La Trappe

Quadrupel XXXX (Schaapskooi)

ABV 10% • Vol 300 ml • bottle • Netherlands • Expensive • Flavour 7.5
Other beers from La Trappe
Other beers from Netherlands

This is the strongest offering from Schaapskooi, the Dutch trappist monastery, and a world-renowned classic. It is a rich copper colour, much like a traditional English ale, with a thin but surprisingly long-lived head. The nose consists of a complex blend of dark fruity malt, with details like suet and brandy flambée, a lot like a Christmas pudding. As the strength suggests, this is full-bodied in the mouth, again with lots of dark fruit and rich, treacley malt, with some sweetness - but not too much. It is peppery and phenolic, cleansing the mouth towards the finish. Aftertaste is lightly malty with lingering dark fruit in the back of the throat, masking the treacley bitterness and giving a very balanced finish. This is a rich, rounded, strong, complex yet startlingly drinkable ale, an ideal companion to a meal in much the same way as a good UK barley wine.

OBBD reviewer: Sparks

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Review updated 17 November 1998

Comments

Possible the best I have tasted. I am surprised that others have not imitated. Or maybe they have…
David Tynes

Incredible beer!!! One of the best I have ever had. It would be hard to duplicate this.
Scott

I thought this beer was crap. I hated it and I nearly puked. Absoloute sh*t.
Antony

[Notes on the 2001 vintage.] La Trappe, otherwise known as Schaapskooi after the brewery name, or Koningshoeven after the place, is the only beer brand from outside Belgium that can use the designation Trappist. It comes from a monastery near Tilburg, not far from the Belgian border in the Dutch province of Noord Brabant, though while the brewery is still within the monastery it is currently controlled and operated by national brewer Bavaria. Notwithstanding this, its products, generally full-bodied, fruity and sweetish artisanal brews, are still well-deserving of their designation. The range of four runs the gamut from 'Enkel' (single) to this Quadrupel, a big strong vintage-dated bottle-conditioned monastic ale competing with the likes of Rochefort 10 and Chimay Bleu. I drank this bottle when it had a little age, just on its best before date of April 2002, but it could have gone on a few years yet.

The beer is a very deep amber bordering on rubyish mid-brown, with a low lacy head, good condition and a loose sediment (strangely enough, the latest redesign of the labels doesn't make much of the bottle-conditioning: perhaps the brewery assumes this will be taken for granted with beers in this style). There's an astonishingly heady aroma with a strong scent of raisins and rum or brandy. The palate is rich, soft and luscious, with plenty of oranges, sultanas and dried apricots and the mellow spreading warmth of spirit-like alcohol. The beer has the traditional sweetness of its style -- the label lists dextrose, raw sugar and caramel among the ingredients -- but it is still remarkably light, with a freshness to its orange flavours, and very approachable and drinkable. The finish is very long, initially hoppy and slightly mouth-numbing with traces of woodiness but fruity enough not to cloy, developing some distinct and refreshing citrus peel tones and prune flavours and, very near the end, a whiff of smoke and roasty chocolate. Overall it's not as complex as some of the Belgian entries in its class, but it is still a very fine and rewarding beer upon which to linger, with a particularly gorgeous aroma. [Score: 8]
Des de Moor

Though still made in the Koningshoeven monastery the actual brewing and distribution is controlled by the Bavaria brewery who specialise in low to medium quality pilsners. The dominant quality of this quadrupel, even with my three year old bottle, is the alcohol - it burns like a spirit or liqueur, and warms the stomach ulcers. The nose is warm rum-soaked raisins and damp wooly blankets. Initially a shock of liquid brown sugar, this is quickly slashed with a steel knife of acid. Then the melted christmas cake flows around the mouth before the alcohol starts to kick in, growing, blossoming, swelling to a deep, deep burn. The whole subsides to damp cardboard followed by a warm gentle bitterness. There is chocolate, wood smoke, orange peel and celebrated dark Oxford prune juice. Sounds good? Well, it's actually fairly clumsy. The journey joggles along like a Rusian taxi driven by a trainee train driver; yet the destination is constantly predictable. The are no surprises here - no rewards. Despite the range of flavours and the high strength this is a rather dull beer.
Silk Tork

A great beer, with a unique taste. First taste to me was a bit bitter. However I indeed enjoyed the taste after a few drinks. A lot of hops. Tons of flavor a beer for everyone to try at least once. And for those that dislike the beer, GO BACK TO BUD LIGHT you social drinkers. That is to you. Check it out some time.
Brad Hoffmeister

One off the best, try to find 75 cl from the 1980.. Fantastic...
Kjell Hedberg

I had my first one ever last night. What a HUGE beer!!! So much great taste - so many levels of flavour. This is going to be a repeat offender... you can count on it.
Ronan T

I just bought the Konigshoeven Quad, and I love it. The only thing is, how do you determine the vintage or the date? Please help me out.
Matt Kapusta

gold is better ha ha ha ha ha
peter

it doesn't look like beer
bill

my favorite of what i used to consider "belgian". then again i am a total fanatic of $275 bottles of bourbon. (a.h. hirsch 20year). yes i appreciate the alchohol content, but then again, if anyone drinks these beverages I have to ask why if not for the end result. it is not the destination, but the journey that matters. tonight i celebrate the doubling of my salary with a bottle, and renee flemming
icarus

Where can i bye trappist beers?
[Check out our list of beer shops -ed]
juan

ahh, this was once the best beer to enter my stomach. sadly after they soldout it has changed a bit. still very good though. it was also a close runner-up to their triple. if you like these try a westmalle triple or a kwak. these are now at the top of my list!!!
gregg

My first meeting with this beer was in 1993. On a visit to Alkmaar in Holland, I stumbled across the Dutch Beer Museum, which includes a beautiful little bar downstairs dispensing draught La Trappe Quadrupel. I sat there from 11 in the morning until 11 at night, reading a book, eating toasted cheese sandwiches and drinking glass after glass of draught Quadrupel. I had a business meeting in Amsterdam the following morning, but I fortunately managed to sober myself up by riding my bicycle into a canal just before midnight. Yes, thank you for asking, it was early March.....
John Lewis

COLOR: Ambar topacio dorada y luminosa, opaca, espuma densa, blanca ligeramente tostada y poco persistente. NARIZ: Intensa, compleja, regaliz, manzana asada, aromas florales y frutales. BOCA: Potente, equilibrada, cálida, con cuerpo, manzana asada, regaliz, final elegante, ligeramente amargosa y persistente. (Me recuerda a un Cava Gran Reserva) PUNTUACION: 9,00
Pedro Luis Barrera

I'm soon going to be tasting this side-by-side with Westvleteren 12 and St. Bernardus 8. I've got to get my hands on it first (it looks like I'm going to have to get it at twice its worth from the White Horse).
Stronk

Note that the La Trappe beers are no longer produced in the abbey (but by the commercial brewery in the same town) and, despite the name, are no longer officially "Trapppist" beers.
James

kjell hedberg, do you have some from 1980 ? it would be nice to try
ian james

It's ok. Deep and good flavour. But to me this is very one-dimensional. It's sweetish, but I think that sweet should be balanced with even more complex vegetal and estery notes - which this lacks for me. It's just a little too "easy". That said, I'd never decline a glass... (14/11/07)
Rob Howe (London)

I like the dubble more, solid dark like, with a creamy top. Big nose of gingercake and chocolate and herbs.......
Manolo Sueco de Vila

The range of La Trappe beers (Witte, Blond, Dubbel and Quadrupel) is easily available in South Africa thanks to their connection with Bavaria which has a brewery in the country. I have enjoyed all the beers but would put the Quadrupel on the top of my list.
The description given in the introduction is spot on. No matter how often I may drink it (and I keep a few bottles of each of the La Trappe range in my beer fridge with some 20 to 30 different types of beer), each time I am surprised by the intensity of the flavour and the way the high alcohol comes through (a bit like Bavaria's 8,9).
It is my favourite beer with which to surprise friends. I have to warn them to drink it more like a liquor than a quaffable beer.
A great beer to sip and treasure.
Herb Mostert

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