Well-made American Quads

Quad is a misnomer

 

Always cracked me up on the reviews of Deschutes The Stoic. The brewer called it a quad which is a totally made up style with no, absolutely no definitions in or any beer competitions. Look and you will see that it got hammered for not being " within the style" Geekery amok. Well I drank my last Stoic two weeks ago and i can tell you that as a Begian Strong Ale it was superb.

 

Yes, it was just released about two weeks ago. There should still be plenty on the shelves all over the city.

 

201 results for "quad" when searching through the beers here. I am preparing a nicely worded letter to each brewer letting them know their use of quad is a misnomer.

 

Disagree. Quads definitely need not be boozy....using the big daddy Westy 12 as an example

 

Pannepot isn’t boozy at all. Westvleteren is boozy only young. A quad needs to be strong but being boozy isn’t a necessity.
As far as I can tell a quad is simply a Strong Belgian Dark Ale with no spices.

Pretty Things Baby Tree – is nice but bit boring
Boulevard Smokestack Series - Bourbon Barrel Quad – is delcious
Weyerbacher Blasphemy – is quite nice

All of these use barrels or fruit so it is debatable as to whether or not they are quad’s.

None of them come close to fresh Pannepot or Rochefort 10 in my opinion.

 

Agree with Three Philosophers. Have it with some dark chocolate and it's even more impressive!

 

I've had a lot of American (and Belgian of course) "quads" and hands down my favorite made in America is Une Annee's quad: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32615/109838/

 

For beers classified as a quad here on BA, Sierra Nevada's Ovila was my highest rated. Surprisingly it slightly nudged out St. B Apt 12 and Rochefort 10. It's been a long time though since I had Apt 12 so I think I need to revisit.

 

Many of the beers on that list were once listed as Belgian strong dark ales here on BA. Including Westy 12, St. Bernardus, Rochefort 10.

So there's that.

Does the term, "quad," get any use outside of the U.S.? You never see the word quad on Westy's site or Rochefort's. Saw it on the English version of St. Bernardus's site. But only when it's in English.

 

I always thought Ronnie Coleman had some pretty damn good American made quads...

 

I didn't bother reading through the entire thread, so this may have been said already, but it kind of seems like the difference between a quad and a BSDA is the same as that between a DIPA and a TIPA - the 10% abv threshold. I'm fine making that distinction if that is indeed the case, though I agree with one of the previous posts that some (or all?) BSDAs should be considered dark tripels. I just had Trois Pistoles last night, and it tasted noticeably lighter-bodied than the quad I've had - Sixth Glass and St. B-ABT.

 

Weyerbacher Quad, Ommegang Three Philosophers

 

I quite like the Three Philosophers by Ommegang but haven't had that much exposure to American "quads". Thanks for all the suggestions in this thread. Getting my hands on some may be a bit challenging however!

 

Most can't live up to the actual Belgian's. St. Arnold's DR13 is coming around with some age. BBQ is solid, but also needs a little bit of age to cut down on the sweetness. I was excited for the Ovila w Sugar Plums, but the entire 4 pack I got was flat. Poured like a stout and not a quad.

Excited to get my hands on some Stickee Monkee.

 

This beer is a shelf turd here. I know where multiple bottles are sitting still and have never picked it up. Guess it sounds like I should?? I loved their Rye Wyne and would kill to find more bottles of that (I have one left that I will cellar for a while longer).

 

ISO: Roid Juice Quad aged in HGH barrels...

 

I know where multiple bottles are still sitting on shelves around here. Should I go pick a few up and throw 'em in the cellar? Wonder what it would trade for, as not many people have probably ever heard of it. I've never had it, but loved their Rye Wyne.

 

Not what this thread is about, sir.

 

They've also been calling it a Barleywine for about 5-6 years now and I'd only guess that they began calling it a "Central Coast Quad", never a Belgian Quad, to differentiate it from Abacus. They only changed the "style" because they brew it with candi sugar.