The Question
Five Seasons North

 

Pours a deep, murky mahogany with a few big bubbles along the top that recede extremely quickly to nothing, leaving legs along the sides.

The aroma is big and complex with the cabernet really dominating up front with some dry red grapes. The quad underneath lends some chocolate covered raisins and plums and a bit of roasted malt character.

The taste is just as big with semi-sweet chocolate, plums, raisins and vanilla. The finish is very, very dry for a quad with the red wine presence leaving a crisp, oaky finish.

The mouthfeel is the only drawback on this one as it's a bit undercarbonated. The body is full bodied but seems lighter due to the light carbonation.

This quad drinks very much like a port or other dessert wine. Low carbonation but huge, complex taste. Another excellent barrel-aged Belgian style from Crawford.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown, near black body that's near still. It fails to form a head, but does cast a few large beige bubbles.

Smell: Dark, roasty malts surrounded in vibrant notes of marinated plums and dates, sweet sherry, spices, baker's chocolate, and lightly charred barley.

Taste: Earthy, stout opening of dry, dark chocolate and roasted grains lightly dusted in ground spices. Light tannic wood character along with a tart red wine flavor infiltrates the taste. Increases in tartness as it begins to introduce additional fruit flavors of wine soaked figs, plums, and raisins. Hint of bread pudding. Fruity, semi-dry, warming finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Low carbonation. A bit port-like, I'd say.

Drinkability: It's good stuff! Often, I demand Answers, but, on occasion, I don't mind fielding a few Questions.

Bottle at the brewpub, this it Quinte55ence aged in Kunde Estate Cabernet barrels.

Pours a dark brown color with an almost non-existent head. The little head that does exist settles quickly into a thin ring around the glass, even after vigorous pours. Lacing is non-existent but it does have some nice legs.

Smells or deep, dark malts with large amounts of butterscotch and toffee-covered dark fruits - raisins and plums. Small amounts of oak aromas make their way out from time to time as do medium fruit bouquets.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Sticky caramel malt flavors with large amounts of butterscotch and toffee - both of them clean as opposed to diacetyl-like. Hints of milk chocolate flavors come into play midway through the sip as do dried plum and dates dusted with brown sugar. The sweetness subsides near the end of the sip as the barrel influence asserts itself and carries through to a slightly boozy and crisp ending.

Mouthfeel is good. The carbonation is certainly on the light side as evidenced by the lack of head but the body makes up for the loss.

Drinkability is very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have a few more.

Overall the influence from the barrel wasn't as large as I was expecting, then again the base beer is pretty robust. The biggest change was the carbonation but the subtleties of the barrel were nice as well. Worth a shot.