Smuttynose Gravitation

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Tap at Blind Tiger. Poured deep mahogany with a yeasty cherry nose. This had some decent depth to the flavors and is a pretty good take on the style. I tasted Cherry flavor may have been a bit overpowering, but I guess it was more raisin than cherry. The alcohol is blended nicely, but with too much sweetness, could see this possibly being a bit cloying. Would like to age one and re-rate.

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a huge light brown foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma of dry fruit (figs and raisins) with some rum notes and some candi sugar. Taste is a well balance mix between some candi sugar, some dry fruits and some rum notes with a great malt backbone. Body is little bit hint for the style with good carbonation and no hints of alcohol. Very well done but I thought the candu sugar was a little bit too upfront and some additional body would have brought this to classic level.

Draught at Coles, Buffalo, NY . Pours a deep orange-copper with a small diminishing creamy off-white head. Aroma’s sweet and fruity along with caramel malt, raisins and maybe some chocolate. Flavour’s sweet but not overly so, a bit sugary, malty and fruity along with some toffee and mild alcohol. Alcohol’s reasonably well hidden. Average bodied. A pretty good version of the style.

Raisins much? Pours a dark ruby red with a small amount of head that seems to leave too soon. A bit of plum, daites, more raisins, some figs and a hint of maybe brown sugar I want to say. Medium to full bodied. Different quad then any others I have had. Not sure how much I am on all the raisin puree but it does give the beer a more unique taste.

I would go into one of my becomingly normal rants about what is going on, but I think the past rants have proved therapeutic enough to alleviate some of my angst against idiocy... at least for now. That being said, I just got done responding to discussion questions in preparation for my Philosophy of Sport class this evening. Fuck that! This one was a trade from PilsnerPeter. Thanks man. Nice aroma of raisins, brown sugar, vanilla, touch of yeast. Very pleasant aroma. Poured dark brownish red with a thin head, nice hues, some stick lace. Flavors of raisins, brown sugar, vanilla, more dark fruit. Very malty, but it was all in harmony and worked very well. Medium carbonation, very nice mouth feel, silky smooth, a delight to drink come to think of it. My 12th quad rating... For threeeee! Good!

Bottled. A surprisingly good American quad. Sweet and doughy, rich complex aroma, toffee and yeasty notes. Full, creamy mouthfeel, with a gentle, lightly boozy finish. Mellow and very drinkable, more reminiscent of the Belgian quad staples than any American version I’ve tried.

Courtesy hopscotch. Pours a dark ruby maroon, with a medium light beige head. Smells of mostly dark fruits, grapes, plums, figs, and sweet malts. Maybe a dosage of candy sugar in there as well. Pretty standard, yet inviting aroma. The flavor also seemed fairly standard for this style, yet every other quad Ive been trying has seemed that way. Maybe the style is boring me. Very sticky on the palate. it was mostly the sweet fruitiness of it giving it its flavor profile. Just another solid quad, without any real noticeable flaws, but doesnt leave me grasping for another bottle.

Dark mahogany color, thin broken light tan head. Sweet aroma of plum, Belgian yeast, candi sugar. Taste is smooth, starts with a measured sweetness and moves on to a more caramel and Belgian yeast middle and finish. Not as much twang on the back end as most quads, but still a nice quad.