Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad - Plums
Ovila Abbey Quad with plums is heady with aromas of caramel, rich malt, and dark fruit-balanced by the spiciness and delicate fruity notes of a traditional Belgian yeast. This beer features sugar plums grown on the grounds of the Abbey, and harvested by the monks in Vina. We hope you enjoy this collaboration ale.
3.8
406 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
Aroma - carmalized sugar, plums, other dark fruit, alcohol, tobacco Appearance - dark brown body with a small beige head. Taste - dark fruit (plums, raisins, figs), bourbon oak, and some spice. Palate - full bodied, lively carbonation, sticky texture, and a warming long boozy oak finish.
Smells like exactly like plums, figs, and brown sugar. Beautiful color on this one as well. Taste is big sweet plums, figs, and a sugary sweetness. Super smooth and easy to drink. You cannot tell it’s 10.2% at all. I’m really digging this one. Cheers!
(Bottle). Pours a deep brown complexion with minimal head and some lacing. Minimal aroma noted. The flavor is quite good with Belgian yeast, sugar plum and dark cherry.
This one was pretty good. Had the sweet candied flavors that I was expecting. Could also taste the plum.
Pours a slightly reddish-brown, with a light brown head. Nose is tame and slightly fruity. Flavor is much more dynamic, with strong notes of brown sugar, candy, and lighter notes of fruit and alcohol. Hops are present but background. Finish is long and a little sweet. Good beer but lacking on the presentation end...
Draught, small stable creamy beige head, deep brown color with dark red hues, aroma of biscuit and hay with some quircky yeastiness, flavor of barnyard ,dark bread, caramel and dark fruits, not too strong swetness .Nice but not sure the plums contribute too much to this overly malty brew.
Pours cola brown with quickly disappearing head. Aroma is sweet, dried fruits, but hard to discern in a goblet. Flavors are sweet plums, raisins, and light yeastiness that transitions to roastiness and nuttiness on the finish. Really well done American take on a Belgian quad. Looking forward to other Ovila releases.
A delight. Pours a dark, murky burgundy with a small amount of visible sediment, a finger of light tan head that subsides slowly. The nose is rich and fruity with an underlying plum, prune and raisin fruit note. Light toffee and caramel malt notes with a pinch of spice. Fruity and malt are in perfect balance with a dried sugary note combining them. The finish is moderately warm with a rich, smooth finish. The plums didn’t add alot to the profile as the quad already had a definite plum/prune flavour.
Draft 12 oz pour at Special Brews. Pours a cola black with an active tan fizz head. Boozy dark fruit aroma. Oaky, dark fruit flavor. Sweet, and definitely tastes as strong as it is. Finishes sweet, and lingers. Pretty good.
A corked and caged 12.7 oz bottle served in a St. Bernardus snifter. .Pulling the cork released almost no pressure, and the pour and thin head confirmed very low carbonation. The mouthfeel, however, was just fine in this respect. The main weaknesses in the feel, instead, was the nearly inevitable signs of high ABV, This too, however, blended nicely with the flavor profile of the ale.
Appearance: The beer poured very dark brown, near black, with dark brown highlights at the edges. While the tan head quickly reduced to a thin ring, it did leave a tiny amount of lacing.
Aroma: Dark fruits, plums, raisins and cherries.The high ABV gives a suggestion of fruit liqueur. Sweet with some toasted bread.
Taste: Dark bread and dark fruits, including plums, figs and cherries. Nice balance and complexity. Hints of coffee, dark chocolate, burnt toast in the finish and aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Full, smooth body despite a mild alcohol bite and some alcohol warmth; low carbonation,
Overall: excellent
Bottles from Champanes, four bottles sampled over a 1 ½ year spread,
this ale had a hazy dark brown pour that got clear as it warmed, and it gave a small thin film cover of off-white bubbles that receded to a couple of small islands and thin ring,
it left some spots and fingers of lacing on the sides of the glass, I found no sediment in the bottle,
this ale had aromas of date, raisin, fig and plum dark fruit with brown sugar, dark bread, faint spice and faint caramel,
the nose had a good amount of bread and fruit sweetness,
there were flavors of dark malt, dark bread and dark fruit, a little brown sugar,
the finish had a touch of pepper spice with dark malt and dark fruit carrying over,
it had a medium to full mouth feel with a bit of creamy feel, and felt like it had a soft to average carbonation, there was a little alcohol warmth on the throat,
I think more carbonation would help the nose and flavor of this drink,
aging did not help this beer except maybe deplete the sweetness a bit, it was a ok beer but a little disappointing for a quad.
375 ml bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown with light head. Aromas of licorice, jammy dark fruit (old plums), and dark sugars. Flavors of dark sweet malts, dark fruit (plums and blackberry jam), a little wood, and a very slight smokiness. Slight warmth. Fantastic. This one can age a bit I think...
Poured to a shifter, dark brown, minimal head. Aroma of plums. Very sweet and candyish. Alcohol content is very well hidden. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and wouldn’t turn down another, but to me it’s one of those one time beers, just too sweet.
RBAG 2015. Sample taken from a brown 375ml bottle. Unclear brown from the bottle, almost no head. Aromas of banana, caramel, fruity - rasins and plummy sweetness. Taste is similar with caramel, soft chocolate tones, yeasty banana and fruit notes. Good.
Bottle, shared at RBAG 2015 by Sid. Dark reddish brown, sweet and malty, dark fruits and dark sugar, estery but with lots of residual sugars. Pleasant, but not one I could drink a lot of.
Served in my St-Feuillien type Chalice glass it pours a surprisingly dark brown that is virtually black with no head beyond a second and zero lacing. The nose is sweet, fruity, plums, port, cinnamon & toffee. Medium bodied with a surprisingly light spritzy carbonation + mouthfeel - very effervescent. Warmth spreads from the pit of my stomach while sugared plums, cinnamon & cloves, sweet treacle flavors dance in my mouth. This is pretty damn good.
From a bottle at Delano in Las Vegas. Pours an inky black and makes a medium brown head. Aroma is of dark fruits, sugar, molasses. This is a big, wonderful Belgian-style dark ale. It is sweet and bigger than life in taste. Raisins, plums, yeast. Awesome.
Appearance: dark brown with purplish highlights and a short light brown/purplish creamy head. Aroma: big nose full of raisins and plums, bourbon, molasses, candi sugar, light wood, vanilla, and spice. Taste: sweet dark fruits, especially plums of course, with caramel, brown sugar, molasses, lightly charred oak, and Belgian yeast. Finish: lingering fruity and boozy sweetness, with a smooth and slightly slick palate; alcohol reasonably well-hidden. Notes: A delightful beer to end Father’s Day brunch. Draught at Birch and Barley, Washington, DC.
Draught @ ChurchKey, Washington, DC
Pours dark reddish brown with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, dried fruits, plums, raisin, caramel, alcohol and hint of brown sugar. Taste is medium to heavy sweet and light bitter with a long warm, dried fruity and caramel finish. Body is full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat.
On tap at Church Key, DC. A more or less clear one, dark auburn in color and with a small beige head. The aroma is on the malty side, with lots of dried fruits, some blue plums, a touch of alcohol, brown sugar and some dark chocolate. It’s full-bodied, warming and very soft on the palate, with lots of dried fruit. Blue plums, some chocolate and alcohol and a decent bitterness dealing with the sweetness. Lasting finish. Quite awesome this one.150620
A corked and caged 12.7 fl oz bottle, packaged and bottled on 19 November 2014 and poured into a Chimay goblet. The beer poured a deep dark brown (near black) colour with a one finger tanned head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving a small amount of lacing. Aromas of brown sugar, toffee some toasted malts and chocolate followed by dark fruits, plums, raisins and cherry. Tastes are roasted malts, brown sugar, chocolate, coffee and dark fruits of plums, figs and cherry. Full bodied, low carbonation, creamy, smooth, some alcohol warmth. Overall, I was surprised and a little disappointed at the amount of roasty malts, chocolate and coffee that comes through in the taste as I prefer my quads to be more on the fruity side.
$3.60 bottle, Wine Warehouse.
Pours very very dark with a small brown head. Smell of wet dog, chocolate, and light fruit in the nose.
Delicious dark tangy fruits and caramel sin the mouth. Slightly burnt malts as well.
Brown near black pour with tan head. Sweet caramel malt and plum aroma. Taste follows one with smokey tones. Sticky stuff.
A bomb! Black with a tan head, aromas of plums, caramel. Yeasty, beautiful, boozy.
On tap at B&D. Clear golden with small white head. Aroma is light plum, medium body, low carbonation, and very little lacing. Taste is fruity and some plumbs. Not bad, but hoped for more.
Aroma of burnt suger, malts, and alcohol. Very dark brown with slight ring of tan. Taste is deep and strong. Dark fruits, roasted malts, Carmel, high alcohol finish. Super smooth mouth with slightly sticky lips. Every thing a strong quad should be.
Bottle. Smells of spice and plumbs. Thin head. Taste some spice. Malty with some bitterness. Finishes with a nice spicy plum taste. Over all a decent quad.
Reddish brown, sediment, medium palate. Prune, belgian yeast, sweet malt, low hop.
DRk brown little head;’aroma is sweet alcohol epoxy notes; Flava is sweet malt notes of port wine wild berries; feels thick creamy; finishes tangy slight malt
Draught at the Sierra Nevada, Chico, CA.
Dark reddish brown colour with a small to mid-size tan head.
Dark fruits, sweetness and plums in the aroma.
Dark fruits, dried fruits, prunes, sweetness and syrupy sweetness in the flavour. No hint of 10.2% (alcohol wise). Rich.