Cuvée D’Erpigny Pedro Ximenez
Picobrouwerij Alvinne

 

 

 

i so wanted to like this one much more than this, but it was not to be. it seems less refined and less wild than the typical alvinne in my experience, and this one si caught in a funny gray area between being a full on wild and a clean estery belgian, its neither rather than the best parts of both, regardless of whatever it was trying to be. its light in color for a quad, a liquid caramel complexion in the glass, and unfortunately, dead still as well from the bottle, no bubbles or head or carbonation activity at all, which is never a good thing in a belgian beer like this. the flavor is still complex, although a little tired to me, some oxidation in here, lots of grain sugar and oak, plenty of sherry from the barrel treatment too, sweet and boozy, honey and maple, red apple and overripe pear, a peat note in the grain too. it comes together well, but it seems sloppy or devolved somehow, not as interesting or refined as i want it to be. the sherry barrel is on display nicely, and thats the point i guess, but the slight tartness seems to clash with the grain, the base quad doesnt seem all that good, and the total lack of carbonation kind of kills it for me. pricey beer to not really love too. no problem though, its different and alvinne has rewarded me enough times with their beers to have this not really damage my trust of their stuff. this has been out awhile and maybe just broke down a little faster in the bottle than most quads usually do. in no hurry to drink this one again.