Bière Del Bac
Dragoon Brewing Co.

Review based on the 2015 vintage. Poured a semi-translucent reddish brown body with one finger of thick tan Belgian head that slowly receded leaving abundant lacing. Overall impression of appearance is of a fantastic quad, very true to style. Scents of Belgian yeast, imparting notes of white pepper, toasted malt, dark fruit, especially raisin and light warming alcohol, brown sugar at medium-light levels, light funk and a touch of bready malt. Overall impression of aroma is of a very nice Quad, warming and drier than many Abbey examples with a nice warming presence. Flavor begins malty and rich imparting flavors of toasted malt, peppery phenols and dark fruit with hints of burnt molasses. This continues into the middle. Finish is malty and yet slightly dry, with a toasted, peppery phenol and notes of prune and raisin and light hints of bready malt. Aftertaste is toasted malt and peppery phenols with hints of chocolate. Overall impression of flavor is of a nice quad, true to style for a drier Trappist, very well done and rich. Mouthfeel is full bodied but gives a lighter impression, drying and not sticky with moderate carbonation. Overall impression of mouthfeel is of a very nice quad. Overall this is a fantastic take on the drier side of a quad. It has a fantastic aroma and flavor that are rich and deep, complimented by an amazing mouthfeel. Truly fantastic.

The base beer is OK, bit unexceptional in character, just a yeasty beverage with a boozy finish. The brandy version really crushed it. On tap at the source.

 

 

Another great brew out of Tucson, just not my favorite style.

 

 

 

 

A steady pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces a two-finger thick, creamy, amber tinged, dark tan colored head. The beer is a concentrated amber / brown color that shows a deeply hazy, rosy, concentrated amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a lot of malt character to it (more than is typical in a Belgian interpretation, but it is still quite nice); lots of toasted, brown bread character, lots of brown cracker notes, English biscuit notes, and lots of caramelized grain notes are found up front. Once you start digging there is lots of dark, concentrated fruit notes (prunes, and lots of raisins), as well as sweet, dark, caramelized sugar notes that lean towards black rum, perhaps a hint of molasses, and lots of fruit accentuating dark sugar aromatics. As the beer warms up a rounded, almost woody, somewhat peppery, definitely spicy

Sweet, thick, and viscous as it first hits my tongue, lots of toasted malt flavors and then a bite of spicy alcohol and fermentation character in the finish don’t quite dry things out. This is still not overly sweet though, but the sweetness does accentuate a ton of fruit character here with flavors of prunes, bright raisin notes, touches of figs, and perhaps even some earthy date notes. The finish has lots of clove like spiciness, some peppery character brought out by higher alcohols, and a touch of turpene like phenols that linger a bit on the tongue. This has a good amount of carbonation to it, but the thick body suppresses the prickliness a bit; the beer has a full, palate coating texture to it, but it doesn’t sit cloyingly in the finish as the finish does dry out in the end. A touch of cola like spiciness comes out as the beer warms up, and there is almost a cocoa, or roasted like malt character to this at times.

The extra malt emphasis of this Quad makes for a more interesting, complex beer when young (as compared to a Belgian version like Westvleteren XII), but I still think that this needs some age (and bottle conditioning would certainly be nice too) to round things out. Better than the fresh Westy that I have had recently though, and one I am quite happy to be enjoying right now. This is definitely a beer that needs to warm up and open up a bit, it definitely gets better and more integrated