-
Magic, thanks. I'm not a fan of the strong blondes for the yeast reason (the banana, phenolic aroma). I've tried the Rochefort 8 and liked it, but not as much as the 10 which blew me away.
Is the St Bernardus Abt12 likely to float my boat then? It's only £2.15 at that web shop.
rodabod-
There's only one way to answer that and I think £2.15 is a small admission fee :)
Buy a six-pack and if you don't like I'll buy the rest off ya. :)
There's also some cheap quads you can get in a Belgian sampler. Guden Draak or similar along with the 9000 Quad. My local shop stocked them. -
These are the Belgian quads I've tried from untapped:
Sint Amatus - Oostvleteren 12 (2013)
De Struise Brouwers
11% ABVBrouwerij De Prael
Belgian Quad
11.5% ABVPréaris Quadrocinno (2015)
Vliegende Paard Brouwers
10% ABVGrimbergen Optimo Bruno
Brouwerij Alken-Maes
10% ABVMalheur 12°
Brouwerij Malheur
12% ABVKeyte Oosténdse Dobbel-Tripel
Brouwerij Strubbe
9.2% ABVPréaris Quadrupel
Vliegende Paard Brouwers
10% ABVKasteel Donker
Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
11% ABVTrappist Westvleteren 12
Brouwerij De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren
10.2% ABVQuintaceratops
Brooklyn Brewery
10.9% ABVGulden Draak 9000 Quadruple
Brouwerij Van Steenberge
10.7% ABVKomes Poczwórny Bursztynowy
Browar Fortuna
10% ABVThree Philosophers
Brewery Ommegang
9.7% ABVAbt 12
Brouwerij St. Bernardus
Belgian Quad
10% ABVMonk's Brew
Mikkeller
10% ABVTrappistes Rochefort 10
Abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy
11.3% ABVMonk's Elixir
Mikkeller
10% ABVStochasticity Project: Quadrotriticale
Stone Brewing
9.3% ABVAbstrakt AB:16
BrewDog
10.6% ABVPartizan Brewing
Belgian QuadThere's another bunch that come under Belgian Strong Dark Ale that would also probably suit your tastes but I'd have to find extract tasting notes for them all and ICBF.
-
Westvleteren, Rochefort 10 and Abt 12 are all supposed to be as good as each other (lots of people do blind taste tests on Youtube and get varying results) it's just the rareness of the Westy that makes it so desirable.
hippy
dubtap
Any of the high ABV options will tend to be sweeter and have less of that (lovely) Belgian yeast hit. Presumably because higher alcohol requires more sugar and tends to kill yeast.
Tried the 8? How do you feel about strong blondes like Tripel Karmeliet?
Look for other big hitters like St Bernadus Abt12 and La Trappe Quad or anything else high %
Oh, and what about the darker stuff - stouts? They again tend to be more prominent chocolate, coffee, caramel rather than yeast and hops so could be a goer. I'm a big fan of Imperial stouts from anywhere in the world normally.