Robin Shepard
Every couple of months, The Lone Girl Brewing Company in Waunakee offers a bomber bottle release. These beers are often among the brewery’s limited seasonal batches. Brewmaster John Russell’s latest winter offering is a Belgian quad named Quadnado.
What is it? Quadnado from The Lone Girl Brewing Company
Style: Quadruples, or quads, are dark beers ranging from red/garnet to deep bronze and black. They offer smooth caramel and chocolate maltiness with dark fruit esters of cherry, plum, fig and raisin. It all makes for a complex sweetness that blends with alcohol warmth. Quads can be quite strong at over 10 percent ABV.
Background: The Waunakee brew pub has been growing its bomber bottle program and it’s become something to pay attention to. The Lone Girl opened in Summer 2016 and since then Russell has been exploring what tap beers his customers expect on a regular basis, while easing his way into offering a few surprises in bottles.
Quadnado has a lot of the traditional character that one looks for in the style. It has smooth maltiness with a solid background of dark fruitiness, a mark of the Belgian yeast used for fermentation. There’s also some Belgian candi sugar that bumps up the alcohol. The beer has sweetness but it isn’t thick or cloying. That’s by careful design in the brew house. “I find big beers can become overpoweringly sweet and I wanted this one to have plum and raisin flavor, but finish dry and warm,” says Russell.
Quadnado also benefits from about six weeks of cellaring which is enough time for the flavors and alcohol to mellow just a bit. This beer is very nice right now, but don’t be afraid to keep it for several months, or even a year or longer, to meld all those flavors even more.
The name Quadnado comes from the four sons of The Lone Girl co-owner Paul Kozlowski. “With four wild boys, what do you get? More than just a tornado,” says Russell. This beer isn’t the only reference around the brewpub of owners’ and their kids. The brewpub’s fall seasonal, a Belgian dubbel with pumpkin spice, is called Double Trubbel, inspired by the twin sons of partner Kevin Abercrombie. The brewpub’s name itself refers to Abercrombie’s daughter, and the only girl between the two families.
Quadnado finishes at 10.2 percent ABV. It’s sold in the brewpub for $7/glass and in 22-ounce bombers for carryout ($15/each or two for $25). Russell has also stashed away a small amount of this quad in J. Henry and Sons bourbon barrels. He’s planning to release that beer in the fall.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Fruity hints of grape, plum and raisin.
- Appearance: Dark bronze with ruby highlights. A thick frothy head.
- Texture: Medium- to full-bodied. Bubbly and warm throughout.
- Taste: Some nice smooth caramel maltiness in the beginning. The dark fruits of plum and raisin quickly emerge.
- Finish/Aftertaste: Some lingering dark fruit sweetness, with lots of warmth and dryness.
Glassware: A small tulip glass (The Lone Girl uses a 10-ounce) will allow the dark fruitiness to expand under the nose. Hold the glass by the stem and allow it to slowly warm — more sweetness gradually emerges.
Pairs well with: cheeses with mild earthy qualities. Nothing too musty that will compete with the Belgian yeast. My pick is a medium white soft cheddar with truffle (one of my favorites is Il Truffelino). Quadnado’s dark fruits hints of grape and plum are also excellent paired with chocolate cake.
The Verdict: The Lone Girl’s Quadnado is a smooth Belgian quad that’s so easy drinking it’s easy to forget this is a 10 percent beer. There’s a mild sweet caramel maltiness in the beginning that quickly gives way to yeasty, fruity grape and plum. It’s medium- to full-bodied, and while it is sweet, it finishes remarkably clean, just with a lingering dry warmth from the alcohol. I like this quad because it offers those dark fruits without sticky sweetness. I’m really looking forward to next fall when Russell offers his bourbon barrel-aged version.