Entendez Nöel
Sound Brewery

Pours a deep orange gold with about a pinky of loose bubbly head. The head breaks quickly and there is not much left in its wake.

Smell is quite in line with what you would expect from a Belgian style beer; dark fruits, candi, yeast, spices and some malts.

Taste is nice, sweet candi, yeast, and some spices. Actually tastes more like a tripel to me than a quad.

Feel is full with lighter carbonation. You can feel a little burn from the 11.8% ABV.

Well this may be listed as a quad, but it looks, feels and tastes more like a tripel. That being said, this is a nice beer, and a nice slow sipper for a cool winter's night. Not sure I would have it again, but I did enjoy it.

Look: Thin white head, slightly hazy yellow-orange body.

Smell: Candied orange and lemon, cloves, some bubblegum. Pretty similar to Pauwel Kwak.

Taste: Same as above.

Feel: Medium body and carbonation, creamy, slightly warming. No bite from the 11.8%. Mild sweetness.

 

 

 

 

 

Pleasant yeasty aroma. Attractive clear amber with swirls of foam in the Ciney snifter. A little sticky but lighter body than you might expect.

Quite fruity with a lingering sweetness. Even a little buttery, or butterscotch. Hot with alcohol. The touch of funk is appealing.

Really quite a tasty and drinkable "light" Quad. Not too sweet, but powerful. From the 22 oz bottle.

 

 

 

 

The final beer of my Craft Beer Advent Calendar, enjoyed on Christmas Eve following a long day of driving, eating, and merry making. This was a lovely way to finish off my December beer tasting odyssey. The sweet, bready, fruity mixture of flavours was absolutely delicious. The heavy duty booziness was well masked until it snuck up and sang "Oh Holy Night" to my cerebellum. This is a special beer, best reserved for special occasions, and I plan to track down another Quad to enjoy next Christmas Eve.

Unlike the consensus I like this beer a lot. Very nice seasonal Tripel.

 

355ml bottle, day 24 of the 2014 Craft Beer Advent calendar. They saved the biggest and baddest for last - I like that, as ensconced as I am with family new and old, at the very place I grew up.

This beer pours a clear, pale copper amber hue, with a single skinny finger of weakly foamy, soapy, and generally bubbly dirty white head, which leaves some minor low-lying microbial lace around the glass as it quickly bleeds away.

It smells of acrid yeast, sugary pale and caramel malt, fleshy pear - in the manner of Poire Williams - apple pie, and musty, earthy hops. The taste is bready, grainy caramel malt, a bit of saucy toffee, pear compote, apple turnover, still edgy Belgian yeast, syrupy sugar, a weird green mustiness, and a sidling, probing booziness.

The bubbles are fairly understated in their plainly coy renderings, the body a decent medium-full weight for the style, and as smooth as they wanna be, unless those alcohol esters come 'a knockin' on the door. It finishes on the sweet side, the caramelized apple/pear fruitiness, and more or less well-behaved hot booziness keeping things tight.

A pleasantly engaging Quad ale, which perhaps lacks the subtleties of the Low Countries examples sprayed across the planet, but displays instead a rather brash new World sensibility, and for once it ain't just via the hops. Strong, and challenging you to like it, is the impression I get here. So, ho ho ho, everybody, and thanks for a wild ride for the past 24 days!

This pours a light coppery colour with a thin white head that dispersed into small islands rather quickly. The nose is malt forward with some citrus hop notes, mandarin orange and maybe a bit of apricot. The taste is definitely malty, almost syrupy. There is a slight hoppy bitterness in the finish with a definite alcohol kick. At first I thought the carbonation was a bit on the fizzy side but as I let it warm up I took a large mouthful and let it sit in my mouth. It took a creamy consistency. I really started to like this beer and it's many complexities. A nice beer to finish off this years Advent Calendar.

 

Day 24 of BeerAdvent calendar and last beer. :-(

Pours a golden yellow with very little head.

Nose has strong pear and a little malt.

Taste is a bit boozy, pear and other sweet fruit.

Nice beer.

 

No head, amazing smell, way to much alcohol. Very disappointing beer. Either that, or I just got a bad bottle.

 

 

 

Poured from 22oz bomber into a tulip. The label calls this both a "Belgian style pale quadrupel" as well as "mother of all tripels", so make of that what you will. The 2014 bottle I'm drinking is 11.8% ABV.

Appearance: medium golden hue with a light haze and a light effervescence; head is a finger of frothy ivory foam. Way too light for a quad; reasonable for a tripel.

Smell: very pear-like aroma, with some crisp apple as well. Intensity is relatively low, however. Definitely has some of my favorite tripel character; definitely not a quad in aroma.

Taste: pear and apple with quite a bit of sweetness and quite a bit of alcohol. It's a little too boozy, throwing off any balance it may have had.

Mouthfeel: plenty of body but a relatively low carbonation, so creaminess, while not bad, is not as good as it should be.

Overall: I do like this beer, but it lacks balance in the booze department -- it's just too hot. Also, this beer would be much better classified as a tripel than a quad.

 

 

Had I. 2014 as a solid 4.25

Had a 2017 in November 2018 from bottle.at this current score. Such a great aroma and body. So tasty and satisfying that I love it.

22 ounce bottle into chalice, no bottle dating. Pours lightly cloudy golden amber color with a 1 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a lacing cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings down the glass, with some moderate streaming carbonation. Aromas of big peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, clove, pepper, candi sugar, honey, bread, herbal, floral, and yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good complexity and balance of fruity yeast ester and malt notes; with good strength. Taste of big peach, pear, apricot, pineapple, clove, pepper, candi sugar, honey, bread, herbal, floral, and yeast earthiness. Lingering notes of peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, clove, pepper, honey, candi sugar, bread, herbal, floral, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity of fruity/spicy yeast and malt flavors; with a great malt/fruity ester balance and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a moderately slick and fairly smooth mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice tripel style. All around nice complexity and balance of fruity/spicy yeast and malt flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. A very enjoyable offering.

 

 

 

 

Poured into a 3 Monts tulip. Pours a medium golden amber with a thin white head that dissipates to a ring around the glass. Aroma of sweet malt, light stone and pomaceous fruit, cardamom and clove, closer to a tripel than a quad. Flavor is rich peach, apricot, pear and apple, similar to the aroma. Sweet caramel malt, honey. Finishes sweet with residual Belgian spices and a hint of hop bitterness. Medium leaning to lightly syrupy body with decent carbonation feel despite the minimal head. This was a nice domestic take on a quad, spiced more closely to a tripel, but consistant with the Noel theme which suggests a bit of spiciness. Not overly complex, but nicely balanced and tasty. Glad I found this scarce offering from Sound. They are one of the Northwest's most consistant sources of superior Belgian styles.

The number score will not reflect how much I liked this brew. Called a Quad by the brewery, it's much more like a Tripel, and would have scored higher if approached as such. Served in tulip. Poured a clean, clear honey gold color, with about 1/2 inch of white head that had low retention and lacing. There wasn't the expected deep, rich reddish colors that are generally expected in a Quad.

The aroma was very sweet, and had a lot of the spice and yeast notes typical of a Tripel, but none of the cherry, plum, and other stone fruit, and earthy notes usually found. On the tongue, it was the same story, sweet, spicy, yeasty, but no fruit.

The body was nicely smooth and just a slight bit less than full, the sweet finish was a bit sticky, and lingered a bit at the back of the tongue. Drinkability was very good, I could easily sit and sip a couple of these in a row. Overall, a very nice brew. One that's most certainly worth your time, and is pretty close to a must-try if you're a fan of the Belgian style (as I am). Don't let the number score scare you away, try this beer.

 

 

A: Poured a clear orange-copper color with lower carbonation than I expected. It poured a medium white head which fades leaving a dustin of white bubbles and faintlacing.

S: This quad has a presence of lighter fruits; pears, apples, some spices, banana and candy

T: Initial fuity notes, moreso apples and pears, with a toasted note, sugary sweetness. The finish has a little bit of heat, syrup, more sugar and candy and spice.

M: A bit thin for my liking on the style. Plenty of flavor on the palate though to keep me happy

O: Not bad, would probably drink again and recommend