No, I'm not dead! Hooray!If you're wondering about the twoish-week gap between posts, it's because I came down with a pretty miserable cold shortly after my last post. And also because Indiana was hit with the worst freaking ice/snow storm I've ever seen and I was completely iced/snowed in my house for two full days with a cold and a sick wife and a sick toddler. If ever I've needed a beer...
But I'm back! I'm back with a Valentine's Day present from my lovely wife, who's apparently completely on board with this whole "what the hell, I'll drink anything once" attitude I've had lately. She knows full well my love of Tripels and decided that a Quadrupel was the logical next step. And really, that's hard to argue with.
As I understand it, Quadrupels are somewhat contentious within the beer geek community. Not everyone agrees that the Quadrupel is in fact its own style; some people consider the Quadrupel merely a strong Belgian ale possibly (but not necessarily) branching off from the Trappist style. My regular readers (if indeed I still have any) know that I'm concerned less with styles and categories than I am with does this taste good, so the exact taxonomy of the Quadrupel will have to be settled somewhere else (and probably by people who aren't all that much fun to drink with).
Something I've noticed about every Tripel and Quadrupel I've ever bought is that they're very particular about how you drink it. Tripels and Quadrupels demand, apparently universally, to be drunk out of a tulip glass, which has a large bulbous body that narrows considerably near the top before widening at the opening. This glass is meant to retain the head and display the aroma, both important characteristics for judging a Tripel or Quadrupel.
I don't have a tulip glass. My birthday is in September if you feel like remedying this situation. The closest thing I have is a set of very wide-bodied wine glasses, so that's how I enjoyed the Boulevard Brewing Company's Sixth Glass Quadrupel. According to other reviews I've found online, this beer is noted for its massive head, but they must have been drinking out of the correct glassware because I didn't have that experience from my wine glass. What I did notice was a dark amber color and an aroma of caramel and toffee. Darker than I expected, but by no means unwelcome.
Similarly, the taste was very sweet but balanced well with a rich woody flavor that helped to partially mask the presence of straight alcohol. And at 10.5% alcohol, that's a big job that this beer isn't completely up for--you'll notice the strength sooner rather than later, and then you'll notice it again later. There's no bitterness here at all, and once I started on my second glass I noticed that this beer has a lot of flavors in common with whisky. Understand that I see exactly nothing wrong with my beer tasting like whisky. I've had worse beers, is the point here.
So even if Quadrupel isn't technically its own style, The Sixth Glass is a very worthwhile, complex beer that deserves a slow consideration. It's not my favorite, and it's hard to imagine anyone who might find it the best beer ever, but it's certainly got an appeal as a dark-horse, surprising beer that most people should find enjoyable at least.
