ripe dark fruit, yeast, grain and a sourish background, not sure how this will translate with the taste. Actually the taste is not bad, I have had similar quads in the past. There are dates, malt, cane syrup, some chewy leather and a vinous sourness. I find the beer more sweet than sour, the combination is all right. Glad to have the brew, my horizons continue to be expanded, but I would not buy again.

Aus der Flasche im 2004-01 getrunken. Diese malzige, fruchtige Ale macht einfach nur Spaß im Glas. Alles an dem Ale ist wunderbar ausbalanciert. Die hohe Alkoholgehalt kommt eher wie nur 6% daher. Ganz sanft, fruchtig und das ohne eine Säure. Toll, bitte noch eins!

3 May 2023. At Hal 16 (Dok Brewing). Cheers to the Teamleader crew!

A: hazy brown, thin, tan head.
A: dried fig, prune, brambleberry, brioche, jam.
T: sweet fig, prune, sourish berry, toffee, herbs.
F: herbal hops, dried fruit, softly woody-tannic, warming brandy-like alcohol.
P: medium to full body, oily texture, soft carbonation.
Excellent brew, cleverly structured. Such a shame I spilled half of my glass...

330 ml bottle. Pours brown with light head. Dark fruit; plums and figs, plus dark berries, dark caramel and rich malts. Not really sour. That’s ok. Great as is.

Quadruple with dried figs - seems like an ideal opener on a chilly autumn evening with dropping temperatures ahead. Nicely frothy, pale yellowish-beige, irregularly but tightly lacing, medium thick head, retaining well on an initially clear, warm and deep mahogany-bronze beer with copper glow and lots of minute, but very active bubbles of carbon dioxide all around, turning hazy and more maroon-coloured with sediment. Alluring and 'autumn-fruity' aroma of indeed dried (and candied) figs galore, fig cake, cranberry sauce, toffee, freshly cut red apple, medlar, almond, dusty attic, baklava, raisins, very old ruby port, clove, damp earth and rotting tree leaves (much stronger with sediment added). Deeply estery, fruity onset, lots of ripe pear, fried red apple and medlar, all buried under a heap of dried fig - for real this time (I often use it as a metaphor); mainly sweet, and though there is a cranberry-ish sourish edge around it all, the sourness remains very soft and thin, so that calling this a 'sour' quadruple as the brewery does on the front label, may seem like stretching it a bit too far. Carbonation is lively enough but the bubbles are so small that its effects play in the background rather than determining the overall flavour experience; together with the fleshiness of the added fruit, layers of toffeeish, 'kramiek'- and caramelly malts establish a very rounded, very full, soft, thick mouthfeel. The sourish aspect, thin as said, accompanies all this fruity and malty sweetness to a long, warming, glowing finish, where everything comes together perfectly: the sweetness, the fig flavour, the estery fruitiness and a touch of deeply buried, earthy hops adding only a late and brief trace of volatile bitterness - but structurally, the hops act against exaggerated sweetness very well, like a pinch of salt in a pastry recipe. Port-like alcohol, though potent, only helps to push up the brandy-soaked and caramelized fig flavours upwards retronasally. I was hoping for a rich winter warmer and bingo - another Alvinne masterpiece. I had my share of experience with this brewery (I even had their very first beer, a simple blonde, many a moon ago), but they never cease to amaze me, it seems. They truly belong up there, with all the other great brewing masters of this world.