Vom Fass auf den Berliner Braufest 2016-09 getrunken. Noch ein Bier im belgischen Stil. Nicht schlecht, aber für so was brauch ich nicht "bis in die USA zu reisen". Viele Belgier können das besser. Aber das hier ist immer noch ein gutes Bier, aber leider nichts besonderes.

Light brown colour with thin head. Aroma and flavour have plenty of candy sugat and malts. Good balance of sweetness and alcohol.

Quadrupel by North Coast, named after Thelonious Monk - handily linking his name to the tradition of brewing Belgian monks - and apparently intended to promote the appreciation of jazz music, which I can only support. Bubbly but creamy, pale greyish white head, quickly reduced to a few disparate ’islands’ in the middle but retaining a firm moussy rim, over a beautifully purple-hued copper brown, clear beer. Quite intense bouquet of plum brandy, rum-soaked raisins, Belgian chocolates, toffee, both plain rusty and more noble madera-like oxidation (this bottle is 14 months old), even madera sauce, candied cherries, brown bread, walnut, sweet chicken curry (clearly the oxidation again), overripe tomato, egg yolk (or rather: a sulfuric note of yeast autolysis), horse steak, bitter honey somewhere. Fruity onset mixes cherry and candied fig sweetness with soft blueberry sourishness and a notable meaty umami accent, medium carbonated, with a thick but still very supple, resinous mouthfeel. Very caramelly malt sweetness with a bittersweetish nutty edge in the middle, chocolatey aspects but restrainedly so, while the fruit (and residual brown sugar) sweetness persists, but not in an overly cloying way. Acquires a toasty bitterish edge in the end, matching well with a peppery hop bitter touch providing spiciness and drought; further ’pepperiness’ is added by white rum-like alcohol, which heats the back of the mouth and throat without becoming obnoxious and wry, not impairing drinkability in spite of its ’palpable’ presence. Retronasally, I get a certain amount of port-like oxidation though subtly so; rusty oxidation on the other hand is more obviously noticeable. The best quads (think Westvleteren 12 or Chimay Bleu) can easily age for years without becoming this oxidized - clearly this beer, even though it belongs to a category usually suitable for cellaring, is intended to be consumed fresh, or at least more fresh than this bottle, which already suffers from oxidation in both the good and the bad way after a mere 14 months. I am convinced, though, that this is a beer of international standard when younger. In this form: highly enjoyable and interesting, but not quite up there with the greats, which are still primarily Belgian - and primarily brewed by actual monks... Glad I tried it though, after having encountered its name on more than one occasion in past years.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with ruby reflexes, rocky head that does not stay long. Aroma is quite much candy sugar, raisin, pleasant warming alcohol. Medium sweetness, not bitter. Soft carbonation, smooth, not cloying. Not very complex, but well balanced and easy to drink. Good.