Founders Bad Habit Quad

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

Pours ruby/amber with a small fizzy and edgy off-white head, slow bubbles ease up through the liquid, spotty lacing as an afterthought. Aroma is bananas, actually they arrive before the cap is fully removed, as if they were lying in anticipation of being let out of the bottle, all pent up, huge yeast (dough, earth) aroma follows slowly behind, sweet yeast, malt (hay, straw), flowers, grass and alcohol. Medium bitterness, moderate acidity, fermented, alcohol tainted yeast flavor, bananas and fresh flowers, straw and grass notes. Medium bodied, fizzy and spicy, lively palate.

This brew has a complexity that must be tasted to appreciate. It’s unique. Yes, there’s a distinct raisin, plum, tobacco, oak, walnut, hay character...but there’s more...and the combination is very pleasing. This is, of course, a sipping brew--but, IMHO, it ranks with the best of ’em for a natural, mature, complex, afterglow-gifting, by-the-fire treat.

Pours a beautiful reddish orange. Creamy white head quickly dissipates into the boutique the beers most striking characteristic. The boutique is bursting with a candy like sweetness with a hint of bubblegum (seriously). Traditional beer / ale characteristics like malt and grains/ hopes are lost in the brews overall sweetness. I couldn’t help but yearn for the winter months when I can have a bottle with a thick winter stew or chili. It’s the kind of brew you want to crack open after shoveling snow for a hour.

Bottle @ Publick House, Brookline, MA. Wow, this is by far the most unique quad I’ve ever tasted. Pours a deep red color with a slight white head. Aroma is of grapes and a mixture of other things, such as some detectable malt and pine notes. The taste begins with a bit of a grape, and then it explodes into this incredible complexity of fruit, spice, and sugar flavors with a smooth mouthfeel the whole way through. Off-beat, but a phenomenal brew. I can’t wait to have it again.

Enjoyed on tap at Great Taste of the Midwest under the name "Bad Habit". This was the first Quad I’ve ever tried, so I really don’t have much to compare it with. Overall, it was a very good "complex" beer. Light to medium brown, no memory of a head. Nose of candied sugars and golden raisins. First impression of the taste was a strong alcohol presence swirled in with high amounts of sweetness. This beer really did fill me up, even on a 2 oz sample; very hearty mouthfeel. Bad Habit is not the sort of beer to treat disrespectfully, but with care and reverence.

Gosh, I really liked this, I’m surprised by the low rating. Spectrums of orange/red, with a white ring of head. Attractively, lovely, relatively under-appreciated aroma of grape, port. Sticky, syrupy sweet. Great impression on palate. Bottle.

Lovely, sweet white grape aroma with notes of alcohol. Equally loverly, watermelon red body that is slightly hazy and dark. Small, off-white head that mostly diminishes. I can tell right away from the initial mouthfeel that this brew is grossly underrated. Strong alcohol profile. As my palate adjusts, I do see that the alcohol is overly harsh and that this brew may be the lowest rated Quad I’ve had. However, that’s not saying much considering I’ve only rated 4 of them and those include Westy 12, St. Bernardus Abt. 12, Ommegang Three Philosophers and Rochefort Trappistes 10. Nevertheless there is a pleasant caramel malt aspect and a warming quality. If this beer is a 3.16 beer, it’s the best 3.16 beer on the site. A very good beer and an enjoyable one at that. Founders again makes their case for the Hall of Foam with this brew. Don’t rate this brew based on style; rate it as a beer.

Fizzy head, amber/coppery body, thin yet patterned lacing. Walnut in the nose, then this sensational dry and sweet like apricot brandy taste with concord grapes and smooth finish.