On Monday, November 10 I went to Brooklyn Brewery for a party celebrating the release of their most recent Brewmaster’s Reserve Series beer aptly named Quadraceratops, 9.9% abv quadrupel. In this video brewmaster Garrett Oliver talks about the inspiration behind the beer and then I share some footage from my tour of the brewery that night.

Why this beer stands out amongst the many dark and strong Belgian Ales brewed outside of Belgium? Over the years I’ve tried many Belgian style beers that were brewed outside of Belgium (mostly in the US) and been let down by a fair amount of them. This is because for some reason they fail to achieve the level of complexity that is present in the Trappist and abbey ales of Belgium (and the Netherlands – La Trappe) that I’ve come to love. However, after my first sip of Quadraceratops I knew that it would not end up being yet another let down. Its smooth and balanced complexity made it quite drinkable for a 9.9% ABV beer, however I did my best to savor it in order to decipher its flavor profile. By keeping the yeast in suspension with occasional CO2 additions throughout fermentation, Brooklyn’s brewers were able to keep yeast esters to a minimum and leave it to the dark belgian candi syrup and Special B malt to create complex dark fruit, caramel, and toffee notes. In addition, though this beer attenuated down further than Brooklyn Lager, its malts and abv gave it a smooth medium to full body, a semi-sweet finish, and enhanced my ability to sip more slowly and pick out more flavor nuances (dried cherries and dates) as it warmed up.

Food Pairings: game meats like duck and lamb, steak w/ savory and or sweet sides, cheeses (gouda and gruyere), and sweet desserts (pecan pie, dark chocolate cakes, apple or cherry cobbler).

My Rating: 8.5/10, one of the best American brewed quadrupels that I’ve ever had and very close to being a favorite cold weather. While I enjoyed this beer I spoke to Brooklyn’s brewmaster Garrett Oliver and he told me that he plans to bottle condition a portion of it in the future. I think that doing so will greatly benefit this beer and give it enough wow factor to become a 9/10 i.e. a world class beer. Cheers!