Grand Cru 100
Twin Leaf Brewery

Look: It pours cooper brown with a bit of clouding. The head is light tan and retention is very good.

Smell: It has a deep caramel aroma with some raisin and plum notes. There is light spice as well.

Taste: It is a bit sugary and sweet in the initial taste. There are deep caramel flavors with the raisins and plums not as strong and the spicing a bit stronger with pepper in the taste.

Feel: It has moderate carbonation with smooth alcohol warmth. It is a bit creamy as well.

Overall, a little bit sweeter than I like, but the flavors do work together well.

 

Appearance: hazy amber in color with a short one finger head that breaks down to a spotty surface covering.

Smell: dark fruit sweetness is easy to detect with a hint of alcohol.

Taste: big malt profile with dark cherries, raisins, figs, and a moderate bitterness. Alcohol is warming but well hidden.

Mouthfeel: heavy in body. Light crispness to start, smoother at the finish. Long last flavors stick to the tongue.

Overall: a really good slow sipping beer. My favorite from the few brews I have had from TLB.

Born in the kitchen but reimagined on a professional platform, the Twin Leaf team build a Belgian-style dark, strong ale but push the fruit with white raisins and do the same with spices from french oak for a bold and seductive taste to make any Belgian proud.

Rubies and garnets nestle into the snifter with a sepia crown of foam. Its Bold aromatics are chocked full of stone fruit, spice cake, red wine and a spicy blend thats redolent of Christmas candles. Hard candy, steely caramel and a cake-like sweetness coats the tongue with the effects of pulled candy and taffy.

The beer blossoms on the middle palate as the fruit and spice balance commands the taste. Apple, cherry, date, fig, raisin, plum and prune all wash the tastebuds with estery goodness while the counterparts of peppercorn, cinnamon, ginger and clove come across citrusy and grape-like. The beer's wine influence is strong in finish with bold suggestions of merlot, brown sugar, spice cake and clover.

Full and complex, the beer registers on the tongue lighter due to creamy, nearly zesty carbonation that brings to life those cake-like textures and also a champagne lightness. A finish of mild woodsy bitterness, nutty oak tannins and a soft white pepper spice reinforce plum wine and peppercorn.

759 ml shared bottle.
Excellent head.
Very surprised by the quality of this beer from a brewer that I visited near the time of their opening when I sampled more mundane and forgettable brews. Moreover, excellent quads made outside Belgian are rare. Sweet up front but excellent balance. Very good complexity. Only the aroma lags.

3.25/5: A fine attempt at a quad, but lacks the cohesive balance to take it to the next level