Terrible
Unibroue

 

Dark brown pour and light brown head, it presents itself beautifully in the glass. The aroma is a mix of yeast, dark fruits, and spices, with a strong caramel and candied sugar scent. The taste follows the aroma, with strong figs and dates, caramel, and candied sugar. The beer is full-bodied yet highly carbonated, making it smooth and easy to drink. Despite its high alcohol content, it is well-balanced and the alcohol warmth is pleasant. The complexity of flavors and excellent mouthfeel make this a truly wonderful beer. It is a measuring stick for other Quads.

Poured a 341ml bottle into a chalice. A one finger fine tan head on black. Excellent head retention and some thin lacing.
Subtle spice and esters in the nose.
Dark fruit. Chocolate. A extremely mild hop finish.
Very smooth. Medium body. low carbonation.
An awesome quad. Somewhat subdued but well worth a try.

 

These days I dont have much time to write reviews, but still want to put up some thoughts. Tons of people do in depth on look, smell, etc... Others do nice long proce. I think I might try to do nice, concise, in between reviews without reiterating what others say.

Didn't know this was a Quad! I think the 10.5% is a nice middle line for Quads (many often much higher).

A nice deep brown colour with ruby shade, with a lighter, washed out brown frothy head just around a finger with greath thickness and retention. Floral smells sure but malty sweetness, sweet bread, raisin and mild spice notes on the nose.

A lovely mix of flavours somewhere between malt, sweet bread, and others. Opens with a great wooden flavour, kind of like oak but a little more mustiness to it. A big of dark chocolate but not particularly strong, did note some dried fruits, almost like cranberry-raisin mix. Yeasty flavours but not chewy like other quads or even other tripels. Spice is there but muted. Slight medicinal aspects on the finish with brown sugar, but not in the sweet way, more like the way where the sweetness ends and the mild brown sugar flavours lie on the tongue after a minute.

Good carbonation, higher than expected, dense tiny bubbles. Smooths out over time, body is medium and not too thick whatsoever. Lighter bodied than you'd think, more carbonation than you'd think as well. Very unique little balance. Alcohol is well hidden... When it's cold. As it warms, even just a little, you feel it a bit more on the exhale. Not overwhelming, and it opens up the flavour to be a little sweeter, a little bit more sweetness, a little more spice and fruit like mild cinnamon and plum/raisin, and rum like notes. Great, unique Quadrupel. It's not a malt bomb, it's not dessert like or super sweet, it's not super thick, and there's some mild balancing bitterness here. Very interesting!

Poured from a bottle

Appearance - Grand frothy light brown head sits atop a dark pop body. When held to the light the body has a red mahogany color to it with nice clarity. Head stays with the beer throughout the enjoyment of it and nice even lacing lines the glass.

Aroma - Citrus fruits and sweet floral. Great Quadruple smell.

Taste - No alcohol on the tongue, Belgian yeast and subdued sweet fruits, complex smooth and enjoyable, slight malty/ brown sugary thickness lingers in the back of the throat

Mouthfeel - Lighter than expected, mild carbonation

Overall - Absolutely enjoyable beer to drink. Checks all the boxes in my opinion of a great Quadruple.

 

Look: It pours dark brown with a light brown colored head. It has excellent head retention.

Smell: It has a strong fruity aroma up front with plums and prunes. There are some perfumy and rose like nots with very low spice.

Taste: It has strong fruitness in the flavor with plums and prunes. The fruity impression makes it sweet overall. There are some caramel notes with rose like and wine like qualities.

Feel: It has a medium full body with strong, but pleasant alcohol warming.

Overall, strong alcohol and complex flavors makes this a wonderful, yes strong beer.

 

 

 

great malty quad - fulll of flavor

750ml corked and caged - 2004 vintage, best by 8-8-07. Opened 2-26-22.
Small pop upon uncorking and pours with a thin beige head...good signs. Head fades to a ring quickly. Dark brown beer with good clarity at the bottom against the light. Mild vinous nose of dark fruit, wet wood, and dusty chocolate. Still a muted spicy character perceptible. Some light oxidation that fades away, cola flavor, slick fruit, light medicinal note. Medium body, silky mouthfeel, and low carbonation. Lingering heat in a sweet finish. The beer has held up well, can't suggest sitting on it this long, but it was a cool experience to open up an 18-year-old bottle today.

 

 

 

 

This was a very good beer, but elite, primarily because it lacked full body

Very malty, dark fruits, yeasty and very carbonated. Deep rich flavors that coat the entire palette. This beer is a bit tough to figure out. Take a stout and throw in a wild or farmhouse ale. I would have liked less carbonation as I think the flavors can stand on their own and the carbonation takes away from that. Still an enjoyable beer and not one you are going to run into very often. Definitely tastes better as you let it warm.

 

 

 

Look: Pitch black. A thick, creamy tan 2-finger head with good retention.

Smell: Bananas, funky spices, yeast, brown bread.

Taste: Bold, slightly sweet, a bit spicy. Distinct Belgian yeast flavor. No real alcohol taste.

Mouthfeel: Extremely high, almost painful carbonation. Slightly thick feel.

Overall: A delicious quad only marred by overcarbonation.

750mL bottle into a snifter

I’m not sure which year this was bottled. Best By date is 6/18/25 so I assume this may be a 2020 beer, although most Unibroue beers are labeled Letter-2DigitDay-last digit of year, and the cork says I019 so perhaps it has a 6 year best by with a IO19 like their small formats which are labeled month (letter I would be Sept 01 2019), or maybe it’s a 10/19 as in Oct 2019. Regardless it’s somewhere between 11 and 20 months.

Pours essentially black, dark enough to be opaque, with a large dense light khaki colored head with good retention. Definitely looks more like a stout in the glass than a Quad, but is still a very nice looking beer. Aromas is a mix of yeast and big dark fruits up front, with a more subtle spice on the finish. Raisin, figs, and black cherry. A big caramel and subtle candies sugar. Sweet bread and a bit of cracked white pepper. Just a ton going on on the nose. Taste follows except the spice is up front and more pronounced. Dark fruits are more subtle than the nose, and there’s a huge doughy yeast component. Dark fruits are mostly fig/dates,
caramel and candied sugar comes out as it warms. There is a moderately strong fruity esters quality perhaps even a touch of banana. Mouthfeel has that fantastic combo of full bodied yet highly carbonated and smooth, the trifecta that appears to only be present in really well done Belgian dark strong styles. I’m not sure the ABV but it’s completely unnoticeable and is very drinkable. Overall, this is a gem of a beer. Cant believe I’ve never rated this beer. It may sound ridiculous to say this about a brewery with multiple beers on the Beer of Fame list including the #1 overall rating of a highly done style like Tripel, but is Unibroue one of the most under appreciated breweries in the entire craft scene? Incredible consistency, several absolute home runs, and some of the most widely available elite beers on the planet. Yet it seems that I almost never see or hear people talking about them on BA. Perhaps their ease of availability produces some type of weird anti-hype. Regardless, this beer is excellent and is well deserving of its place on the Beers of Fame list.

4.5/4.75/4.25/4.75/4.5

 

Poured a dark mahogany with a thick light tan head.

Tastes of Belgium yeast and malt with some brown sugar. There is spice mixed in with pear and fig in the finish and almost no bitterness.

Sampled bottle, RBNAG 2007 in Grimstad. ABV was 10.5%. Dark brown colour. Moderately malty aroma, notes of brown bread and spices. Malty and moderately sweet flavour, some vinous notes, well rounded, moderate spices and oak, low bitterness.

 

 

 

 

 

Deep mahogany hue with a large beige head and little lacing. Arresting array of aromas, from the trademark Unibroue yeastiness, to the dark fruit and the dessert wine qualities. More dark fruit greets the taste buds, along with toffee, licorice, seasonal spices, chocolate - all adding to the complexity. Surprisingly, not too thick on the palate, with lively carbonation. Full-to-medium bodied mouthfeel; warms the gut before the buzz sets in. Long lasting, enduring finish.

 

Bottle. Khaki head. Lace. Caramel dark brown.

Molasses, Belgium candied syrup, brown sugar, caramel, toffee, red apple skins, pears. True to style. Full bodied. Smooth. Maybe a tad too much carbonation.

Poured from a bottle - very dark with short khaki head leaving scattered bubbly lacing. Nose is sweet dark fruit on the funky side. Taste is malty with some yeast, spice and dark fruit that tends to lean sweet. Finishes with moderate carbonation and a slight funk, ABV well hidden. Quite tasty.

 

Very dark but apparently "clear" brew with abundant fine-grained foam in the Chimay chalice. Sudsy and lush on the tongue. While this is seriously malty the Belgian yeast sucks the sweetness out of the finish. Or something like that. In any case it's very dry after that sweet splash on the lips.

It tastes hot going down the gullet but doesn't really taste of alcohol with so much going on. Dark malt with hints of raisins, ginger, fruitcake, and a licorice aftertaste. But overall it's the Belgian yeast.

I would say as a Quad this is pretty much a measuring stick. It's got all the flavors, eye-opening Belgian character, and is highly drinkable due to the dry finish. So many Quads are sugary death traps. From the 750 ml bottle purchased in the far West.

 

Opaque black or very dark brown color. Poured a short head of mixed size bubbles which quickly dropped down to a skiff of tiny bubbles being refreshed with a high flow of new bubbles rising from below. The head was very noisy as bubbles were popping. Left large patches of lacing.

Fruity and funky smells. Light aroma of caramelized dark malt. Generally sweet smelling. Swirling the glass kicked up more fruit (stonefruit like peaches?), added a light mint, and a very faint barnyard. This is lighter smelling than I expected.

Hard to taste anything until the foam dies down a bit, then there is a strong dark caramel and gingerbread malt that is mildly sweet. Plum and light spice flavors. Strong alcohol flavor that comes across as more spice after a while. Mild bitters. The aftertaste kicks up the bitters and a malt that is just short of being burned. Slight touch of soy sauce. The alcohol reasserts itself in the aftertaste.

Explodes into medium bubbled foam which actually blocks a lot of the flavor at first. The foam quickly drops down to mostly fluid. Bit of an alcohol burn. Medium-heavy body.

Surprisingly light smell and initial flavor. The flavor really doesn't fully present until the carbonation has died off. I've had beers with higher alcohol levels and not really noticed it, but this one pushes the alcohol as a major flavor component. Oddly the alcohol tastes far stronger than most fortified wines. Purchased in a mix pack. No idea what vintage it might be.