Through The Quad
Block Three Brewing Co.

March 28 2026

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From Small Batch Dispatch's January curation. Canned December 19/25. My 7th beer from the St. Jacobs, Ontario brewery, and 1st for 2026. Lovingly embraced by Gracie the cat...

Cola style pour, short head that doesn't lurk, no lace. Sweet dark fruit on the nose, molasses, Belgian yeast. Cherries and vanilla and coffee. Just tons going on in the nose, quite enjoyable. Taste not quite as complex, but still plenty good. Dark fruit, coffee, caramelized sugar. Quite smooth for a beer at 10% ABV, no aggressive alcohol. I'd do this again.

 

 

 

 

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a medium size foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of dry raisins and candi sugar with some caramelized malt is enjoyable. Taste is also a good mix of candi sugar, dry fruits and caramelized sugar notes. Body is about average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol notes. Enjoyable but lacking some of the depth that the staple of this style have.

500 ml bottle served fairly cold into a chalice. Purchased from the LCBO for around $6 CDN I think. Bottled December 20, 2016.

Appearance - A hazy, dark mahogany colored beer with minimal clarity. A three quarter finger cappuccino colored head is formed with a thin whipped froth. Fairly short retention time and minimal streaks of lacing linger on the glass.

Smell - Subtle sweetness to the aroma with hints of cherries and plums. Some earthiness and the traditional Belgian funk aroma. Fruitier upon repeated sniffs. Not a huge nose, but pretty decent.

Taste - Some cherries and plums with hints of dark chocolate. Earthy hops coffee through with even a faint coffee flavor. Booze is fairly obvious, but integrated well enough.

Mouthfeel - Smooth and well carbonated, some heat in the back of the throat. Body is a touch thin for my tastes. Definitely a finished product but lacks some of the refinement that the best of Belgium have (through experience). Finish is quite dry.

Overall - Through the Quad is a good quad but certainly not on the level of the top Belgians. A little less boozy on the taste and some marginally stronger flavors and aromas without being overt could bring this up a couple of notches. Still a very fine effort from Block Three.

 

 

 

 

Got on trade. 500ml bottle served at 10deg C in a tulip glass

A- Opens well and pours a tiny 1/4" off white nearly light brown head that is gone in a minute or so. Very dark brown colour

S- Nice Sweetness here. Plums and molasses.

T- Sweet and light. Medium quad. Not a heavy European quad like Roche10 or anything. Different and good.

M- Creamy and thickish.

O- Nice brew. Will try again if I see it.

Food Pairing

This nice little brew went well with........ Deep fried rabbit. The crispy double dipped battered rabbit was wonderful with root veggies.

Enjoy!

On tap at The Only Cafe. Black without any head. Some Belgium yeast. A little roast. Watered down for the style.So-so drinkability. Maybe they are not ready to make a quad.

500 mL bottle fresh from the brewery and served at cellar temperature.

Pours a deep-hued, clear dark brown colour with beautiful burgundy highlights, equipped initially with one finger of foamy, light beige-coloured head. It seeps off continuously over the next couple of minutes, leaving behind a wide collar and a thin ring of lace. Raisin, prune, fig and cherry on the nose, with some vinous notes, bananas foster and syrupy candi sugar sweetness. Smells rich and fruity.

A decent approximation of the style - quite sweet and malt-forward, with plenty of dark fruit flavour. Caramelized sugar sweetness combines with more of the aforementioned raisin, fig, prune and cherry flavour. Has kind of a nutty, vaguely almond/amaretto-like hint to it. Yeasty finish, with grape and fig sweetness that clings to the palate. On the fuller side of medium-bodied, with low carbonation levels that gently nudge the tongue with a weak, bubbly sensation. Smooth, with a soft mouthfeel and only a modest alcohol burn for 10%. More drinkable than most examples of this style.

Final Grade: 3.98, a solid B+. Block Three makes quite a few good beers, but their Belgian-style fare in particular often impresses me the most - so I've really wanted to try this quad for a while now. Through the Quad isn't a superlative example of the style, in that it's not as complex or full-bodied as the Trappist equivalents, but it's still quite a nice strong, dark ale that I'd say is worth a tipple or three. Probably not one after another, though.