Our first visit to Brasserie La Caracole was about 8 years ago. After a few wrong turns we found a rustic 18th Century dairy shed housing an equally rustic little brewery in the village of Falmignoul.
We were greeted by two young girls who must have been 12 or 13 years old. They were our hosts, as they presented the four beers that were brewed there, as well as the stories associated with each beer.
It was a very memorable brewery visit, not least because the beers. From the witbier to the quadruple, all were of such great quality. Our favourite was the Nostradamus.
It pours a lovely dark brown, and gives off a wonderfully enticing aroma of dark roasty malts, dried red stone fruits and spicing.
This follows through in the taste. Candy sugar sweetness, raisins, prunes, figs and a little tart cherry. Hints of chocolate , nutmet, brown sugar and a slight earthy hop bitterness. It is quite a complex beer, and finishes reasonably dry for all the sweet, fruity attributes.
by L’Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont
The classic strong dark Trappist ale from the Chimay Trappist Monastery
De Molen's 'Beautiful & Ruthless' is part quadruple part imperial stout
by Brouwerij Emelisse/Slot-Oostende
The winter seasonal from Emelisse is an ABT/quadrupel. Each year they add a different ingredient - for 2015 they've added English liquorice
The quadrupel/ABT beer from the newest Trappist Monastery from Austria.
The new addition to the Gulden Draak label - a rich and boozy quadruple
An award winning quad that kick-started the commercial brewing careers of two twin brothers
A rich and boozy quadrupel, featuring Alvinne's Morpheus house yeast
by Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven
The top of the tree from Dutch Trappist Monastery La Trappe
by Brasserie Artisinale Millevertus
A big, rich and smooth Belgian quadrupel style, just the thing for a cool night by the fireplace
More like a traditional quadrupel than the Pannepot; brewed for the Dutch market.
One of the best Belgian beers you'll ever taste - so much flavour it's impossible to describe.
Voted Belgium's 'Best Hobby Beer 2011', no in full-blown production
The grandfather of Trappist strong dark ales - does it get any better than this?
The showpiece quadrupel of the St Bernardus Brewery - as close to Westvleteren 12 as you can get without the real thing.
The newest addition to the beer portfolio from the only active brewery still inside the city walls of Bruges.
A delicious dark quadruple aged for three years in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels
A big mouthful of flavour with this fiery quadruple, brewed in the La Trappe Monastery by one of Belgium's leading female brewers.
The original beer from Brasserie Caracole, a fruity, malty amber ale
A light and lively Belgian blond beer from the rustic Brasserie Caracole
A typical Belgian witbier with loads of orange and lemon citrus and a little coriander
