St. Bernardus Abt 12

Brewed by St. Bernard Brouwerij
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Watou, Belgium

Pours copper with a large (very large) persistent head, leaving lots of lacing. Aroma is a rich mix or red wine, doughy yeast, rose-like perfume and chocolate. Flavours are similarly rich but overshadowed by noticeable alcohol. Lots of doughy yeast, caramel and chocolate though. Rich body, high carbonation, a bit over the top. No where near as complex as I expected, and that alcohol needs to be tamed.

330ml bottle. Dark bronzd copper colour with a rich tan head that snaps and crackles. Wonderfull deep aroma of spiced fruit and currants with a sweet backdrop. Strong alcohol flavours that sift to all parts of the mouth and throat. Almost port like.

wow. This beer is ridiculous. Find one and drink it. Huge creamy head, i could eat this beer with a knife and fork. plum, sweet, brown sugar. this is incredible beer.

Bottle. Pours a raisin bruin body with an off white fluffy head. Dark fruity ester aromatic character of plum, raisins, dates, and fig. An unsweetened jam body with a chewy lush vinous core. Plum and caramelized malt, woody vinous notes, with some yeast y spices. Candi sugar, toffee with a modest alcohol warming, finishes dry with abundant fruity esters. I need to age some bottles of this, awesome!

750ml bottle. Murky brown in color. Head dissipates quickly. Smells and tastes heavy: booze, fruit and sweets. I have had several of these and it just hasn’t grown on me the way I thought it would. It’s taste is complex but not very balanced... has too much booze at the start and a little too much of a sweet & sour aftertaste. To me the larger 750 is better than the smaller bottle... not so over the top... smells more like a grapes too. This beer is good... I have just had better from the Begiums.

11.2 ounce bottle from Total Wine & More in Tustin ($4.29). Yikes, this came all gushing out of the bottle when I opened it. Pours a deep ruby brown with a full four fingers of frothy off-white head which leaves impressive lacing. Aroma has nice sweet fruit (plum, cherry), bready malts, yeast, and some spice. Flavor is the richest of sweet malts, sweet ripe dark fruit, buttery caramel, and lovely spice. Medium-full body with a nice lingering caramel flavor in the finish. Excellent carbonation and mostly imperceptible alcohol. I had this on draft recently, but must say that the flavor is much richer from the bottle. Truly one of the world’s greats.

St. Bernardus is the best of Trappists, a drinkable Belgium that will knock your socks off with alcohol content mixed with drinkability

750. Pour is lighter than I was exoecting, but pleasant hazy brown. Aroma is lots of yeast and dried fruit and brown sugar with background of wet earth. Taste is heavy on the brown sugar at first, though as it warms, raisins, clove and molasses show up to balance that out. As with other (good) Quads, it shows a lot of different profiles. At one point, I swear it tasted like liquid banana bread. I wasn’t blown away with this one, I trhink it lacks the cohesiveness and overall ’Umami’ factor of R10 and W12, but it’s a well-done brew.