Day 4, still loads of beer to come. I’m excited for today’s beer, so I’m going to dive right into it. We’ve got a beer which comes to us from Evil Twin Brewing and it is “The Quads are not what they seem” Beligan Quadruple.

Founded by Jeppe Jarnit–Bjergsø in 2010, Evil Twin isn’t really a brewery.  Jeppe is known as the “gypsy brewer” in that he brews all over the place.  He develops recipe after recipe of unique styles and plays on styles that are brewed out of other breweries and exported around the world.  At the moment, he brews out of 10 different breweries in 6 different countries around the world.  This means that Evil Twin doesn’t really have any year round beers but rather a huge number of different and interesting one-off brews. To put it in perspective, Evil Twin launched more than 40 beers in 2012.

Jeppe was born in Denmark and began his adult life as a school teacher.  In 2012 he moved his family to Brooklyn, NY so that he could be closer to where it all happens and to grow his brand.  His goal is to make New York the beer capital of the world.  While many of the beers that he makes are experimental, they are also in many cases critically acclaimed.  Brewing in small batches, usually no more than 2500-3000 barrels (~3500 hectoliters), the beers tend to be a bit more on the expensive side and very difficult to find.

This beer that we are going to be trying today was brewed out Dorchester brewery in Massachusetts and is an evil twin brew of a Belgian staple.

The name Quadruple comes from the brewing process of this beer.  Essentially it means you are adding four times the malt as you would in a Belgian “simple”.   This increases the sugar content in the beer and results in a highly alcoholic beer.  The best Belgian quads hide this strong alcoholic flavor making them delicious but dangerous. Quads are highly adored due to their deep color, soft maltiness and unique yeast flavors.  Even with their high ABV (usually 8-12%) they are highly approachable when done right.

Appearance:  Pours the colour of a rich mahogany with an effervescent tan head.
Smell: Has the slight tingle of alcohol on the nose along with dark fruit, earth, caramel, and brown sugar.
Taste:  Slightly metallic note right on the front with a follow of sweet malt, dark fruit like plum or fig, and caramel.
Mouthfeel: Good carbonation, soft mouthfeel and an alcohol warming on the sweet finish.
Overall: I didn’t really get anything from the use of Belgian yeast on this one. That said, it did a great job hiding the alcohol in taste. With only a slight alcohol warming on finish, this one could be dangerous. Also found it brought some great dark fruit notes and nice soft maltiness.
Do I like it: I did quite like it. I enjoy a beer that gives a bit of colour to the cheeks and brings some nice rich flavours. For a cold night, this one will do just fine.