Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, FIIIGAAARO
Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co

Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, FIIIGAAARO from Buffalo Bayou Brewing. Purchased on 17/5/21 from Spec’s on DeZavala, SAT, room temperature shelf, $ 12.66 (including tax and discount)/22 oz bomber ($0.575/oz). Stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 23/5/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Only date appears to be “2021” on front label. Served at 55 degrees in a hand washed and dried glass coffee cup. Final temperature 57.5 degrees.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Gold (SRM 6), hazy.
Body – Medium Amber (SRM 12), murky and opaque. When rear-lite, same but effervescence is evident.
Head – Tiny (Maximum one cm, aggressive center pour), cosmic latte, medium density, and fizzy, short retention, diminishing to a one to two mm crown and a thin partial cap. Second pour produces a one cm high density (still fizzy) head.
Lacing – None, as expected at 11% ABV.
Aroma – 3 – None - no hops, no malt, no yeast.
Flavor – 3.5 – Begins slightly sweet with a light figgy and cookie taste, quickly smothered by alcohol (11% ABV, as marked on the container), no hops, no yeast. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends sugary.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, more watery than creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Really not particularly good as a quad. There is only a hint of figs and no other “dark fruit” flavors normally associated with a quad. Alcohol is the predominating taste until the sugar kicks in. Despite the disclaimer “Defying archaic brewing guidelines …”, if they had called this “An American Quad” they’d probably be better served – then I’d have had no expectations.

 

 

This one has a ton of thick fruit flavor that started off a little too overpowering but ended up growing on me by the end of the bottle. Has a great smell and look.

 

 

Plum and grape fruity notes with a not-too-sweet caramel taste throughout.

Don't really get a fig taste, and the flavor is not extremely memorable.

However, this brew does a great job of delivering a big beer without a heavy alcohol taste. It could be a sessionable big beer (for people with higher alcohol tolerances)!

Also, it has a deep dark color and keeps decent head retention.

 

Shared bomber bottle.

Rich flavor with a nice, but not overdone, fig contribution. Plenty of dark fruits and good complexity. Good bitter-sweet mix.

Overall: recommended.

 

 

 

22 oz. bomber poured into Orval chalice
(2015 on label)

L: brown-orange, relatively dark, vividly clear ... yep, up to some sunlight it's 100% clear and brilliant amber-orange, perhaps a bit light for a quad but gorgeous; shows good carbonation out of the bottle with a full 1/5- to 1/4-inch head of beige foam; keeps a soapy-bubble collar, no sticking or lacing

S: red wine, grapes, sour grapes, dark fruits (dates, figs) ... a pinch of that yeasty note really good abbey ales get -- a smell like some pizza crusts get;

T: nutty ... peanuts ... that nut flavor I run into over and over with most American-made abbey ales; red wine and hot ... there's a bit of medicine/rubbing alcohol tingle in the taste; the dark fruit flavor is almost all dates ... or what dates might taste like blended with a lighter-bodied red wine

F: light but full from the carbonation

O: disappointing but not surprising ... quads aren't easy for anybody but the monks to make well (personal research is telling me over and over), and this one lacks all of that monk goodness -- stale to no dark fruit flavor, little sweetness, no yeasty pop; still, it's not a bad beer -- the nutty/red wine taste isn't offensive and the aroma is very near authentic, especially that occasional whiff of pizza crust/yeast/thing.

it's definitely in the ballpark of the American-made abbey ale. it's not monastic, however. Buffalo Bayou's brewers take their shots and deserve credit for trying, but this is definitely a one-off for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairly light brown color, good dose of raisins in the nose which is repeated in the taste. Pretty thin mouthfeel for the style. Alcohol fairly well hidden. Not up to the high standards for style, which I enjoyed during my two months in Belgium.

 

 

 

Aromas of prunes, blackberries, and a mild yeastiness. Very malty, slight tartness at the beginning that leads into a malt bomb. nice fruitiness in a big beer and for being such a big beer the alcohol is not very apparent... Very mild booziness on the finish. Mild lingering bitterness is apparent but not really enough to balance the malt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A- Pours a dark, hazy amber with a finger of white head.

S- Starts out with dark candied fruit, and as the beer warms I smell some toffee and tart apples.

T- The taste has a lot of sweet heft to it, with a touch of alcohol and a lingering bitterness. The bitterness dies off as the beer warms but it is not pleasant when first poured.

M- The carbonation was medium-bodied but it came off as hidden because the beer is so big. Mostly, you just get a syrupy, sticky, sweet gob in your mouth. Hmmm...there has to be a better way to put that...

O- I could not finish a bomber by myself. I don't know if I could finish any bomber of a quad by myself, but this one was sweeter and stickier than what I like. It was decent once it warmed but I would not purchase again.