Quadrupel

Rochefort 10 is a very, very special beer. This beer is almost as highly regarded among internet beer geeks as the legendary Westvleteren 12, but is far easier to obtain. I held off on drinking this beer for the longest time, in fact this is the first bottle I've had in the United State. I didn't abstain from the Rochefort 10 because I don't like Quads or I don't like Trappist beers, quite the opposite... I love both. I'd known for at least a year that I was going to spend some time in Belgium last year and I couldn't resist putting a visit to Westvleteren on my list... and since I'd waited this long to try Rochefort 10, I might as well do a side-by-side with Westy. Needless to say, I had a great time in Belgium...

St. Bernardus is a name that often comes up when people talk about Westvleteren. Westvleteren 12 is regarded by many who've had it (which is a very small fraction of the overall population of craft beer drinkers) as the best beer in the world. Part of it's allure is the nearly unobtainable nature of this beer. St. Bernardus, on the other hand, is a much more widely available beer and one that is considered a very close second when talking about the best beers in the world. As someone who hasn't had the Westvleteren 12 or St. Bernardus, I'm approaching this beer with few preconceived notions about these beers and I'm looking forward to evaluating each one on their own merits.

I'm not exactly sure how this happened... but, I managed to go 250 beer reviews without drinking a bottle of Boulevard Brewing Company's Sixth Glass. I'm shocked. It occurred to me the other day while at the liquor store, I was walking by the Boulevard section asking myself if there were any new Smokestack bottles I should be on the look out for when I saw the Sixth Glass and realized it's probably been two years since I've had a bottle of that beer. That means I haven't reviewed it yet, which seems odd because I remember really liking that beer and it doesn't seem like it's been all that long since I've had it... Oh well, I guess time flies when you're drinking good beer.

My previous experience with Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad is pretty limited... Last year I waited a couple days too long to start looking for bottles around town because it seemed that everyone had just run out. A friend of mine was kind enough to bring a bottle over last winter so I was able to at least have a glass, but that was it... Here we are a year later and I made a point to check the local liquor stores early and often. About $50 later and I've got a quad of Bourbon Barrel Quads all to myself...

OK, so this beer is called Three Philosophers... there are three silhouettes on the label and everything. Also printed on the label, however, is "Quadrupel" ...a name which indicates this beer is brewed with four times as many fermentables. Wait, three dudes but four fermentables? Something doesn't add up here. What happened to the fourth philosopher? Did he get faced and oversleep on the day the other guys got their silhouettes painted for the label? I can only assume the fourth philosopher was responsible for balancing the balancing this beer before it hit production because this Quadrupel is a bit unwieldy.