BUBA FEST - can Polish brewery make a quadruple?

BUBA FEST





Brewed: Szałpiw
Style: quadruple
Tested: Bottle, September 2016

As a beer geek you are supposed to know the best beer in the world (even if you are not a beer geek you may know it from newspapers/TV/internet). Its Westvleteren XII.

Question of the day – do you know what type of beer it is?

Yes, it is a quadrupel.

The likelihood that you have never stumbled upon a quadruple is pretty high. These beers originate in Belgium and are rarely made outside. Even in Belgium getting a quadruple is far from obvious and there is a certain effort involved.

As you can imagine from the name quad (4x) these beers are rather heavy ones. Alcohol content of 10%+. Plato 20+. Clear malt notes. Almost resembles a barley wine, but according to Belgian brewing style hop aroma/bitterness should not be present.

Clear aromas of brown sugar, malt and caramel. Buba pours dark brown almost black, with almost no head and no carbonation. Heavy one as I expected. Tastes with malt, sugar and notes of light roast and fruits. Some smoked plums aroma is also present. Thanks to these the taste of alcohol is dumped to the level where it is not disturbing. Still, do to underestimate the power of this beer. Polish style, its being sold in 0.5 l bottles (most of the Belgian quadruples go over the counter in 0.33 l bottles) and you will certainly feel it when trying to stand up half an hour later. Buba is very thick in drinking, a kind of like drinking sirup. This is really an excellent beer for winter. I am quite sad that I do not have a bottle for later (or two*)

Just to answer my question – can Polish do a quad? Yes, they can – look on the Ratebeer list. In the quadruple category Buba is on the proud 34 place in the world, leaving behind brews from renown breweries like La Trappe, Russian River and Mikkeller. God Job Szałpiw!

*3 would be perfect (but 4 or 5 are forbidden - if you know what I mean)