633  Barista Chocolate Quad de Kasteel. 

Une bonne brune belge, quadruple, bien chocolatée. 

Years in the Oak

For the latest release of Adam From the Wood, Alan Sprints left his signature strong ale in a variety of barrels for three whole years. Usually, when a barrel is left that long it turns sour and funky, and only good for adding a little oomph to a blended lambic. Somehow, despite sitting in porous oak for months on end, this batch never seemed to pick up those spoiling buggers. Maybe that’s the antimicrobial effect of alcohol. The finished beer is 12% ABV.

Adam From the Wood’s high alcohol content also makes natural bottle conditioning difficult to gauge. Hair of the Dog released the new batch completely still, and unlike in past years, it is clearly labeled as such. The beer pours like cold water. No amount of agitation will bring out bubbles. But that doesn’t mean it tastes like syrup. There’s a hint of fuzz on the tongue. Who knows, in a few years it might build up into a proper head. 

That doesn’t mean Adam From the Wood doesn’t taste great right now, flat. The scent is chocolaty with a fruity edge. Intense bittersweet cocoa powder meets plummy sweetness. The body is smooth, despite being flat, it isn’t syrupy or sticky. The flavor is a blend of brownie batter and aged ruby Port, thick and decadent yet elegantly dry. The wood in the name is new oak barrels. The fresh barrels add a hint of vanilla but no spirit flavor, not that the beer needs anymore going on. The long aging shows up around the edges. That old soy sauce flavor adds an umami note that could be off putting, but in this blend adds a counterpoint to the fruity sweetness. 

Brewery : Troegs Beer : Mad Elf Grand Cru Style : Belgian Strong Dark Ale / American Strong Ale / Strong Ale / Belgian Strong Ale Variance : Brewed with Balaton Cherries, Demerara Sugar and Wildflower Honey

9 / 10

Now that’s what I’m fucking talking about. Seriously, fuck Santa, fuck Christmas carols, fuck LED string lights, fuck nativity scenes, and most of all fuck holiday shoppers. Mad Elf is the only sign I need that Christmas is coming and it’s the one beer I look forward to every year and now that it has a big brother, I officially have a new holiday tradition : Getting hammered drinking this!  Oh, and did I mention that this weighs in at 11% ABV? Yeah, mega hammered. They are calling this beer the “Director’s Cut” version of Mad Elf which means it has 2 hours of never before seen footage, commentary overlay, and outtakes galore. Wait, that’s the Bluray version not the beer. My bad. This masterpiece starts with a huge Belgian ale yeasty cherry flavor that is surprisingly light seeing what the alcohol content is before some spices mix in with some clove pops and honey sweetness before ending with a sweet red wine flavor mixed with more cherries and Belgian ale spiced sweetness to close. I wish someone I knew would sneak into my house and do a “Mad Elf Grand Cru on a shelf” thing to me every day leading up to Christmas because I don’t think there could be a better present than polishing one of these off nightly. This is one hell of an amazing beer and I’m so glad that I live close enough to visit these guys whenever I want so you should probably be feeling jealous as hell right now if you are further than 45 minutes from these guys. This should be your new holiday tradition regardless of your drinking level so go pick this up and get shwaysted!