Allagash FOUR

10% ABV from a bomber

The late, great George Carlin famously once joked, referring to picking up women: “I’ve never had a ten, but one night, I had five twos,” thinking his was the greater accomplishment. Well, I’m the kinda guy that would rather have one 10% beer than two 5%. And this beer is right on the money. Sadly, most guys are the opposite. What can I say, I like my big, bold, potent beers: barley wines, strong ales, and the sexiest of all, the quadrupel. It just sounds insanely powerful. That’s why I was so excited to one day try Allagash FOUR*. Heck, I even had it in the “honorable mention” category on my Top 10 Most Wanted Beer list.

I’m shocked that it’s taken me some 80 posts to review my first Allagash as it is maybe my favorite America brewery, a brewery notable for pretty much ONLY making potent and expensive beers that come in a bomber. No wussy six-packs filled with “Lite” brews. The FOUR is so called because besides being a quadrupel it consists of four malts, four hops, and is fermented four times. Sounds brilliant, huh? Sadly, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. And, by that, I mean it wasn’t an A+. I adore Allagash so much that, just like Stone, I expect every one of their beers to be masterpieces.

FOUR is dark and rich, almost like a Russian Imperial Stout but not quite.  Dried fruits like raisins, cherries, and brown sugar with next-to-no carbonation.  Nice taste and goes down pretty easy.  Not as rich, potent, and complex as I’d expect from a Belgian quad though.

It’s very good, just not extraordinary.

A-

*The FOUR is seemingly always capitalized when in print. That’s kinda awesome.

Koningshoeven La Trappe Quadrupel

10% ABV on both draught and from a bomber

Wow, what a glorious beer. Another choice selection from Tria, maybe the best thing I’ve ever had there on tap. I can’t recall every having a quadrupel in my life and quite frankly I’m not even sure what they are. I told some beer nerd I ran into that I had just drank a quadrupel and his eyes bulged. And the Tria menu claims this is the only Trappist “Quad” that even makes it to America. But what is it quadrupel of? I think it simply means it’s a potent motherfucking beer. And, to my knowledge since there are no quintuples or sextuples, this is about as good as it gets. Especially for me as I am a huge fan of incredibly high ABV beers.

When I tried this beer I was absolutely floored. Firstly, because I had never even heard of it. A tiny, squat Lilliputian-like female waitress recommended it to me and my friend and for some reason we trusted her. Thank god we did. We have now spent the past 10 days discussing how mind blowing this brew is. It has somewhat consumed our lives. Upon returning to New York from Philly, I immediately went to my Whole Foods to see if they had any bottles of this stuff. I looked everywhere and finally located it. It was no shock to see it sporting one of drabbest labels I had ever seen. There was a reason I had never noticed it. (I am now starting to think I should have a tasting session of beers with drab, boring, and/or ugly labels.) Whole Foods had one bomber left and even though it was a pricey $13 I had no compunction in snatching it up. I had to validate my feelings about this beer.

After trying the bottled version I am definitely willing to call this a great one. It’s potent, almost wine (or barley wine) or even bourbon like. I think if you gave this to a beer neophyte they might not be able to even ID it as beer. Next to no carbonation (only 25 IBUs too) but very sweet. The smell is intoxicating. Fruity, sugary, almost candy-like. It almost overwhelms your nose and mouth and tastebuds. But that’s a good thing. You are forced to take minuscule sips, savoring it the whole time.

This is a beer I will definitely begin listing among my all-time favorites, one I will continually seek out. I also look forward to trying other bottlings from Koningshoeven as I have located a store stocked with their Dubbel and Tripel. Can’t wait to get my hands on those.

A