One Beer To Kickstart a Saturday Night – Maitre Quad
This beer smells like a sweet bread with chocolate notes from the get-go. It has this typical sweet Belgian quadrupel vibe. The kind of feeling when it’s a winter night and you come back inside from a snowstorm, and it’s -15 Celsius outside. Soothing, calming, and reliable.
From the first sip, it has this sweet chocolatey taste that is perhaps more reminiscent of a sweet stout than a traditional quadrupel. Think of a sweet, chocolatey stout with a slightly bitter aftertaste. You can taste a significant amount of coffee, which balances the sweetness actually quite nicely. The aftertaste is slightly sugary and continues the coffee+chocolate flavors.
When it comes to the balance I mentioned, you know, every Xavi needs their Busquets and vice versa. It goes down smoothly too, hiding well its relatively high alcohol percentage. However, this is definitely not something you would enjoy getting drunk off as it is not something you would drink more than one or two. For me, this would be a nice companion to a meat stew or another dish with a lot of umami. Alternatively, I feel like pairing this up with vanilla ice cream would be a solid option.
In the end, for me, this lacks excitement. It is a perfectly good beer, but I would be glad if I never had it again. It’s the mid-season football match between two mid-table teams, but it unfortunately completely lacks the character of a relegation battle or a final match for the championship. It turns out all right, but in the end, you ponder whether you used your time wisely at all. It is a good beer but you should not rush with this. Do not drink this straight out of the fridge, just like you would not field your second-choice quarterback in an important match. Let this sit at the table for a while so you can taste the aroma better.
