Hey guys! It’s time for another beer review. Did you think
I’d forgotten about the blog? Eh, maybe just a little. Kind of trying to figure
out what I want to do with the blog going forward. But that’s a discussion for
another post down the road.
Tonight I’m drinking a new beer. Yeah, surprising I know!
I’ve had this one stashed away for a little bit, maybe 6 months or so. I think
I bought it back in late March or even early April. Tonight’s beer is part of
the Lips of Faith series from New Belgium, this is their Cascara Quad, a 10%
abv Quad brewed with date with coffee cherries added. Honestly not sure what a
coffee cherry is but I’m a little intrigued. Not a huge fan of Belgian style
beers but I’ve been kind of dabbling a little with Quads this year. Had some
good ones and I have high hopes for this one. Let’s get this poured out and
I’ll give you my thoughts.
The Cascara pours out incredibly murky. It’s a mix of a
brown with some slight reddish-brown hues. Reminds me a bit of some dirty
watered down coffee to be completely honest. It’s definitely a nasty looking
beer. There’s about a finger of a bright white foamy head that doesn’t linger
for very long and leaves behind a pretty thick lacing. Let’s get the nose.
First thing I pick up is a massive amount of dates. Very
nutty and sweet. Lots of dark fruits. Lots of cherry, fig, some plums as well.
There’s a slight sourness I’m picking up that reminds me a lot of a plum skin.
Tons of sweet caramel, lots of sugars too. There’s some sweet breads here, definitely
getting those Belgian quad characteristics. There’s a slight alcohol note on
the nose that’s not over powering but it’s there, lingering and creeping up on
everything good this beer has offered so far. Yeah, I’d say this smells pretty
good. Definitely not what I was expecting just simply based on looking at this
thing. I’m ready to see how it tastes so let’s do this!
Right away I pick up a bit of that nutty character I was
getting on the nose. That’s immediately washed away by those very ripe, dark
fruits. The plums, figs, and even some cherry. I’ve never had a coffee cherry
but I’m guessing these are what I’m getting a lot of. You get those Belgian
bready notes on the sides of the palate along with some big caramel sweetness.
This beer is surprisingly bitter and you pick up a bit of that bitterness
throughout the mouth. This quad finishes pretty dry, not like an IPA but almost
like a wine. There’s almost a syrupy after taste as I let everything kind of
linger. Very different than what I’d expect from a Quad.
So overall, I don’t hate this but I’m not sure I really like
it. I’ve had far better Quads both locally and from breweries across the
country. This doesn’t really have a lot going on that catches my attention. If
I had to describe it in a single word I’d probably use the word underwhelming.
I want to get more from this and I want to really like this a lot. But unfortunately,
I think it falls short of being “good” and it falls way short of being a beer I
pay another visit to down the line. I’d say if you were thinking of picking
this up you may want to skip it and get a good Quad rather than something
that’s just OK at best.
Rating: C-
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