Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad
A collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and the monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux, Ovila Abbey Quad brings the centuries-old monastery brewing tradition to America.
Ovila Abbey Quad is rich and complex with layers of flavor including notes of intense dark fruits, and caramel-like maltiness. Rich and complex, this ale should be shared among friends in the true spirit of the season.
A portion of the proceeds from this ale goes toward the restoration of the historic Santa Maria de Ovila chapter house on the grounds of the Abbey of New Clairvaux. This medieval building stood for nearly eight centuries in Spain. William Randolph Hearst purchased the monastery in 1931 and planned to use the stones for a castle even grander than his famous San Simeon. Although Hearst’s plans crumbled, these historic stones will rise again in a California Cistercian abbey.
Ovila Abbey Quad is rich and complex with layers of flavor including notes of intense dark fruits, and caramel-like maltiness. Rich and complex, this ale should be shared among friends in the true spirit of the season.
A portion of the proceeds from this ale goes toward the restoration of the historic Santa Maria de Ovila chapter house on the grounds of the Abbey of New Clairvaux. This medieval building stood for nearly eight centuries in Spain. William Randolph Hearst purchased the monastery in 1931 and planned to use the stones for a castle even grander than his famous San Simeon. Although Hearst’s plans crumbled, these historic stones will rise again in a California Cistercian abbey.
3.7
379 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
Pours black with a beige head. Spicy on the nose, pleasantly so. Smooth mouthfeel with the spices taking over, which follows through on the swallow. Aftertaste lingers. Very nice.
Growler from premium draught. Great nose can’t hide the alcohol. Dark fruit, yeast, chocolate, pleasant carbonation. Very enjoyable
Enjoyable, but nothing really special. Dark brown pour with minimal head. Aroma is sweet malt. Taste is sweet malt. Sticky toffee. A respectable quad.
12 oz bottle from 4 pack. Poured into a 14 oz tulip. Appearance is dark with nice thin head. Aroma is Belgian candy sugar and alcohol. Taste is sweet and malty then Belgian yeast comes in midway before it ends with a nice sweet complex with the fruit added and the candy sugar. A superb quad, I will go get some more of this for sure.
12.7 ounce bottle. Reddish black, with minimal head, quickly dissipated. Big fruity aroma. Taste is fruit, malt, spice and toffee notes. 10.2% ABV completely hidden. Easily the best American Abbey Ale I have tasted. Delicious.
Bottle to stem. Dark brown with small offwhite head. Dark fruit, brown sugar, toffee. Nice.
Walnut brown with light-brown medium-coarseness head, moderate rate of decay to ring and film. Aroma is caramelized bananas with smooth chocolate, some dry bread crust, dry somewhat spicy grass. Body is medium-medium-heavy, somewhat syrupy, carbonation is moderate, medium-fine, creamy in the finish, light burn. Flavor is sweet dense bread with light banana, touch of salt and spiced dried cherry. Slightly spicy/phenolic in the finish. This was a great American Quad (from a brewery that’s not Ommegang). Bravo! The body is top notch, and phenols are restrained and not used excessively, chocolate coated caramelized bananas are also a highlight!
On tap at Global Brew. Pours a cloudy dark brown with little to no head. Aroma is dark fruit and alcohol. Taste is sweet (almost cloying) roasted malt, dark fruit once again, caramel and molasses. Smooth and delicious, but a real sipper due to the sweetness.
Poured from bottle thanks Willrunforbeer. Hazy brown with thin white head. Taste is a mix of dark fruits, caramel and malt. This is a smooth and wonderful treat.
Bottle thanks to Adrien. Shared in the final minute of the Superbowl. On the edge of my seat, needed some medicine. Pours dark amber with a beige head. Aroma is raisin, candied sugar, dates. Flavor follows. Fairly sweet, hides the abv fairly well. Butler intercepts, Pats win!
Pours a hazy brown. Has a fruity malt, wheat and yeast aroma. Taste is a nice mix of dark fruits (plums, prunes) malts, caramel and heavy yeast. A dry wheat aftertaste.
Bottle, shared with Parksy, Grippitis, JJ. Very hazy dark brown, average off white head that diminishes quickly. Dark toffee, candied sugar, raisins, light musty cork. Bigger yeast signature than Stone’s quad. Tasty.
Bottle @ home via the rot box. Pours a hazy brown appearance with a lasting brown head. Some cardboard, burnt sugar, molasses, caramel, light smoke, and dark fruits in the nose. Medium low carbonation. High sweetness. Medium low bitterness. Graham cracker, cognac, brown sugar, and grapes in the flavor. A little bit spicy. Not bad.
Bottle 75 cl. Pours near cola brown in color with a tan head. There’s some nice, quite smooth notes of plums mixed with bit of earthyness and some sweet almost fudgelike notes in aroma at first. More of the dark fruityness appears in taste, but also some sweet brown sugary notes are present. Notes of yeast with some hints of vanilla and earthlike greens are present later on and has a slightly warming effect in the end.
"they did it again! another great effort by Sierra Nevada to just nail a Belgian Style. pretty much what i’m thinking when thinking of what a quad is supposed to taste/look/smell like. Lots of dark fruit, chocolate and a hint of booze. Maaaaaaybe a touch of hops. The only thing I really thought could be improved was the carbonation. A little too high, but nothing a little swirling couldn’t fix. My favorite of the Ovila line (no surprise as this is my favorite style of the 3) and they nailed all 3. Sierra Nevada continues their fairly rapid ascent from mediocrity (IMHO, of course) thanks to the AV beers, Life & Limb, Old Ale, Hoptimum, and now these 3. Bigfoot and Celebration were really the only ones I was a fan of before..."
bottle @ Party Town / Florence KY --- Good aroma of rich malt and dark earthy fruit. Opaque dark brown color, very thin rim head, no lace. Appearance is still and flat. Taste is dark roasted caramel malt that smoothly introduces earth and dark fruit in the palate before turning to noticeable alcohol in a long lingering finish. No hops or carbonation is present. Made for sipping on a cool evening, perhaps accompanied by a fine cigar.
Really really good beer. Complex nose and flavors of dark fruit, caramel, and a slight hint of alcohol. Full bodied with a sweet finish.
Let it warm up. Alcohol well hidden. Dark fruit flavors of raisin, plum, prune. Low carbonation. Malt complexity.
Bottle, 18 months old. Pours very dark maybe a slight brown highlight, a bit of head. Nose is plumbs, boozy almost rummy, chocolate, raisin, burnt sugars. Taste matches nose , burnt sugars, plum, raisins, sweet, finishes with chocolate, bakers chocolate, charred. Not nearly as much booze in the taste as in the smell. Pretty thick mouthfeel. The only thing I'm missing is a Belgian yeast character. I really like this though.
750ml. Bought Feb/13. Pours a clear dark caramel with an off white head. Aroma has big sweet notes of dark fruit, cherries, and a big, maltyness. Taste is sweet but not cloying. Dark fruits, with a bit of a creamyness. Medium-full body with a medium carbonation. Silky texture with a dry finish. Overall a tasty brew. Darker fruits with a nice sweetness.
(bottle - corked & caged 750 ml) Dark ruby pour with a thick tan head. Sweet dark fruits in the aroma with a ton of malt and a lot of prevalent alcohol. Sticky sweet plums and caramel at the start of the flavor with a strong alcohol burn still. Sweet malts and fruits with a dry and bitter finish.
bottle at home ... deep black .. thin tan lacing ... dark black currant ... dark berries nose .. dark berries .. soft fruits .. soft malts ... soft roast ...
Very rich and strong, as it should be. Dark fruits, sweet malts, no hops. But to me it was lacking the complexity that would turn it into a truly great beer.
Bottle. Pours brown with red hues. Aroma is figs, dark fruits, tobacco, molasses. Taste medium carbonation, plums, bitter finish, a pretty good beer.
Bottle, shared with my mate Barber, good work from him bringing this back from the US, as he isn’t a beer geek he did ok for me there. Pours dark brown with a thin pale brown head. Aroma of brown sugar, yeast, some sweet toffee hints.Quite enjoyed it, drank pretty well, just a bit touch much alcohol in the finish for me.
Bottle. Pours clear. Dark brown with ruby around the edges. Nose and flavor are typical dark fruits. Nice plum. Some alcohol burn.
[Tap] Pint at Fat Jack’s in Bloomington, IL during a Sierra Nevada tap takeover. Brown pour with red highlights. Fizzy off white head. Raisin, fig and mild alcohol hints in the aroma. Darker malts, more fruit, toffee and brown sugar in the taste. Noticeable alcohol. A decent Quad. Tasting notes from 11/2011.
Draft to taster. Looks decent; a fairly transparent dark copper with light beige head that steadily dissipates into lacing. Smells solid; dark fruit, Belgian yeast, and sweet malt. Tastes like it smells with a solid mouthfeel. Enjoyable.
Draft:
Pours hazy, slightly red- brown with a short beige head.
Cola, nuts, plum aromas.
Cherry, caramel malt, dark fruit flavours.
Very good.
Pours very well - opaque w/ thin tan head that leaves a ring of lacing. Aroma is pretty subtle w/ some of the dark fruit notes standing out. The taste is complex but nothing in particular grabs my taste buds. It’s exceptionally smooth on the palate for its abv but the flavors are just a little jumbled to me. It’s still a pretty good beer - just not an outstanding one!