Ommegang Three Philosophers

Brewed by Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Cooperstown, New York USA

Reddish brown, smooth, sweet, dark fruits, yeasty, caramel, malty, spicey, wood.

Bottle, 2006. What an amazing aroma. After smelling the beer for five minutes, I was prepared to hand out my third 5.0. Awesome tart cherry notes meshing seamlessly with a yeasty, nutty, caramelly, dark-fruity quad base, wow, what a thing of glory. Unfortunately, while the age seemed to have done wonders for the cherry aspect in the nose, the base beer suffered just a bit in the mouth, yielding a bit too much of a soda characteristic and losing some of that rich, earthy nuttiness. Perhaps a 2007 bottle will reveal the best of both worlds...10-5-7-4-14/4

Rerate 1/15/09 2008. An incredible desert beer. Cake-like, sometimes like a rum cake, earthy, sweet, rich, decadent, cherry much more subtle than the aged bottles, but there, adding to the rich, semi-chocolatey cake feel. Intense and luscious. 8-4-9-4-17/4.2

(Bottle, 7 Nov 2008) Reddish brown colour with firm, frothy, pale brown head. Fruity, malty nose with notes of cherries, black-currant, toffee, chocolate and dried fruit. Malty, fruity, toasty taste with dried fruit, toffee, chocolate and dark cherries. Spicy, herbal bitterness and a touch of liquorice in the finish. Slightly oaky character. Medium to full body, balanced sweetness throughout, with a warming puff of alcohol towards the end. Nice and warming beer. In short: Rochefort the Cooperstown way.

75 cL bottle at Svea. Pours hazy dark brown with a slowly diminishing tan head. Wineous aroma of cherry and roasted malty notes. Light metallic and mild fruity aroma. Dark fruity and wineous with a solid caramel and roasted flavour beneath. Lingering yeasty, fruity and subdued malty into the finish.

Pours a deep caramel red color with a thin off white head. The nose and flavor are full and rich with all things manly. Leather, earth, dried fruits and a touch of funk. Creamy on the palate.

(Bottle. 2007 edition). Very sweet ripe fruit aroma. Dark reddish brown body, moderate off-white head. Flavor has lots of complex fruit notes, cherries, raisins, and figs mostly. Very sweet, but not as candyish as I was fearing. Alcohol is well disguised. Good stuff, though can’t compete with Rochefort.

Thought I had already tried this beer, oh well! The beer has a nice red/orange caramel color. The beer also pours along with a nice thin layer of head. The aroma smells like sweet figs. I cannot smell the cherries, but maybe somewhere in that sweet aroma there is the cherry smell tied up. This beer packs a strong flavor. Lots of sugar, candy, and fruit flavors going around. Slight alcohol taste, but hidden well by the fruit and sugar taste. Not as creamy as the other Quadrupels that I have had, which are few. Overall, this beer packs a nice fruity punch with a nice sugar/candy taste. I probably wouldn’t drink again, but a damn good beer to try.

2006 bottle. Pours a murky brown with a thick tan head. Aroma of a sweet cherry lambic...ah, I could smell this beer all day! Flavor of sweet cherries, raisin, dark fruits, raisin bread, soda. Smooth mouthfeel. Excellent quad and probably the best of the American versions that I’ve had so far.