One of the three Mareklop hobby brews which are commercialized, this tripel version apparently through Boelens. Heavily ’paper’ lacing, coarse, thick and initially very frothy, off-white slowly falling apart but retaining; more or less clear warm ’old gold’ colour with orange hue, with minute, pale yeast bits throughout which evidently become thicker and denser with the sediment added, creating a deeper, more ’dirty’ orange, cloudy look. Aroma of orange peel, canned apricot, freshly grated ginger, ’jenever’, powder sugar, bubblegum, black peppercorns, banana, honey, pineapple, earthy and spicy radish, straw and, alas, a sulfuric and unpleasant hint of DMS (cooked white cabbage). Fruity, crisp onset, residual white candi sugar sweetness, bit honeyish but not sticky, banana ester but rather restrained, hints of sourish redcurrant and sweet apricot, strong and fizzy carbonation, minerally, numbing the tongue, overcarbonated even for a tripel; smooth, caramelly and honeyish malt sweet middle, ongoing white candi sugar sweetness and fruitiness along with spicy phenols gaining some strength retronasally (cloves, black pepper), mild herbal hop bitterness in the end but incapable of balancing out the sweetness, which goes down into the throat along with a warming, strongly ’jenever’-like alcohol glow, which ends up becoming a little bit wry and tiring on the root of the tongue. Yet another sweet, alcoholic tripel - I wonder why Belgium keeps getting stuck in this tradition, to which little is left to be added. By itself: acceptable (just too bad for the DMS which I am highly sensitive to, a tad overcarbonated even for this style, and alcohol could have been better hidden too), but nothing out of the ordinary, like hundreds of other similar beers in this country.

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.

22/08/2015 – sample (bottle) @ Gents Bierfestival shared with JorisPPattyn, Sebletitje, 77ships & PriorL Black colour, mocha head. Caramel, chocolate, spices, licorice, syrupy

Sampled @ Gents Bierfestival 2015 Trübes dunkel braunes Bier mit einer mitelgroßen beigen Schaumkrone. Geruch nach Schokolade, Vanille und Karamell. Geschmack nach Karamell, Vanille, etwas Schokolade, leicht alkoholisch.

(Thx! for sharing) Sampled 330 cl. bottle @ Gents Bierfestival 2015. Black, small solid mocha head. Nose is licorice, herbal, sugary, dark berries jam, herbal. Taste is big on licorice, herbal, sugar, basic syrup, big on licorice, spice,… Body is pure licorice syrup. Acceptable but I still don’t get this licorice fixation.

Imported from my RateBeer account as Mareklop Quadrupel (by Mareklop):
Aroma: 6/10, Appearance: 2/5, Taste: 5/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 8/20, MyTotalScore: 2.4/5

3/VII/15 - 33cl bottle from De Hopduvel (Gent) @ Filip's place - BB: VII/2019 (2015-834)

GUSHER ALERT!
Clear amber to brown beer, creamy beige frothy head, little stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of overripe banana, caramel, floral, soapy, funky. MF: lots of carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet, caramel, pretty spicy, cloves, bitter touch. Aftertaste: very spicy, cloves, hoppy, caramel, banana, yeast, some chocolate, bit sourish (infection?).

Bottle thnx to Johan Pours unclear brown , instantly faded foam Smell is typixal , sweet , earthy , spices , very nolice Taste is sweet , yeast . Earth , bit metal . Fleshy . Bit malts . Aftertaste is spices , earthy . Nice and lasting . Perfect carbo .