Het Kapittel Watou Abt

Brewed by Van Eecke
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Poperinge-Watou, Belgium

Lightly hazy dark goldenrod color with a thick, puffy, white head with thin lacing. Sweet fruity candi sugar aroma has nice balance of bready Belgian yeast. Starts with some sugary caramel malt and yeasty esters turning slightly more dry and fruity toward the mildly sticky candi sugar finish. Hides its alcohol quite well, but isn’t as complex as a quadruple should be. A nice beer nonetheless, thanks JPDIPSO!

Bottle. Clear, golden body with a thick, extremely dense white head. Lightly fruity and slightly metallic nose of ripe peaches, iron, orange blossoms, sweet apples, dry biscuits, warm alcohol and sweet honey. The body is not as robust or full as I would like from the style, but isn’t disgustingly thin either. The flavor continues the heavy metallic trend. Subtle sweet fruits can be discerned at various points, but seem to be essentially covered by the vast metallic component. There are bits of apple cider, sweet honey malt and peaches, but they just can’t handle the metal. The 10% alcohol is well hidden, as it doesn’t seem nearly that strong. The finish is a little short, in my eyes, and would be better served by lingering and allowing the drinker to discern more of the characteristics. I wondered if it might be my bottle, but after viewing others reviews, it seems I was not alone in this opinion. There may, in fact, be a great Abt/Quad under here, but it can’t live next to the huge metallic component. Too bad.

In the 0.33L bottle from Dirty John’s. Awesom milky pour of cloudy gold (where are folks getting this "orange" color?). Aroma flowery with that classic belgian fruity medicine-like smell. Yellow foamy head. Thick blanket laces the glass. Decent alcohol burn on the way down with the ethanol sting as your first sensation. Bitterness envelops the mouth afterwards. Does not seem to be as complex as some Tripels. Awesome sweetness seems like honey. This is the one to have if you’re just having one. Strong!

Pours a very foggy (unfiltered) blonde colorwith a very fluffy white head that left a nice lace. Aroma is light fruits and spices. I detect a bit of citus. Flavor is *way* too metalic. WTF? This is my second sampling from this brewery and both were metalic. Other than that this is a decent beer. I’m half way through it and it’s still got the aftertaste. Palate is decently crisp and carbonated, but nothing special. Overall, I’m hoping I have a bad one as this is far from special.

On draft at the Drafting Room, Spring House, PA. This one was very good. It poured gold with a white head. Big aroma of malt, hopcit, barnyard. The taste was very Belgian triply with the characteristic hopcit, fruit, and a slightly dry finish. It was very smooth, and very good.

Bottled
Hazy deep orange with huge cloudy off-white head. Light malty, crisp orange peel aroma. Crisp, carbonated, citron palate. A bit yeasty with hops and leather. Kind of Orval variant. Long fruity and bitter aftertaste. Hides ABV very well.

Bottle from Beers of Europe. Hazy orange colour. Enormous white head thats settled down for the night. Lots of lacing. Aroma has banana, bubblegum, cloves and orange. Very nice and intriguing taste; sweet (borderline cloying), fruity, malty, hoppy and banana. Full bodied and nice on the palate, quite highly carbonated. Alcohol is noticable as a slight warming on the way down. Very good.

Poured dark orange with a large rocky head. Aroma of hard fruits, yeast, clove, and metal. Suprisingly, light in flavor. Malty sweet, toffee, fruit, spices, and alcohol. A tad bit acidic. Sheets of lace along the glass. Overall ok, but doesnt leave a real lasting impression.