5 Seasons North Quinte55ence

Bottle, from Jimbowood. Many thanks, man. When I took this cork off, I was taken back by the fruityness of this beer. Nice looking deep rich amber brown color. Flavor is nice, very fruity, with a hint of oak and brown sugar. Could use a tad bit carbonation, but im sure this is not an issue on tap. Although I liked the BA version a bit more, this is still very good and I hope to have the opportunity to try others from this brewery in the future.

750 ml bottle from the cellar at 5 Seasons North. Vintage 002 from February 23, 2007. Pours basically black with no head. This sports a very rich nose with loads of dark, ripe fruit, rum oak, and a subtle spiced backdrop. The mouthfeel is still, sticky, and oily. Wow, this is a huge Belgian styled beer. Tons of sweet vinous character in the flavor with hints of vanilla, tobacco, fruit bouquet, figs, cashews, and chocolate. I didn’t find any aggressive esters here, just enough to keep things complex. I really enjoy the fact that 5 Seasons has made an enormous, robust Belgian styled ale without any cloying sweetness or spices.

Not sure who shared this w/ me but thank you. Dark brown pour w/ a small tan head. Sweet aroma plums and raisins definate alcohol notes and touches of brown sugar. Well coated palate lightly creamy. Rich syruppy flavor some raisens lot of dark brown sugars and rich alcohols. Very big and rich.. Delicious. Overripe dark fruits in the finish w/ some hints of chocolate in the aftertaste.

Very dark with thick tan foam. Fruity - plums and figs. Very smooth and easy to drink - the alcohol is hidden in all the melodic fruit and chocolate. A little more phenolic as it warms. Also, the fruits and the alcohol seem to pop more as it warms.

Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 03/11/2006
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

black, huge solid tan foam head that fades but can easily be roused back into action, nice drippy lace that grows into nice patterns, sweet malt aroma starts off light but enrichens over time with nice ripe figgy fruit, velvet body, huge ripe fruit flavor that just keeps getting better and better, perfect sweetness like a ripe plum, hint of chocolate and licorish, slight trace of alcohol appears from time to time, little to no bitterness,
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Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 03/12/2006

the chocolate is showing stronger today turning it into a rich chocolate beer with lots of ripe fruit, like chocolate covered plums
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Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 10/06/2006

the fruit is taking back over from the chocolate, incredable ripe fruit from the very first sip, rich plum and raison, many wonderful esters, just enough sweetness to add interest,
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Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 10/08/2006

when cold it appears that the body might be thinning a bit but that notion quickly disappears upon warming,
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Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 12/07/2006
Mode: draft
Words: 5 North

picking up a bit of roasted and bitterness along with the rest of the cast of characters, a touch of raison starting to show up
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Brewery: 5 Seasons Prado
Date: 04/22/2007
Mode: draft
Words: 5 North

roasted is still present but adds rather than detracts,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 10/10; Flavor: 9/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 19/20
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ****/4
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Date: 07/05/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

Appearance: black, creamy tan head, lots of lace,
Aroma: dark chocolate and ripe fruit aroma,
Body: big body,
Flavor: lots of bitter dark chocolate flavor, ripe dates and plums, touch of sweetness with the ripe fruit, bitterness comes with the dry dark chocolate character, light alcohol,
Overall: quite young with the chocolate and ripe fruit being seperate and distinct, age will help it blend and ripen,
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Date: 10/18/2007
Mode: bottle
Source: brewpub

Aroma: picking up some fleeting hot alcohol in the aroma but the fruit still comes through,
Flavor: a big smokey character in the flavor, dry dark chocolate same as before, less of the fruity character,
Overall: still very young
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Date: 07/23/2008
Mode: bottle
Source: brewpub
Score: 3.7 to 4.1

Body: creamy body,
Flavor: dark fruits in the flavor is coming out strong, rich chocolate, light alcohol blends with the dark caramel and brings out the dark fruits,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 18/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 9/10
Score: ****/4