Boulevard Sixth Glass Quadrupel

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Kansas City, Missouri USA

Misty lava-hued pour, and a thick beige foam; tightly bubbled frothed milk. Solid yeast and malt aroma, with soft cutting bitterness; raisins, dried cherries, cinnamon bread, salt, brown sugar; a haze of pine and smokiness lends a soft but distinctive earthy bitterness that doesn’t lend itself to the style. But it works. Malt tends to dominate anyway, and even if it’s somewhat simple (it never has the bottomless-pit type of depth that the real Belgian examples build themselves on), it’s satisfying. It seems kind of medicinal with rough alcohol and fruit character awkwardly mingling every now and again, while a slightly acetic sharpness meanders around like a drunk.

Thorough and fulsome malt flavor, tobacco-rich and lacquered in fruit reductions. Still somewhat alcoholic, and not impressively deep, but still plenty full, and the heat tends to suggest red wine rather more than booze. That’s pleasant. For style benchmarks, the dried fruit prominence is on pitch, but there’s not much roasted nuttiness or underlying bitter chocolate to properly identify it. Instead, the spruce-like herbal bitterness of hops still lingers with a smooth, almost tea-like character, and if blindly tasted it might be best recognized as some kind of hopped-up la trappe-type of beer. Especially with the mostly-obvious strength of the alcohol, that bitterness is made more apparent, and more harmful. It’s tasty though, as the pureness of the pine flavor sort of gets charming somehow, and as vague hints of candied almonds and hazelnuts struggle to bring it back into the right fold.

Man, the yeast pour really pushes that vinegar through on the nose. With some locker room funk. And wet leaves. Flavor opens up into richness and generally big character; cinnamon, vanilla, warmer yeasts overall, and a fuller sweetness that doesn’t so obviously rely on fruit. The variance between the dirtiness of the nose and the clean character of the flavor isn’t endearing.

Body is rich and full, with a bit of carbonic prickle. But, because the sweetness of the beer is all wrapped up in its fruitiness, the texture is left a bit too syrupy. The finish is plain and somewhat dry in alcohol, but nuanced with dried pineapple and more needly bitterness, and more dried cherries. What a weirdly amiable experience; totally aside from stylistic boundaries, but warm and intriguing in its own backward way.

Pours a hazy red with a lively head that disappears almost instantly with no lace. Plenty of yeast and fruit in the nose. I found the flavor a bit unbalanced, a little syrupy in the sweetness and a bi t one-dimensional in yeast. It’s a good quadrupel, but not a great one.

Light hazed brown almost tan head and lace. Heavy malt and some brown sugar with hints of fruitiness. Molasses with a light hops bitter, light brown sugar and an apple like flavor. Aggressive carbonation and solid mouthfeel. Very solid beer.

Sampled at the 2008 Music City Brewers Fest. Amber in the glass with a creamy off-white head. Some head lasting. Sweet fruit aroma with a light spice backing. The flavor finds fruits (raisin) with light spices and yeast. Medium body and lively carbonation.

A golden-amber colored beer, with a white-amber head that stays for a good while. Smells of fruits and spice. Very carbonated, tastes equally of fruits and spices, but not overpoweringly so. Dry, but with a complex aftertaste that leaves you wanting more. Very well balanced beer that can be appreciated by both the casual drinker and the enthusiast.

From a 750 ml corked and caged bottle, this poured a rich amber color with s fat off-white head and good lacing. Nose is of ripe frutis. Rich and smooth mouthfeel. Flavor are complex with ripe fruit, sugar, citrus, and spices. Warm finish and you can sense the alcohol. Great stuff.

Great beer from tytonderso. Thanks! 750mL. Huge Belgian yeast aroma with lots of banana a little clove, a little malt, and some ethanol. Lots of carbonation as the cork is popped off the wirecge bottle. Dark amber color as it fills half my Lost Abbey glass. High carbonation in the liquid, but a small head of small bubbles. Taste leans sweet, a hint of alcohol burn and strong aroma as it rises in the back of my nasal packages. Reminds me a lot of a cross between Chimay Red and Blue, but a little more refined. I think it would do well with another 1year of aging,.

Clear amber with a rocky tan head. Nice but mild aroma is pit fruits with clove and other dry spice. Mouthfeel is a little chaulky coarse. Sweet caramel flavors with pit fruits and earhty yeast. Dries out for the finish with some peppery booziness. Not sticky or overly sweet like many Belgian Quads.