New Glarus Unplugged Belgian Quadruple
Inspired by the Trappist brewers of Belgium, our heavyweight Quadruple tips the O.G. scales at 25 degrees P. Master Brewer, Daniel Carey, sourced the Brett yeast that boldly frames this refined and complex strong ale. First coddled in our Oak lager tanks and then slowly matured in bourbon barrels. This is a bold beer that sips like a refined cordial of nutmeg, dried cherries and vanilla. Perfect for lying down or sipping by the fire tonight.
http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/beers/unplugged belgian quad.html
http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/beers/unplugged belgian quad.html
3.7
311 reviews
New Glarus, United States
Community reviews
Traded bottle. Pretty nice and true to form quadruple. About the only departures from style were a slight hint of sourness and the sweetness seemed a little, strong and different than expected. Seriously no idea this weighed in at 11ABV though. well done.
Bottle in KC, courtesy of foppa78. Hazy red-tinged orange appearance. Quite spicy aroma with candy sugar, caramel malty nose. Quite a bit of alcohol plus oak, light bourbon, and vanilla in the nose. Cherry tinged, spicy, light bourbon, oaky, vanilla, Belgian strong ale flavor. What a collection of flavors! Cherries, vanilla, and a touch of sourness on the finish. Spicy, Belgian ale aftertaste. (4.4). Update on 12/15/2012. A lot more oxidation and syrupy, thick caramel mouthfeel. Nowhere close to my previous experience. I am now kind of interested to try a fresh one if they make it again. (3.9)
Bottle thanks to Styles. Pours purplish brown. Nose is predominantly candi sugar with some sweet candy, cordial, yeast and plum. Taste is also mostly candi sugar, some plums, cordial and a hint of oak.
hazy tan-brown with red highlights. Nose of candied sugar, toast, caramel malt. Heavy sweetness, light tea and malt. Bit chunky flavor, toasted trough short finish, more sugar.
18th March 2009
Hazy amber brown beer. Soft and dry palate. Very sweet toffee malt with a brief note of something fruity before a velvet punch of slightly spicy alcohol. Well joined up but a little over sweet.
Another great bottle provided by my super generous Secret Santa. The aroma is interesting. Cherries, oak, vanilla stand out at first with raisins and figs following. About halfway through the beer, another whiff shows a lot of bourbon into the mix. It’s a dark amber color that pours with a thin head. Just a few light patches left on top. The combination of vanilla, bourbon, and oak gives the flavor a soothing warmth to it. There’s the Quad like Belgian yeast and dark fruity notes but rather than being the dominant flavors they are very much complimentary. Cherries again stand out with a lot of barrel notes. Dan Carey really is the master of the cherries and knows exactly how to use them in various styles. It wouldn’t surprise me if this beer was too hot at an early age but right now the alcohol is gentle and warm with only a slight sting in the finish. This is a very unique and interesting Quad with a fruity, barrel-aged, and funky twist to it.
355mL coaxed from ryan’s cellar at my request. The pour is a clear, deep amber to ruby with a thin, yellow head (little low SRM). Nose is butter, barleywine toffee, bourbon. Woah, this is Belgian Quad? Taste is mint, malty, toffee, sweet maple, peanut brittle. Really lots of barrel aged barleywine notes. Not bad but just light years off from quadrupel. I don’t get any Brett, not that I would really want to with this style.
Bottle from JCapriotti...thanks Jason! - Cloudy apple juice color with a nice frothy off-white head. Smells absolutely fantastic. Light brett and bready yeastiness, with light cherry and a bit of oak. A hint of oak, and the bourbon barrel aging has mellowed into a light, sweet chocolate-caramel note. Wow--this is absolutely perfectly integrated. Taste is sweet light bready malt, with just a hint of heat. Touch of the same cherry smell--light and subtle, and not overly sweet. Vanilla and honey on the finish, and transitions into a nice sweet maltiness. Tons of yeast and breadiness on the finish. A bit watery, but that’s not a huge issue. Well-carbonated and soft. Absolutely fantastic.
Bottle from footbalm
Appearance: Slightly hazy amber with a small off-white head and very little lacing
Aroma: Tart cherries, oak and caramel
Taste: Full mouthfeel. Sweet malts, vanilla and slightly tart fruits
A nice Quad, easy to drink and refreshing.
Caramel orange, beige cover. Aroma is caramel, light alcohol, some oxidation. Taste is sweet, raisin, full caramels.
Bottle. Pours very slightly hazed copper amber color with a slight head that collars around the glass. The smell is very interesting and is like nothing I have smelled before. Bready, boozy, some spice, and almost a tinge of sourness like a good funky cheese. Medium/light mouthfeel. The taste is also pretty interesting with fruit, spice, and booze notes. This one has a funky aftertaste as well. A sort of lingering old fruit taste, maybe caused by the age. Not bad but the booze gets a little heavy and at this ae the brett makes this a little funky.
12oz bottle from a trade, aged a little bit. Color is amber, hazy, thick, with medium clarity and a gentle pour produces a headless beer. Aroma is alcohol but light, with a touch of cardboard. Its slightly sticky but not overly sweet. As it warms up more age (cardboard) comes out. Flavor is very nice, some barrel (leaf), and a bit of "slickness," which I attribute to the brett. In this case, the brett is not strong and not overly apparent. The flavor is not heavy and nicely constructed with no age showing in the flavor (surprisingly). The flavor finishes fast and does not linger. The beer is easy drinking and very nice for an American Quad. Some chocolate in the flavor helps accentuate that "slick" brett character.
12 oz bottle shared by beastiefan2k. Pour is lightly hazed orange copper with a smallish tan head that collapses immediately. Aroma is musty, dusty grain along with some vanilla sweetness and finishing with a weird barrel woodiness that isn’t quite Brett to me, but is funky. Taste has a malty sweetness, herbal and medicinal, with the bourbon wood filling out and drying up the finish. The Brett is more developed in the taste, though still a little subdued. Palate is medium, very drying finish.
12oz bottle pours a clear, apple juice colored amber with a frothy off white head. Nose is apple juice, brett, flower pollen, cherry life savers. Flavor is sweet, apple juice, medicinal, rose petals, light cherry life saver. Finish is medium bodied and sweet.
I think this was a 2006 bottle from buckybeer, thanks!!! - Pours a clear lt ruddy amber with a medium off white head...aroma is very rich, plum and vanilla, dough, caramel and light sherry, treacle and plenty of wood...flavour is a terrifically balanced blend of flavours, smooth vanilla and oak, cherry, plum, bourbon...plenty of alcohol bite, but it cuts right thru the gravity of the brew, still had prickly carbonation, and the finish is dry but without the typical bretty dustiness...easily one of the finest unplugged bottles I’ve had the pleasure to try...
Bottle from a trade with MIBRomeo. Pours hazy amber color with off white head. Aromas of brett, dark fruits and dough. Sweet fruity flavor with some bourbon, bread dough, wood and ever so slight sourness from the brett. Medium body with soft carbonation. I would have liked the brett to be a little more prominent. Thanks Chuck.
Cloudy amber body w/ a thin tan head that laces well. Aroma is lightly bret, hints of cherry and bread. Hints of funk come through in the flavor along w/ lots of sweet syrups and vanillas and a touch of bourbon. Pretty good beer.
12 oz. bottle; thanks to after4ever for sharing; this one had been on my wants for a long time, so nice to get the chance to try; muddy orange with thin white head, but mostly flat; aromas of brown sugar, light dates and a zingy sour twang; sticky, thin mouthfeel with an almost light fruit syrup quality; lemons, sugar, stale fruits; texture is quite thin; got to think this is well past its prime
12oz bottle from after4ever. Wheat hazed caramel golden with tight beige head. Sweet wheat, candi sugar, candied fruit, bready, and slight cheesiness. Caramelized sugar, candied apple, bready yeast, but also has a wheatiness to it. Light for a quad but well made.
Thanks after4ever. Golden raisin aroma, polished bronze in the glass. sweet milky caramel, smooth saturated oak. soft.
Bottle thanks to ericandersnavy. Poured a caramel brown. Aroma was of banana, cherry, bourbon, and grass. Flavor was very sweet with spice and cherry. Nice beer.
bottle thanks to cletus. poured a goldish copper with a fading white head. aroma was very pleasant with cherry, vanilla, orange, bourbon, brett??, flavor was cherry, bourbon, and a little tart on the finish. body was medium with medium carbonation. pretty good drinking material.
Bottle from JCB. Hell yeah man! Incredible nose on this one. Oak, bourbon, vanilla, darker fruits, raisins, brown sugar, caramel. A hint of barrely tart too - green apple. Really fantastic aroma. Pours amber with some golden orange hues and some browns as well. Flavors of oak barrel up front followed by green apple, sweet bourbon, raisin, brown sugar, vanilla, spiced apples. Quad flavors come through in the end - light dusty/musty yeast. A hint of barrel tartness and a little alcohol. Wow. Lively carbonation. Some alcohol, but not what you’d expect from 11%. This is incredible stuff. Like an amazing liquid desert with alcohol!
A coarse yellow head with a big orange body of ale below. Big malt opening with yeast in the nose and the sweet malt keeps on giving. There is a hint of citrus and funk, a passing shadow of oak-sourness is there, but the allegation of bourbon barrel aging is lost on me. I can’t find it even when I know what I am looking for. Malt dominates from beginning to end, and alcohol makes its presence known from beginning to end in a warmth but not in taste. This beer is not too sweet and a bres of surpassing complexity. If it comes back, I’ll buy- and buy a bunch. 20 minutes later --- there is a serious alcohol kick here.
Bottle courtesy of allendodd. Cheers man! Pours a hazy darkish amber with a slight white head. Interesting aroma of dark fruits and kandi. Full bodied with creamy/frothy carbonation. Flavor is caramel with fruit. Mild spice. Think I’m getting some oak. It’s quad tending towards barley wine. Dellcious, but finishing slightly sweet. Brett? Maybe that’s what’s cutting the sweet. It’s like nothing I’ve ever had. Too bad it’s retired.
Another NG Unplugged from iowaherkeye.
Pours a slightly hazy, but certainly not opaque, amber brown with a big bubbly beige head that recedes quickly and leaves no lacing and only a tiny collar.
The aroma is sweet and very much like a brandy or sherry. Definitely a bit boozy in the nose with some sweet caramel malts and candi sugar. There is also a very prominant yeasty dough araoma that’s almost sour in the nose, but not quite.
The taste does have a bit more sourness, especially up front, from the bready yeast presumably. The backbone is the candi sugar, toffee and dark fruits, especially raisins and figs. The finish is slightly dry.
the mouthfeel is sugary sweet and medium bodied with lots of carbonation. There is the dryness that I’m not accustomed to getting in the style from the yeast or something else. It’s definitely dry and slightly tart in the finish.
This is certainly a well-crafted beer, but I think it’s probably a bit past its prime, at least for my tastes. The sourness takes away from the quad character for me and the body is a little thin to be a world class quad.
12oz bottle generous gift bottle courtesy of CaptainCougar....thanks man! glowing red-brown color, looks filtered. Small foamy head that coats the edges of the snifter. Sweet buttery cognac-like aroma. Wow, this is a really great Quad. Has all the authentic thick sugar and yeast qualities of a Belgian or Dutch version, with the added complexity of some mellow Brett. Some refined vanilla oak smoothness as well. I didn’t really pick it up at first, but the bourbon barrels also shine a little. A complex awesome beer. Wow.
Bottle thanks to iowaherkeye. Another Unplugged Series beer with Brett. I am excited. Pours with a large off-white fluffy head over a hazed, pretty copper-amber hue. Aroma is sweet with pear, brett, oak tannins, vanilla, plums, tangerine, and dried milk. Taste is caramel, cotton candy, dried apricot, vanilla, dried cherries, and horseblanket. Interesting. Well hidden alcohol, thick, light bubbles. Good stuff
Bottle from iowaherkeye...great damn bonus Joey!! Pours a reddish/amber color. Caramel malt, spices and some light yeast in the aroma. Flavor is fruity and a tad of yeast. Pretty nice beer...I like the spices in this one.
12oz bottle into an abbey glass. A bit on the sweet side for me, even for the style.