Raspberry Quadrupel (Bourbon Barrel)
Mikkeller ApS

 

Hazy dark reddish color with milk chocolate head. Aroma has nice bourbon, sweet milk chocolate, raspberry and some fruit liquor. Taste starts tart and fruity with malt sweetness and roasty bitterness in the background. Really raspberry forward with pit bitterness. Full bodied, soft mouthfeel. Really well integrated flavors, dangerously drinkable for its ABV.

Pours dark brown with a frothy beige head.
Aromas has oak, lots of raspberries, vanilla, sherry, little sour.
Taste is sour raspberry, lots of oak, vanilla, wet cellar, sweet and boozy.

 

 

375 ml bottle into chalice, best before 1/21/2021. Pours very hazy/cloudy very dark brown color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of huge tart raspberry, raisin, prune, plum, fig, date, apricot, apple, pepper, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses, toasted brown bread, vanilla, cream, bourbon, oak, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great complexity and balance of raspberries/lactose, fruity/spicy yeast, dark/bready malt, and light-moderate bourbon barrel notes, with great strength. Taste of huge tart raspberry, raisin, prune, plum, fig, date, apricot, apple, pepper, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses, toasted brown bread, vanilla, cream, bourbon, oak, and yeast earthiness. Moderate tannic fruit tartness and yeast/oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of tart raspberry, raisin, prune, plum, fig, date, apricot, apple, pepper, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses, toasted brown bread, vanilla, cream, bourbon, oak, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of raspberries/lactose, fruity/spicy yeast, dark/bready malt, and light-moderate bourbon barrel flavors; with a great malt/tart/spiciness balance; with zero cloying sweetness or astringent fruit flavors after the finish. Light dryness from tart/tannic fruit and yeast/oak spice, lightly increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy, lightly slick/syrupy, and acidic/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden, a light warmth lingering after the finish; with zero booziness. Overall this is an incredible fruited quadrupel style! All around amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of raspberries/lactose, fruity/spicy yeast, dark/bready malt, and light-moderate bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on for the huge ABV. Enormous amounts of fruit presence, but still has an awesome underlying base quad. All of the intense flavors overwhelm a lot of the barrel notes, but there is still solid presence. A highly enjoyable offering.

A: Poured into a snifter to a deep brown that's nearly black topped by a finger and a half of dense light tan head that fades to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of raspberries, dark fruits, toffee, caramel and vanilla
T: Taste is raspberries up front with some toffee and dark fruits, some bourbon influence comes in as well with some oak, caramel and vanilla. The raspberries are pretty prominent and the barrel provides some nice nuances. Swallow is more raspberries, toffee, and bourbon barrel with more caramel and vanilla.
M: This beer has a mouthfeel on the heavier side of medium with soft carbonation and a dry finish. This beer has a good bit of tartness as well which causes a slight pucker.
O: Overall I'm not sure if it's fair to call this one a quad but it's really good. Raspberries, the barrel and the base beer seem to play nice with each other but I wonder if this beer was supposed to be this tart. Still very enjoyable though.

Poured into a goblet glass a deep dark chocolate color with a thin head that dissipated into minimal lacing. The smell was of raspberry and chocolate. The taste was much more sour than I was anticipating. Its as if they blended a lambic with a SDA and shaved off some dark cacao nibs into it. Between the sourness, the raspberry, and the carbonation, there is a substantial bite while it. The alcohol is pretty well hidden until you're about 10 minutes into this beer and then you realize that there really is 13% in there. Delicious!

L: Black with a touch of red color, two finger brown head, messy lacing, nice carbonation.

S: Raspberry, sweet, barrel.

T: Raspberry, sour, barrel. Warms the throat as it goes down. Malty on the back end.

F: Full bodied. More liquor than a beer.

O: Interesting "beer". Fully enjoyed it but I won't be looking for it again :)