Partridge In A Pear Tree
The Bruery

Poured from 750 mL bottle into tulip.
A: Pours a nice dark ruby hue with 1 inch frothy tan head with decent retention.
S: Red berries up front quickly followed by fresh banana bread, clove, nutmeg, lightly toasted malt, and hints of dark dried fruit.
T: Red berries, dark cherries, fresh banana bread, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, raisin, toasted vanilla, and soft oak.
M: Medium body. Full and plush feel. Coating layers of fruit and malt sweetness along with holiday spices. Lingers nicely on the palate.
D: A very nice example of style. Good complexity and easy to approach with excellent drinkability. A great first day of Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a dark rosy brown, brief but robust 2" tan head, fair retention and lacing. Nose is brown bread, spicy pumpernickel, roasted malt, baking spices, earthy hops - a hopped up brown ale with deeper notes of brown sugar. Taste, however, is far different - lots of fruity yeast notes, bread pudding with boozy raisins, pears, and apples, brown bread. As it warms, the breadier notes become more prominent and help balance the sugars. Mouthfeel is on the fuller side of medium with a bit of chew and a fair amount of small carbonation. Overall solid and really comes into its own as it warms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

750ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours rootbeer brown with two fingers of khaki head that leaves serrated volcanic rock lace as it recedes.

Smells of oatmeal with spiced apple, raisin tarts, bubblegum, pear pudding, spiced toffee and a bit of earthy hops.

Tastes of caramel pears, more spicy apple oatmeal, sugared raisins, salted chocolate, brown sugar and faint alcohol.

Feels big and grand. Full bodied with frothy carbonation. Finishes sweet and chewy.

Verdict: Vigorously recommended. Perfect for movie night.

 

It’s dark brown color, the foam is fine and thin. It smells malty, boozy, like dried plum, port wine, peppermint candy and ripe pear. The beer starts with light tart, which turns to bittersweet and ends with a sweet flavor. Like other Quadrupel, it’s a complex and strong beer. The beer have a strong ester aroma releases quickly in mouth. Around the ester aroma, there’s lingonberry candle, caramel, brown sugar, cinnamon, peppermint, strawberry jam, raisin, ripe pear aromas. The pear flesh like aroma is elegantly fruity. The aftertaste is quite hoppy, shows pine needle aroma and leafy. Compare to a Belgian quad, it’s a bit more sweeter. It also shows more bubblegum like ester profile, which boost the fruitiness. The ending is more hoppy, which helps balance the sweetness. American version of quad is like this, it’s very delicious, but lacks next level of complexity and spices of Belgium Abbey Quad. But I think it’s better to drink it a bit colder, so the sweetness won’t cover the delicate tartness at beginning.

It’s a good replacement than Anchor brewing’s Christmas Ale, you get more fruitiness and spices in it.

 

 

 

Pours a deep reddish-brown, aromas of red fruit, raisins, overall what you would expect for a Quad's aroma. Tastes of boozy red fruit, raisins, candy sugars, faint hints of breadiness. Medium bodied, fairly light carbonation. Overall this was mostly just an okay quad. I thought that given that ABV, that the flavors would be a little stronger, instead the flavors felt a little muted, as if the beer was a bit watery.

 

The beer pours nice khaki brown head that dissipates at a moderate pace while the beer itself is an opaque dark brown color with a slight purple hue to it. It looks good.

The smell is good. It has a mix of dark fruits and malt notes. The dark fruit notes are a like a sugary grape mixed with date notes and a modest bit of malt caramel. There is also a slight bitter hop note that is largely overrun by the other notes.

The taste is good even though it is noticeable different from the smell. The bitter hop notes come out more than they do in the smell and is better for it. The dark fruit notes such as dates and now grapes along with plum come out more. The contrast is enhanced by the Belgian sugar.

The feel is good. It has a heavy body with a smooth texture. The carbonation is nice and tingling.

Overall, a good beer and worth getting. It definitely resembles some of the trappist quads.

 

 

**
12/24/20

Bottle to snifter.

LOOK: medium brown with a slight reddish hint. medium khaki head with very good retention.
AROMA: fruitcake, oatmeal, cherry, apple,
TASTE: biscuit, baking soda, cherry raisin. a little chemical off-taste in there, but washed away quickly by the wine/brandy finish.
FEEL: medium body leaning a touch toward full (55%), a little sticky, ok carbonation.

A Nice holiday belgian. Great name. This is my third in this series

**

 

 

Did I get a bad bottle? Quite phenolic. Not of the candied sugar, fruit taste. Almost like a quasi Tripel. Some oak.

On tap at Dominion wine and beer. In a plastics solo cup.

A nice quad in the classic style. The spices aren’t over done. I like this beer a lot. This beer fits my quad/dark string ale paradigm. When I find this in the store I’ll buy a few for the cellar.

A - spicy cloves

L: Poured from a bottle to a goblet. Had a dark, mahogany brown color and a mostly cloudy consistency. There was a quarter inch of creamy, tan-colored head that quickly dissipated. Not much lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of Belgian yeast, malt, dark fruit, apples, caramel, and pears.

T: Tasted of a good shot of apples (a surprising amount), some of the advertised pears (a subtle presence), a little dark fruit (raisins, in particular), a tinge of caramel (nice and sweet), light malt notes (present throughout), and a lot of Belgian-style yeast (a solid backbone). This is a lively, sharp and well-formed flavor. Tasty.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a lively finish. Medium-bodied.

O: On the whole, this is a likable American version of a quad. Drinkable.

Poured from a bottle ,the 2020 version -dark mahogany with light khaki head leaving foamy bubbles and some frosty lacing. Nose is delightfully sweet with candi sugar and dark stone fruit. Taste is a step down with a muted take on the nose. Finish is a bit thin and slightly dry, still quite tasty. ABV well hidden , not yeasty like a true Belgian.

 

 

 

375ml bottle from the 2019 reissue. Poured into Trillium The Six States glass and allowed to warm.

L: Small, very light-tan head with poor retention, leaves no lacing and a thin ring, Beer is a very dark chestnut brown.

S: I know this is bonkers, but it smells like dried pears. I swear! Loads of candi sugar, dried dark fruits, and roasted malts. I really hope it's not as sweet as the notes indicate. No notes of partridge.

T: Woooo, it is indeed quite sweet and pretty raw as well. Loads of caramel and dried fruit, viscous malt, and a touch of alcohol heat at the end. Some citrus notes as well. Pretty overwhelmingly cloying, though.

F: Full-bodied, very little carbonation. Can't give this super-high marks for construction and balance as the sweetness is jarring and clashes with the alcohol. Probably would be a lot better with some barrel aging. Maybe in an apple brandy barrel.

O: Really wanted to give it better, but can't. If only I had thought to buy two cases and age one.

A - Nice dark raisin color with clarity and thin lacing.
peel
S - Some dark fruit with mainly dark Belgian candy sugar.

T - Belgian dark candy sugar, some slight dark fruit tang, and ends with a balanced lingering bitter orange that's more towards the sweet side.

M - Big medium body, viscous, and lip smacking sticky.

O - Better than it's current 3.99 score IMO.

 

At last, the final of the series I have yet to try. Fitting that it is a quad. Dark brown somewhat clear body with a brown collar. A malty quad both in smell and taste, with the smell accenting the booze, toffee, dried cherry and the malts themselves more. Where the taste highlights the candi sugar, tons of dark fruit, light belgian yeast, and brown sugar more. Boozy, malty, sneaky complex, warm, very full, and smooth. A great start to the series, and for me a great finish.

Day 1. (Note I'm recovering from a cold and senses are maybe a bit off)

Look: Poured a deep red/brown into a tulip. Head is active and very fine, almost nitro-esque. Minor lacing.

Smell: mostly dark fruit,some rye bread spice, raisins.

Taste: Belgian quad is well represented here. Full bodied, alcohol notes in finish, but mild for 11%. Bread, yeast, sweet notes of raisins and maybe yams balanced with nice acidity. Just enough bitter in the long finish to stand up to the malts.

Feel: medium full body, appropriate to style. Off dry. Just right.

Overall this is a great Belgian quad. Hits all the right notes and in a blind tasting I would have picked it to come from Belgium.