Abbey Brewing Brother Aarons Quadruple

Brewed by Florida Beer Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Melbourne, Florida USA

Rich brown; minimum head. Sweet and rich fruit and malt aroma and flavors. Flavors also of chestnuts, sweet malts, funky fruit, slight alcohol, phenols and wine notes as it warms up. Not smoothly balanced but fun! On tap at brewery 1/29/07.

Pours deep red with nary a head but needs it not for good looks. Compelling cherry nose. Mouthfeel is as soft as a kiss on the cheek. Taste is bready with a burst of sour cherry seeping through. Alcohol is so well-disguised I had two of them back to back. Nice stuff.

on tap-pours a light tan head and copper color. Aroma is dark fruit, honey. Taste is dark fruit, honey, dark/medium malt-sweet caramel, secondary hops, spices. Occasional sipping. OK carbonation.

Draft... Clear ruby ale with orange highlights and a small, creamy, white head. Decent retention. The nose is full of sweet malt, fruity esters and tangy acids. The fruity flavor is medium sweet, moderately tart and lightly bitter. Full-bodied with a syrupy mouthfeel and fizzy carbonation. Lengthy, tart, tangy finish that dries out. Reminds me a bit of the New Glarus Unplugged Belgian Quad.

My Bottom Line:
Orange and cherry syrup topple the chocolatey and caramel malts of this near-cloying Quadrupel. If you do not have a sweet tooth, you might have trouble going through this overabundant example.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-The Belgian mouthfeel is accurate, intense carbonation and all.
-A veil of foam sinks into the brownish ruby.
-Candied fruitiness explodes here, from cranberries to prunes to cherries, etc.
-Stale yeastiness (or is it DMS?) hides beneath that intense sweetness.

On tap at the brewpub.

Growler. Small, fully diminishing dark tan head. Dark brown/amber body with burnt orange hues, cloudy. Aroma is prune, maize, alcohol, caramel malt, raisins, orange groves and grains. A different take on a quad at this point, moderate complexity. Soured grapes and melons lead in the flavor. Also noted are more dark fruits, lemon/lime soda, plentiful malt, all wrapped up with an interesting and fun twang. Finishes sweet, then bitter, warming slowly building from alcohol. Medium to full mouthfeel. A definite need to rerate this will present itself soon, preferably straight from the tap.

Growler from Abbey. The aroma has some strong fruit notes that run to the tart side of the spectrum, noticeable alcohol, but not overpowering and an oddly citrus tinged aroma. The body is dark brown with copious orange accents and holds a pinky sized diminishing tan head. Sweet and fruiting in the fore with some grainy notes and fairly bracing alcohol. Again there is a this lightly tart citrus note that is unexpected, but somewhat appealing. The finish grows mildly bitter and hot with alcohol though it is the dry citrus-like sweetness that lingers the lingest. The closest thing I can compare it to is an orange liquer.