THERE’S Nothing as indecisive as a child writing a letter to Santa. You can expect an early outline sometime around late September before the whole endeavour gets shelved for Halloween.
Then a first draft may appear in early November, which invariably needs pared down a bit. The arrival of the Smyth’s catalogue usually ushers is a few rewrites and then that overbearing Elf on the Shelf appears to make sure the child is keeping up their end of the contract by being nice, rather than naughty.
Of course, 2020 has seen greater emphasis on outdoor play, no matter the season, so expect a quad bike to feature on the lists of some particularly ambitious letter writers. Those without an acre or two out the back might downgrade that to one of those battery-powered quads.
For me, the only quads on my list this week were of the Belgian variety. A lot of Belgian ales fall into categories such as dubbel, which tend to be dark, tripel, which are lighter in colour, and quads, which revert back to the darker hue.
Of course, each of these styles gradually increases in strength, so by the time you get to a quad, you’re generally into double figures.
Both quads I tried were from the Kasteel brewery and both clocked in at 11 per cent. The first was Barista Chocolate Quad, and was unusual for a traditional Belgian ale in that it came in a 330ml can.
In a Ronseal style, it does exactly what it says on the tin: there are chocolate and coffee aromas. There are some soothing roasted malt tones going on too and when you get to the flavour, there’s a toffee-like sweetness which comes with a buttery hint, which put me in mind of fresh popcorn. There’s those chocolate and coffee flavours too and a hint of dark, dried fruits.
It’s dark, almost black in colour, as is my second quad from Kasteel, Donker. For an 11 per center, though, it pours with a generous off-white head, which it retains throughout the prolonged sipping that the strength demands.
This produces an almost hypnotic lacing affect as you swirl it around the glass as you contemplate another sip.
The Donker puts its strength front and centre more than the Barista, but there’s still a warming richness to it all. It has lovely chocolate and caramel flavours and even a little hint of spice.
