I’m a bit of a beer snob. I started with craft beer, so naturally as I’ve grown up my tastes have gotten more interesting and now I’ve gotten into Belgian styles of beer.
At some point in history someone discovered that if you ferment barley and hops you make a wonderful drink called beer. The Belgians took this one step further and decided to ferment beer more than once. Thus the birth of the “double,” “triple” and “quad,” each name reflects the amount of times that the beer has been fermented.
So naturally a double has been fermented twice, a triple three times, and so forth. As the beer is fermented again and again, the alcohol content increases. So by the time the beer has been fermented four times, the alcohol content is typically at 10 per cent. To help Belgian novices navigate the beer aisles I have given taste profiles and recommendations for each style.
Double: Dark in colour and sweet in flavour. Doubles taste and smell like molasses. It’s akin to a baby version of a quad in that it is typically six to seven per cent with a milder flavour. Westmalle Trappist Dubble is a good example. To me this beer smelled and tasted faintly of bananas. The beer was smooth with just a slight hint of bitterness in the after taste.
Triple: My personal favourite. After being fermented a third time the beer goes back to a golden colour. Triples have a toasty, smooth taste that is quite refreshing. On average triples are about eight to nine per cent, which is evil because you would never guess and might end up more inebriated than you planned, as I discovered once. Kwak is a wonderful example of a triple, with some toasty qualities. There is a pronounced fruity scent in particular apples. The bonus is that a bottle runs for $3.20 at the LCBO, which is a steal.
For those more adventurous I would try Midtfyns Bryghus Chilli Triple Spiced Ale. This is beer with a kick. The hint of chili adds a refreshing element, and don’t worry, it isn’t actually that spicy.
Quad: A quad is your quintessential after-dinner beer, which means it’s heavy in both taste and alcohol at about 10 per cent typically. This is what you would call a sipping beer, so not the ideal choice for chugging competitions or drinking games. The taste profile is similar to fruitcake, there are sweet undertones mixed with spices. Rochefort 10 is a great quad, and is the best beer in the world, according to my dad. I wouldn’t quite go that far but it is pretty damn good. The taste is rich and like really strong grape juice when served warmer. Unlike a triple you can tell that this beer has higher alcohol content, 11.3 to be exact so savour this beer.
For some real fun you can have a double, triple and quad in a beer tasting flight to compare tastes. The order is simple: count up. I would recommend doing this as a group activity considering the alcohol content of each beer, also talking about beer is fun!
