Prinsipia
Brewmaster Jack

PrinsipiaPrinsipia
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From:
Brewmaster Jack
 
Massachusetts, United States
Style:
Quadrupel (Quad)
ABV:
11.5%
Score:
89
Avg:
3.98 | pDev: 8.29%
Reviews:
24
Ratings:
59
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Nov 17, 2023
Added:
Jan 11, 2015
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  13
Prinsipia is our take on the classic Belgian quad style. A fairly simple base of two row barley is transformed by the addition of caramelized sugar of beets and dates. A special yeast adds complex flavors of cherries, brown sugar, candied plum, biscuits, and toffee. If you enjoy this beer, be sure to try the barrel-aged version, Tennessee Prinse.
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Ratings by Ozzylizard:
Photo of Ozzylizard
Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.92/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
$ 9.77 (Including shipping)/capped bomber ($ 0.444/oz) from Tavour, Seattle, WA.
Undated bottle, stored at 42 degrees and served at 60 degrees in a hand-washed and hand-dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.5.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque. When held to the light, there is very little penetration making it a deep red-amber.
Head – None – fizzy when pouring (Aggressive center pour), medium brown, head is gone by the end of the pour.
Lacing – None.
First pour – Dark brown, clear.
Aroma – 4 – Dates and plums, caramelized sugar.
Flavor – 4 – Mostly follows the nose. Sweet but not cloying. Dark fruits, mostly dates, with some lesser flavors of plums and figs, not detecting any cherries, biscuit, or toffee. Ends slightly sweet. No hops, no alcohol (11.5% ABV), no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3.5 - Medium, creamy, fizzy.
Impression and summation – 4 – The whole is greater than the sum (or in this case, average) of the parts. The fizziness and lack of head detract from the appearance. The aroma is typical for quads, minus the yeastiness that is frequently present. The flavor is good although I can’t detect some of the flavors alleged to be present. The palate seems a bit thin, a bit less than full, and the fizziness is distracting. Overall, however, this is a very passable quad, as in “Please pass me another!”.
May 10, 2018
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Bomber from Tavour. Dark brown body, collar of foam. Aromma serms to come off as too swert, but taste puts it back on track . It is still very sweet, prunes, plums and raisins. Kind of sticky. But not too boozy.
Nov 17, 2023
Photo of beergoot
Reviewed by beergoot from Colorado

3.57/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Dark mahogany color, looks opaque in a glass; thin to patchy head. Nice aroma; dark malt tones. Moderately sweet and boozy flavor; dark pitted fruit notes; dark cocoa suggestions; whiskey. Medium-heavy body; smooth and slick; a very light dryness undercutting the sweetness.

A rather light-weight quadruple, in my opinion. The taste and mouthfeel or slightly above average yet the appearance and aroma are rather mundane.

Pouring temperature: 42 °F; bottling info: n/a
Source: unknown (though likely Tavour)
Mar 15, 2023
Photo of bigred89
Rated by bigred89 from Maryland

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Solid but lacks depth of the belgian originals.
Mar 01, 2020
 
Rated: 4.25 by GeorgeAKeim from Oregon

Mar 01, 2020
Photo of stortore
Reviewed by stortore from Illinois

3.77/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
22 ounce bottle into a goblet. Had 12/1/18.

Pours darker for the style, kind of a cola color, mostly opaque with no head and a few blobs of lacing. Aromas of grapes, dates, malt, figs, some caramel. The flavor is pretty similar- grapes, malt, figs, dates, light plums, caramel, some raisins. It’s pretty sweet, yet kind of earthy- especially on the finish. Smooth, a decent body, a bit under carbonated.

Got this on vacation, not sure how old it is. It’s fairly simple for the style, nothing to point at or get excited about. Not bad, but probably would not buy again.
Feb 04, 2020
 
Rated: 4.02 by Bogdawg from Massachusetts

Jan 19, 2020
 
Rated: 4.31 by Tcsox from Massachusetts

Jan 19, 2020
 
Rated: 4.59 by jmbeerdude91 from Arizona

Oct 21, 2019
 
Rated: 3.96 by user785335 from Florida

Aug 22, 2019
Photo of chitoryu12
Reviewed by chitoryu12 from Florida

4.69/5  rDev +17.8%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75
Look: Extremely dark brown, verging on black. One finger of bubbly tan head with middling retention.

Smell: Plums, chocolate, cherries, dates. Rich and fruity.

Taste: Like the nose, chocolate-covered fruit. Sweet, but not cloying.

Mouthfeel: A little thin, with high carbonation.

Overall: While it may not look impressive in a glass, Prinsipia is an incredible beer and one of the best quads I've ever had. I wish I had a whole cellar of these bottles.
Aug 22, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by mmilyko from Nevada

Feb 12, 2019
 
Rated: 3.96 by KMcGrath from Massachusetts

Nov 27, 2018
 
Rated: 3.99 by Furlinator from California

Sep 19, 2018
Photo of sulldaddy
Reviewed by sulldaddy from Connecticut

4.33/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
Pouring a cellar temperature 22 oz bottle into my snifter. The beer pours a dark mahogany color with some deep garnet highlights. A fizzy beige head of 2 cm foams up and fades to the thinnest of edge layers. The aroma is lots of malt with caramel and dark fruit. I have some raisin and plums with a bit of molasses and brown sugar. A very sweet malty nose with no presence of hops nor anything to give away the booze in terms of any fusol notes.
The first sip reveals a lighter body than anticipated and almost nonexistent carbonation. The texture is a little slick, but in general the physical traits make this an easy drinking beer.
The flavor is fairly sweet with dark fruit dominating. I get plums, red grapes, and raisins pushing through with a bit of molasses and brown sugar. I dont get any hops here either and the alcohol is well hidden making this big beer easy to drink.
Im very happy to have tried this beer and definitely feel the booze as I am almost done with the bottle. This is a big beer that drinks easy and is a malt lovers brew. I find it to be more of a english barleywine flavor profile than a belgian quad. I anticipate more white grape and candi sugar notes in a quad, not saying this isnt a great beer, but dont go in thinking about typical quad brew.
May 05, 2018
 
Rated: 3.75 by sweemzander from Illinois

Feb 02, 2018
Photo of flagmantho
Reviewed by flagmantho from Washington

3.65/5  rDev -8.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Poured from 22oz bottle into a tulip.

Appearance: rich, dark red-brown hue with a clear body and red highlights when held up to the light. Unfortunately, there is exactly zero head to this beer; it looks like flat coca-cola from a head standpoint. The color of the body is great, though.

Smell: sweet and malty with a bit of dark-fruit character, appropriate to the style. There's a little raisin, bread and a touch of molasses, but the intensity is a bit low-volume for my taste.

Taste: sweet, with raisin and cherry character; maybe a little tobacco in there as well. It may just be the lack of carbonation that contributed to the aroma not getting displayed properly, but the flavors are nice and quite to-style. I like it.

Mouthfeel: this beer isn't entirely flat, but it takes a lot to coax some carbonation out of it. It could use some work in this area.

Overall: I really want to like this beer; like I said, the flavor is there. But they really need to get their carbonation sorted out on this one. There was a slight "ksshhh" when I opened the bottle, so it would not seem that the bottle was leaking; I can only guess at the cause of this problem.
Jan 22, 2018
 
Rated: 4.07 by JamarcusMarinovich from California

Jan 21, 2018
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

3.84/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Poured into a chalice, the appearance was a dark brown color with some black hues closer to the center. No head or lace.
The aroma had a nice meshing of raisins/dates/figs to some brown sugar, black cherries, toffee, earthy/Belgian spice, slight whiff of crushed coriander, light vanilla and a little bit of biscuit.
The flavor was moderately sweet with an evident little bit of spice seemingly coming to balance a bit more as it warmed. Nice semi-sweet to earthy and Belgian spicy aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied causing it to be a nice sipper. Spicy harshness does come in nicely to cause that back of the throat earthy grab like many quads tend to do. Carbonation felt on par. ABV felt appropriate.
Overall, aromas and flavors are what really make this beer. Mouthfeel and appearance could be a bit tweaked, I'm used to seeing some head in this style. I'd still give this another shot.
Dec 19, 2017
 
Rated: 4.06 by JakerLou from New Hampshire

Nov 23, 2017
Prinsipia from Brewmaster Jack
Beer rating: 89 out of 100 with 59 ratings