Beautiful, clear chestnut red body underneath a medium sized tan head that fades appropriately quickly.

Nose is mostly light alcohol even on warming.

EtOH warmth is apparent immediately, and a cinnamon, Christmas spice note hits up front. The cinnamon is not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination but it works here.

The finish is quite punishingly dry.

There is plenty of alcohol warmth here, but the beer is immensely drinkable, and by that I mean not at all heavy. It doesn’t feel like a Quad on many levels, but rather like a specifically Christmasy, Belgian.

I always wanted the original, but am less interested in it now, since I’d rather have a comparison of like with like. The original from 2008 and 2020 side by side at their same age.

Big alcohol hits, does the job, and still feel ‘light’. Quite a skill to pull all of this off.

2020 version purchased in January 2021 Atlanta, GA.