Beer Styles

What is a Quadrupel? It's a very strong, dark, top-fermented beer with warm fruit character and a soft finish. The name comes from La Trappe: the Quadrupel is considered the originator of the term, though in competitions the beer is classified as Belgian Dark Strong Ale.

Dubbel and Tripel are older names from the Belgian Trappist tradition. A Dubbel is reddish-brown and medium-strong, tasting of dark bread, raisin, and caramel. A Tripel is golden, stronger, drier, and spicier. The Quadrupel surpasses both and calls for a small glass and a bit of patience.

The difference between Dubbel and Quadrupel lies mainly in strength and body. The Dubbel stays nimble and can even be paired with food, while the Quadrupel is a beer for small glasses—dark, sweet, full-bodied, and warm on the finish.

Then there's La Trappe Isid'or, an amber-colored beer released in 2009 to mark the brewery's 125th anniversary. It's named after Brother Isidorus, the abbey's first brewer.

Dubbel, Tripel, and Quadrupel share the same yeast family but different recipes. The Dubbel comes from dark malt, the Tripel from pale malt with plenty of sugar, and the Quadrupel from dark malt with even higher original gravity. This means you can already tell the three apart by color in the glass.

The ranges in the table are competition style guidelines, not fixed recipes. Individual beers from the region may fall outside them, and exact figures appear on the label.