Out of the Bottle: Red Devil Quadrupel

After 12 weeks of patiently waiting, my Quadrupel is ready to go. It's time to see if the wait was worth it.

Was it worth it? One word: Totally.

Visually, the beer pours with a slightly hazy, deep mahogany hue. The small cream head is extremely dense and slowly settles to a patchwork quilt of foam. A nice latticework of lace is left in the beer's wake.

The red wine effect I was going for is right there. Dark dried fruit aromas of prunes, raisins and currants are front and center. Pepper and coriander spice keep the sweetness from going out of control. A very subtle whiff of alcohol finishes the picture.

The beer's flavor echoes the aroma. Although it leans toward the sweeter dark fruit flavors, there's just enough spicy bitterness to keep them in check. The alcohol is well masked, but adds a little warmth going down. Letting the beer warm a bit makes things even better, as some almond notes start to peek through.

In the mouth, the beer is substantial and slightly syrupy, but lighter than this much strength would produce in a Barleywine or Imperial Stout. Soft carbonation leaves a nice tingle in the mouth. Definitely an easy drinker.

Just like my Tripel, this beer is quite dangerous. The yeast worked overtime to bring the Final Gravity down to 1.013, which translates to a 9.9% ABV. However, the body is light for this much power and there's little alcohol flavor to give the beer's strength away.

Overall? I'm extremely pleased. A few of these will definitely be stored in the cellar for a cold winter's night or possibly next Christmas. Would I change anything? Maybe boil the Candi Sugar until it gets even darker. That's pretty much it. The beer will complement the Christmas standing rib quite nicely and should hold its own against the red wines that will be at the table.

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