This week I wanted to put the spotlight on an annual release for us. A bold beer that goes back to our roots as a Belgian inspired brewery; our Belgian-style Quadruple Ale brewed with spices, Four Horsemen. This year’s release has particularly stood out to me. While this beer to us has always been known for a rich dark fruit flavor with bold spice notes to back it up, it has been a challenge for us to capture the right body for the beer. Some of our favorite examples of this style from St. Bernardus and Rochefort present wonderfully dry but not so much as to let the alcohol content suddenly show itself. We’ve tried a few different yeast blends over the years to accomplish this dry and balanced body as best we could, and this year I really think we captured it using only our Idle Hands house abbey yeast. With the right amount of yeast nutrient, a little extra oxygen to promote growth during aerobic fermentation (the growth phase that yeast goes though before it starts producing alcohol during anaerobic fermentation), our yeast was able to tackle the job of consuming just the right amount of sugars in our concentrated wort, beefed up with raspberry blossom honey, brown sugar, and Belgian dark candi syrup.
This beer smells of cloves and gingerbread; the flavor starts with a wave of fig and dates, moving into a spicy nutmeg and cinnamon stick, then finally finishes just prickly and dry enough to clean your palate leaving you ready for your next sip. No cloying sticky sweetness left on your palate or signs of the nearly 13% abv here. It’s a style that doesn’t receive much attention or acclaim these days with the American palate, but we are truly proud of this batch and are proud to be able to share it with you each year. We’d recommend sharing this beer along side creamy soft cheeses, hearty pot roast and root vegetable dinners, or with a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Pick up a bottle for this winter and maybe pick up an extra to stock in your cellar as we foresee this beer aging beautifully for up to five years, maybe longer. Cheers!
— Lead Brewer Brett Bauer
Original Source Here