Shropshire Blue

Quadrupel

STYLE NOTES: The potent beers that merit the quadrupel designation can rival wine in alcoholic strength, with some brews reaching 12 percent alcohol. No wonder people refer to quadrupels (quads, for short) as “sleeper” beers. They are surprisingly easy to drink for such massive beverages, and their inebriating effects can sneak up on you.

Like dubbels and tripels, quads derive from the brewing traditions of Belgium’s Trappist monasteries. At the Belgian abbeys and breweries that produce quads—among them, Chimay and Rochefort—the beers are likely to be the strongest in the lineup. They tend to be dark hued, ranging from amber to the color of over-brewed tea, due in part to the addition of dark liquid sugar to the wort. This sugar adds alcohol potential without adding heaviness, and in some brews, it contributes a brown-sugar scent and some residual sweetness.

Brewers may use a complex blend of grains in quad formulas, perhaps incorporating wheat, oats, or rye in addition to a variety of barley malts. Quads are all about the malt; most offer little or no hops aroma and just a suspicion of bitterness. Even so, they are profoundly aromatic, mingling scents of dried cherry, plum, raisin, dried fig, fruitcake, gingerbread, and caramel. Highly carbonated but not biting, they produce a huge, creamy head in the glass. And while they may exhibit spicy aromas, actual spices are not part of the brew.

Some brewers don’t use the term quadrupel, preferring instead a proprietary name, often including a number that hints at alcoholic strength. Belgium’s Rochefort 10 and St. Bernardus Abt 12 are examples of this phenomenon, but don’t assume that the number correlates precisely with alcohol content. Rochefort 10, for example, is even stronger than 10 percent alcohol. (The numbers are a holdover from an old system of measuring potential alcohol.) Chimay Grande Réserve has all the qualities of a quadrupel, but the abbey does not use the term. “Belgian dark strong ale” is another way of characterizing such beers.

Like barley wines, which have similar alcoholic strength, quadrupels can improve with bottle aging. Under the proper conditions, they can be cellared for several years, becoming less sweet, more complex, and even more wine-like in their aromas.

BEERS TO TRY: Avery Brewing The Reverend; Chimay Grande Réserve (Chimay Bleu); Deschutes Brewery The Stoic; Malheur 12; Ommegang Three Philosophers; Rochefort 10; St. Bernardus Abt 12; La Trappe Quadrupel.

CHEESE AFFINITIES: Beers of such large stature complement cheeses with bold personality, such as blue cheeses, washed-rind cheeses, and hard aged cheeses such as Cheddars and Goudas. Cheeses with nutty aromas or silky cooked-milk sweetness (common in alpine cheeses such as Comté, Beaufort, and Gruyère) are particularly compatible with these plummy and malt-forward beers.

Switzerland’s Gruyère receives a minimum of five months’ aging, but the best wheels are nurtured much longer. Made with raw cow’s milk, these giant wheels—they can weigh 60 pounds or more—become nuttier and more intensely savory with time. A twelve- to eighteen-month-old cave-aged Gruyère can be a spectacular taste experience, far more compelling than the supermarket Gruyère many consumers purchase for cooking. With a scent of hazelnuts and brown butter, a silky texture, and a sweet finish, aged Gruyère needs a malt-focused beer and has enough concentration to face a quadrupel.

Wheels of Dutch Gouda can be bland and uninspiring when young, but two to three years of cellar aging transforms them. They develop irresistible aromas of butterscotch, toffee, and whiskey; a creamy, almost fudgy interior dotted with crunchy protein crystals; and a mellow, candy-like sweetness. Beemster XO, an extra-aged Gouda from a century-old Dutch cooperative, fits that description and finds an echo in a malty, plummy quadrupel.

Invented in the 1970s, England’s Shropshire Blue has an obvious kinship with the much older and better-known Stilton. Made in the same forms as Stilton, and at some of the same creameries, Shropshire Blue resembles England’s most famous blue cheese in every way but color. The pumpkin color of the paste, or interior, of Shropshire Blue comes from the addition of annatto, the harmless and relatively tasteless plant-based dye that also tints some Cheddars and Goudas. Like Stilton, Shropshire Blue has nutty aromas, a mellow flavor, and a creamy, buttery texture, all qualities complemented by a heady, spice cake–scented quadrupel.

MORE CHEESES TO TRY: Bayley Hazen Blue; Chimay; Fourme d’Ambert; Grafton Village Red Vask; Marieke Gouda; Roth Käse Grand Cru Gruyère Surchoix; Pleasant Ridge Reserve; Roelli Dunbarton Blue; Saenkanter; Stichelton; Stilton; Valdeón; Wilde Weide Gouda.