Cascara Quad - New Belgium Brewing

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Cascara Quad

- Lips of Faith

STORY

Cascara Quad is a dark, strong and surprisingly delicate ale made with dates and coffee cherries. Channeling the Trappist tradition, it’s brewed with an ethereal malt bill, and spiced with the fruit of the coffee bean (cascara). The aroma brings dates, cherries and pipe tobacco right to the nose and builds layers with hints of spice and fruity Belgian yeast. Once on the palate, Cascara Quad starts swinging clove, fig and molasses. Each sip offers sweet warmth, deep complexity and fleeting dryness.

BEER FACTS

Birthdate: January, 2013

Body: Medium-Heavy

ABV: 10%

IBU: 22

Hops: Hallertauer Hersbrucker-Nobel, Styrian-Golding-Nobel

Malts: Pale, Munich, Caramel Munich, Biscuit, Black

Yeast: Rochefort Belgian

Fruits/Spice: Belgium Amber Candy Sugar, Date Sugar, Cascara Tea

Aroma: Ripe figs, raisins, plums, black cherries, toffee, chocolate, pipe tobacco, rich Corinthian leather and leather bound books.

Mouthfeel: Starts big and smooth, finishes still smooth yet the cascara tea and higher ABV will bring a nice dry warm end to this epic novel.

Flavor: Sweet and rich, huge complex overall taste.

Visual: Brooding, dark, cloudy berry brown with tan head.

Food Pairings

Lamb Gyro Meatballs with Yogurt, Mint & Tabouli Chip Newell, Georgia Beer Ranger print recipe Lamb Gyro Meatballs with Yogurt, Mint & Tabouli LAMB GYRO MEATBALLS with YOGURT and MINT and TABOULI Lamb Gyro Recipe • Ingredients: • 1 pound ground lamb • 1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon • kosher salt and pepper • 1/2 cup bread crumbs • 1 large egg, beaten • 1 bunch scallions (white and light green parts), sliced • 4 pieces flat bread • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt • 2 tablespoons fresh mint • Feta Cheese Directions: • Place an oven rack in the second-highest position and heat broiler. • Combine the lamb, raisins, cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, bread crumbs, egg, and ¾ of the scallions in a large bowl. • Shape into golf ball-size meatballs and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil, turning once, until cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. • Divide the flat bread among individual plates and top with the meatballs, yogurt, mint, and remaining scallions. Pairing Description: These lamb gyro meatballs are prepared with cinnamon and golden raisins. The char of the meatball pairs great with the dark, roasty malts in this Cascara Quad, while the spicy sweetness of the cinnamon and raisins brings out the Belgian candy and date sugars. The higher alcohol of the Quad gives its finish a sweet boozy warmth. The yogurt and mint in the gyro, as well as the cucumber in the tabouli, provide a cooling effect which compliments the beer’s sweet heat, inviting you to go back and forth from beer to food all meal long!
Bruschetta, two ways... Rich Rush, Pacific Northwest Ranger print recipe Bruschetta, two ways... I decided to go with some fun and creative plays on bruschetta. This is something that I've done in the past when having beer geek parties at my house. It's an easy way to create a lot of different taste profiles for pairing with beer, all on the same platform of the toasted baguette. For the sake of the Quad, here are the two plays on bruschetta that I created to pair with it. #1: Nutella, with apple wood smoked bacon, and gray salt: This decadent treat needs a huge beer such as our Quad to cleanse the pallet after each bite and to keep you powering through it. It works on many levels. The sweet of the Nutella pairs nicely with the sweet of the Quad, and they do a nice job of cancelling each other out. The high alcohol of the Quad does a good job at cutting through the savory goodness of the fat in the bacon. And finally the gray salt leaves you parched and ready for your next swig of Quad. #2: Fig butter, and cambozola cheese, with marcona almonds and a honey drizzle: I like this one because you really can't figure out if it's a dessert or an appetizer. The fig butter plays perfectly with the fig and raison aromas and tastes you get from the Quad, and works to highlight them and call them out. The smooth creamy texture and subdued flavors of the Cambozola play against the sweet of the Quad and also help to mellow out the alcohol heat of the 10% ABV. I put the Marcona almonds on for the same reason as the Cambozola. And of course the honey drizzle is there to also partner with the sweet of the Quad.