Real Ale Magnum Trux

Real Ale has been putting out quality beer for a long time now, and some of their best and most interesting brews arrive to us via the brewery's fantastic Mysterium Verum series, small batches of barrel aged and sour beers that are variations of their usual year round or seasonal fare.  My favorite beer the brewery makes is their Black Quad, a lovely Belgian Quadruple ale that's been one of my go-to beers for at least half a decade now.  So, i was pumped to see it used as the base brew for Magnum Trux, a 10.3% ABV barrel-aged sour quad with black currants.  There's a lot going on there.  After primary fermentation, the beer is then aged in oak barrels for four months with some added house culture yeast, and then come the black currants.  Pouring ruby black with a quickly dissipating white head, the brew smells of currants, dark fruit, and some overall sourness.  The flavor is a mix of sweet and sour, notes of currant, fig, other dark fruit, and some slight hints of spice, all in a smooth and drinkable mouthfeel.  All in all, it's a complex yet very drinkable sour brew.

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Ommegang Stormcrusher

Cooperstown, New York's Ommegang Brewery tends to keep it interesting with their releases, and their more recent, a collaboration with Houston's Brash Brewing, is interesting indeed.  And pretty delicious too.  The Stormcrusher is a 9.7% ABV Belgian quadruple ale brewed with blueberries and coffee, and it's about as complex and tasty a brew as your liable to come across.  Pouring a slightly purplish brown with a bubbly off-white head, the beer smells of coffee and blueberries with notes of caramel and malt in the mix as well.  The flavor feels heavier on the coffee at first before giving way to sweeter blueberry notes and then leveling off with a sweet and malty full-bodied mouthfeel.  What a wonderful beer.

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Real Ale Black Quad

Since i started writing this blog and drinking a slew of different beers every week, one of my all time favorites was the Brewer's Cut Black Quadruple from Real Ale, a one-off batch from about three years ago.  I have pined for its return ever since i drank my last one, sometime in April of 2013 at a baby shower before my son was born, and it has returned...this time in bomber form.  Now a regular rotation brew, this 10.5% ABV wonder pours a dark brown and smells of malts, molasses, dark fruits, and heaven.  The flavor is complex, spicy and fruity with just the right kind of dry finish.  Easily one of my favorite beers ever, i am beyond stoked to have it in my fridge again...only BIGGER.  Hooray!

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Real Ale Brewer's Cut Black Quadruple

Man, even typing out the name of this delicious beer makes me want to drink more of it.  The brilliant brew masters over at Real Ale Brewing Co. have really outdone themselves this time around with their Brewer's Cut Black Quadruple, a malty Belgian-style Quadruple.  The beer is very dark, but amazingly smooth to drink.  It starts out pretty sweet with all the hints of caramel and chocolate mixing very nicely with the malts and subtle hops.  One thing in particular that i really dig about this beer is that as you drink it, you can begin to taste an almost whiskey-like flavor that's not there at first.  Swirl the beer a bit like you would a wine, and you can smell the alcohol as well.  It gives the bottom of the glass a kind of oomph.  And at 10.8% ABV, it's the perfect end for a cold winter night.

If you are able to get a hold of some of this beer, i cannot recommend it enough.

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