I brew a Belgian Quadrupel style at the beginning of every year, then bulk and bottle condition the beer for months. It's not a pilot batch to scale up, but a personal brew for a special treat for me and friends at the end of the year. I choose a commercial Quad as inspiration, and brew a similar beer - learning from the experience. The inspiration Quad this year is from La Trappe. I chose the La Trappe Quad mostly due to influences on my trip to Spain with Sublime Imports to brew with two craft breweries.
One of the breweries I worked with was Mateo & Bernabé & Friends. They make a really nice Belgian Dark Strong Ale called Santiago brewed with the T-58 yeast strain from Fermentis. This surprised me as most beers made with T-58 accentuate the dry and pepper characters of the yeast - but this beer expresses delicious fruitiness and caramel richness.
I also had the opportunity to try La Trappe's Dubbel, Tripel, and Quadrupel side by side while in Spain. I picked up characters very similar to what I'm familiar with from the Fermentis T-58 yeast strain. Since I enjoy La Trappe, and I also like working with T-58, I decided this year's BCT Quad 2014 would be similar to La Trappe, and brewed with the T-58 yeast strain.







