Normand
Tree House Brewing Company

12 oz bottle - Vintage 2025

Pours dark maroon red brown with a creamy beige colored foam head. Smells like nutty woody old oak, rich bourbon barrel, vanilla, mapley brown sugar, toffee, caramel candy, toasty brown bread, some roasted malt, subtle chocolate, tobacco, baking spice, dark fruits, black grape, dark berry, plum, cherry, raisin, fig, dates, prune, dried fruit melange, peppery clove, and earthy herbal floral grassy hops. Tastes like salt water taffy, caramel chew candy, molasses, toasty brown bread, marshmallow, subtle graham cracker, nutty woody oak bourbon barrel, vanilla, mapley brown sugar, toffee, char, hints of roasted malt, chocolate, tobacco, baking spices, dried fruits, dark fruit, black grape, dark berry, plum, cherry, raisin, fig, dates, prune, peppery clove, and mild earthy herbal floral grassy hops. Feels medium bodied, creamy slick with smooth moderate carbonation. Overall a real nice bourbon barrel aged quadrupel ale.

Poured from the bottle into a elongated tulip glass. Vintage 2025.

Dark walnut brown, with faint dark red edges. Tan forming head of about a finger with minimal retention and a simple collar which forma quickly.

Excellent aroma. Woody soft notes, milky chocolate, thick caramel notes, whiskey sweet tones, and excellent Belgian sweetness.

Palate is a winner. Delicious oak, creamy vanilla, milk AND dark chocolate notes all in first sip. More whiskey controlled character as the beer lingers, slight hints of booze but of solid quality. Wonderful notes of dark Belgian sugar almost playing with maple woody syrup.

Fantastic barrel aged quad.

This is the 2025 vintage, 15.6% abv according to the label. Poured into a Sensorik goblet, about cellar temperature.

Dark ruby red color, with good clarity when held up to light. About 1/4 inch head, gradually forms into a thick ring on the glass of white foam, a few spots of lace. Pretty looking beer.

I get some dark fruits on the nose, particularly dark cherry. Some mild spice, vanilla. Bourbon notes are mild other than from the cherry and vanilla. Also molasses or toffee notes. Very pleasant aroma, particularly as it warms.

Lightly sweet, with dark fruit notes, toffee, hard candy. Again, the bourbon barrel is subtle, perhaps some oak texture on the finish. Alcohol is very well hidden.

Medium-to-full body, pretty much what I would expect for a quadrupel.

An excellent quad. The bourbon barrel aging doesn't overpower the base beer, just provides another layer of complexity. This hits like the best hard candy or throat lozenge you can imagine.

 

Bottled on: 2025 Vintage

A - Pours a deep ruby raisin color with thin toffee colored lacing and tight, tiny, vibrant carbonation.

S - Toasted caramel/toffee, light bourbon, and dark fruit aroma.

T - Caramel, toffee, Bourbon, dark fruit, a slight hint of oak, and finishes on the sweeter side

M - Heavy, silky body that leaves a light residue on the lips and some warming in the back of the throat.

O - This is a fantastic Barrel Aged Quad worth checking out.

 

Look - slightly reddish mostly brown with fantastic rimming and lacing
Smell - candied plum and barrel with some booze
Taste - sweet and booze woody candied plum fig
Feel - medium full body with a slight carb
Overall - really outstanding

Poured at fridge temp, but allowed to warm for 15 minutes in the glass before tasting. Pours a murky brown with pretty much zero head. The nose is amazing. Honey, toffee, marmalade, prunes, maple, malts, bourbon, vanilla, and a bit of brown sugar. Lovely.

The taste is fantastic. Toffee hits immediately. Maybe a tad boozy, but not bad. It definitely doesn't taste like 16% ABV. It's really just an amazing amount of caramel/toffee on the taste. I love it. The bourbon comes through nicely. Honey, vanilla pudding, and some Crème brûlée.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the aftertaste is wonderful. Mild sweetness. Loads of toffee.

 

 

 

 

Vintage 2024: a 12 oz. white waxed bottle purchased at the Tree House Charlton location the week of Thanksgiving. Bottle states 16% ABV and it pours very hazy brown color with a small tan head that dissipated in average time and left minimal lacing. Smells of bourbon, caramel, brown sugar, oaky notes, vanilla, metallic aromas, dark fruit like cherries or raisins, a tiny bit of yeast and some herbal or earthy accents. Tastes like it smelled with caramel, bourbon, sweet malt, brown sugar, charred oak, vanilla, yeast, metallic notes, dark fruit like cherries, plum and raisins, candied sugar, booze like a shot of bourbon and more caramel sweetness as it faded. This brew has heat from the alcohol burn, and it’s on the sweeter side but remains somewhat balanced for a slow sipper. Quads are generally boozy and malty, and this was an enjoyable version especially considering how high the alcohol volume is.

Drank from a 12 oz. gold wax dipped bottle purchased at Tree House Brewing Company, Sandwich, MA
Served in a teku

The beer poured very dark and full bodied for the style. Deep mahogany in color. Oily and slick looking in the glass. The liquid was capped by a frothy, finger-tall crown that dropped to a thick, bubbly collar. Some spotty, patchy lacing stuck along the glass.

The aroma was fantastic and smelled similar to a barrel-aged strong ale or maybe even a barrel-aged stout. Bourbon and barrel notes came through big time. Boozy but pleasantly so. Loads of brown sugar sweetness too. Dark fruit notes were also apparent. Raisins and plums perhaps. Hint of vanilla. As the beer sat, subtle fruity esters appeared. Hint of florality as well.

The flavor profile was similar to the aroma and nearly as impressive. Like the nose, the flavor was more reminiscent of a barrel-aged strong ale or a barrel-aged stout than a typical Belgian Quad. Uber rich and malty up front. Nice melding of roasted and caramel malt notes. Loads of brown sugar too. Bourbon barrel notes kicked in here as well and intensified as the beer moved along the palate. Dark fruits were also detectable. Charred raisins and figs came to mind. More boozy bourbon and barrel character on the back end and in the finish.

The mouthfeel was outstanding. Fuller bodied for the style. Super creamy and smooth. The liquid contained a fine, fairly zippy effervescence that fluffed up beautifully on the palate.

Even though this beer had hardly any resemblance to a standard Belgian Quad, it was still very enjoyable and drank surprisingly well given the high ABV. Additionally, the two years of age on this bottle seemed to potentially smooth out any rougher edges. While I tend to gravitate towards Tree House’s IPAs and stouts, I will make a point to seek out other styles that are typically underrepresented in their portfolio.

 

 

 

Pours a dark garnet color with a finger of khaki head that quickly settles into a messy wisp and crown that last a good while, but leave no lacing.

Bourbon and dates in the nose, with some vanilla and a hint of vinegar behind.

Similar dates, vanilla and bourbon in the taste, again with a vinegary Flanders impression behind. The vinegar may very well may be a brewing flaw, but it integrates fairly well at this moment. It’s a nice mix of sweet being cut just a little baby the unexpected sour. A figgy jam flavor lingers in the aftertaste.

It has a medium-bodied mouthfeel, slightly slick, with a touch above-average carbonation.

I’m not a big fan of Tree House’s work outside of a few highly-hyped styles, but they did a good job with this one. If tasting blind, I’d probably guess this was double-barrel aged in bourbon and red wine barrels. Take that for what it’s worth, but it’s not one I personally would age any. 2023 vintage.

This one pours a fairly dark brown, almost black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like caramel, raisin, toasty breadiness, oak, sweet bourbon, and a slight estery note.

There’s a little bit of Belgian yeast character coming through here – a touch of estery bitterness – but I might only be getting because I know it’s supposed to be a quadrupel. Blind, I might have just thought that this was a very successful barleywine. It’s very caramelly, and finishes dry without an intense sweetness. There’s lots of oak, and a candied and spicy bourbon note. There’s also a really toasty and nutty breadiness to this.

This is medium bodied, not very boozy, and quite drinkable for the style.

I would never have thought 10 years ago that Tree House would brew a barrel aged quad, or really any of the interesting styles they’re doing these days. They continue to show that they’re much more than just a hop factory, which is certainly how they started.

Sampling a 12 oz bottle at cellar temp. I picked up the beer at a recent stop to the brewery in Charlton. I dont see any date stamp or label date on the bottle.
THe beer pours a fairly dark cola brown color and no light is passing through my glass when I hold it aloft. A dense beige head creamy head of 2 cm foams up on the pour and is a sturdy edge layer for most of the sampling.
Aroma is big, malty and boozy. I get brown sugar, raisins, red grape and some bourbon notes. No hop character here. A bit of a general alcohol smell too. Seems like this will be a sipping beer.
First sip reveals a medium to light body and thinner texture than I anticipated. Carbonation is mild and spacious and the beer drinks pretty easy except for a decent amount of warmth on each swallow.
Flavor is similar to the nose advertisements with some toffee and brown sugar mixing to dark fruit, raisins again, and this all moves to a decent amount of bourbon and some peppery booze on the swallow. No hop character on the flavor either. This is a tasty beer that I am enjoying, but the bourbon is definitely front and center on this one. Glad to have tried this one, Id probably consume this one again.