Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Belgian Quad Review

Name: Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Belgian Quad
Style: Quadrupel
ABV: 10%
IBUs: N/A

I recently came into possession of yet another Barrel-Aged beer from Central Waters Brewing and this time around it's their Bourbon Barrel Belgian Quad, which puts me in a unique position. You see I've only reviewed one Quadrupel Ale so far since I started this blog three and a half years ago. This is mainly because Belgian Quads are somewhat of a rarity; Either that or I'm just not looking in the right places.

In any case, this just became available and since I've been a big fan of Central Waters' Barrel Aged beers for quite a while, I thought that I would try this out to see if the quality is consistant with the others I've tried out so far.

Appearance - Murky dark brown color with no visible carbonation. There's not much in terms of a head as it fades away completely after a few moments and there's no lacing left behind either.

Aroma - Strong bourbon, vanilla and oak notes paired with some plums/blackberries and Belgian yeasts. I'm also getting some caramel malts in here as well and it accents the rest of the nose rather well.

Taste - Very prominent oak and bourbon flavors on the front of the palate with the vanilla on the mild side yet it's just right. Towards the middle I'm getting that blackberry/plum & caramel malt backbone, all of which is rather robust. In the back, all of the flavors seem to come together all at once. The aftertaste is mixture of oak, plums and light caramel malts.

One thing I've noticed recently with the Barrel Aged beers from Central Waters (including one I never got around to reviewing) is that they all don't look the best in terms of overall appearance; Meaning lack of head or lacing retention. However beneath that seemingly flawed look is a complex and robust beer.

With that said, this one is no different. It has that complexity and robust flavor that I've come to expect from Central Waters. Is it my favorite in the Brewer's Reserve series? No, but it certainly is a beer that they should be extremely proud to call their own and anyone who sees this in the store would be very wise to pick it up and try out what it has to offer.

Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Belgian Quad - 9/10