Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad With Plums

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Fancy 12.7oz bottle from a 4-pack, bought at Binny's in IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Belgian Dark Strong Ale/Quadrupel, 10.2%

Reported IBUs: 21

I'm feeling my Belgian-style beers tonight, so moving past Boulevard's Tripel...Sierra Nevada has two versions of their Ovila Quad. One brewed without any plums, and one brewed with plums. The one brewed with plums comes in a sexy 4-pack with corked 12.7oz bottles. The packaging is sexy as hell, and the fact is, plums are better than no plums. Right? About Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010.

Tonight's beer is part of Sierra Nevada's Ovila lineup. The Ovila Abbey Quad With Plums is described as featuring aromas of caramel, malt, and dark fruit. This beer is a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and the monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux. This one features sugar plums grown on the grounds of the Abbey that were harvested by the monks. This one clocks in at 10.2% ABV and packs 21 IBUs. This beer is brewed with pale, Munich, chocolate, and caramel malts; uses Styrian Golding and Saaz hops; and is fermented with Belgian Yeast. 

Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad With Plums

This one pours a raisin-cola color, with some hints of red and brown in the body. This kicks up a finger of tan/golden raisin head, but the head quickly dissolves into a hazy cauldron effect. The body is dark and moderately opaque, making it impossible to judge the carbonation. I can't tell if the bottle art is supposed to be gangster or all religious. Either way, those sexy, corked, 12.7oz bottles are the business. 

The aroma on this beer is AWESOME. Actually, this entire beer is awesome...I won't lie, I've had this before. You get big raisins and plums on the aroma, with some rum, spicy phenols, perfume, and some big earthy malts approaching tobacco. There's some peppery clove, and hints at smokey malts.

The taste is everything the aroma is, and it's delicious. This opens up with huge boozy phenols, with rum, spice, clove, earthy malts, and big dark fruits of the plum/raisin variety. There's some nice malty sweetness in here, with caramel and toffee playing off the raisins and plums...lots of phenolic spice, and big rocky booze. This is very much an earthy Quad, with hints of tobacco, smoke, and anise from the malts.

As far as American-style Quads go, this is definitely one of the better ones. There's good complexity here, and the earthy malts add a lovely dimension to this style. The mouthfeel is full-bodied, and yet creamy and smooth thanks to lots of carbonation. You do get a bit of chewiness, and some noticeable booze. At 10.2%, this IS boozy, and as a result you do want to sip on this...or not...but yeah. I like this beer as a warming sipper, and this would be great around Christmas. Palate depth is good, and complexity is pretty high. You get lots of raisins, dark fruits, caramel/toffee, rum, and spicy phenols up front; that rolls into some bitterness, earthy roast, tobacco, anise, light smoke, some spice; the back ending dries out with lingering phenol-spice, and some boozy complexity to round things out.

Rating: Above-Average (4.5/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this..almost approaching a Divine Brew...actually, getting really close. I don't know why I'm not committing, but I'm not. Maybe it's the complexity...maybe I need more time...I just don't know. But still, this beer is excellent, and happens to be a really good American take on a Belgian Quad. This would pair well with spicy meats, a hearty stew, soups, a raunchy burger, strong cheeses, fruit pies, or a cold winter night by the fireplace. Unfortunately, it is hot as balls out. So.... A 4-pack (12.7oz bottles, caged and corked) was around 15 bucks. Not bad for such a potent beer.

Random Thought: I just killed a giant centipede that was distracting my cats. The thing was HUGE. And after I squished it, it hissed at me. WTF mate?