St. Bernardus Abt 12

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

Pours a hazy dark brown with tannish head, leaving a nice drooping lace behind. Pleasantly fruity(grapes or plums maybe), with some spices in the aroma with some alcohol. Flavor is spicy, leads you into several differnt fruits as well as some nice malt backing all of this up. For being 10%, it hides it well. Very smooth palate, finishes with a small kick of alcohol. It does warm up the belly a bit. Not the best Quad I've had, but a good one nevertheless.

330 ml. bottle. Pours a gorgeous thick, dark brown with some yeast detritus evident and a large, creamy beige head that lasted and lasted. Aroma is molasses, brown sugar, dark brown bread, spices - coriander and clove most noticibly - with rich sweet malts. Flavor is smooth and sweet and complex with cinnamon, nutmeg, molasses, mellow oak and raisin leaving an astringent finish. High alcohol content is well hidden in the rich flavors. Full body, smooth and light, creamy carbonation. My favorite of the abbey ales so far I think.

Ok head from the pour. Great carbonation keeps a thin head on the surface. Color of watery milk chocolate. Slightly sour dark fruit aroma with some grapes and yeast. Rather full bodied with many flavors hidden inside. Some port, more dark fruit, grapes and a nice alcohol warming to go along with a large alcohol presence (which I like). Decent malt backbone. Finishes quite smooth and alcoholic. Slightly sour and crisp. Quite a good/complex beer that is well worth the time. Wow even better the second time.

Bottle says 20 07 09. Poured into a Watou glass with yeast. Murky brown with active carbonation. Small bubbles with plenty of lacing. Very spicy nose - citrus and bread with an alcohol burn. Very sweet, caramel taste. Fizzy. Very creamy and delicious.

Dark hazy reddish-brown hue, with a creamy tan-colored head, bready dough, fruity note, brown sugar, sweet roasted malt aroma follows through on a medium- bodied palate with a fruity note of plums, figs, dates, a chocolatey accent, also mocha, sweet roasted malt, bready dough, leading towards a fruity alcoholic warmth and spicy, malty finish.

Wow. I must be all over the map...probably more likely than this beer being the subtle mix of styles if appears to me. First off, a Brune or a classic trappist a la Westy or Roch? More Brunelike to me, quite Bretty nose, deep malt, some alcohol, fruit like dates or something. The lack of super obvious alch. nose is a plus in my book. Then the taste: some high alcohol, like the Rochefort 10, but more malty (in fact this malt is kind of like the depth [user_ex calls it malt syrup] found in Double Enghien Brune, but without the hops to counteract). Hmmm...I like it, but I can see how others woudn't.

Bottle courtesy of Bockeyhorsey. Best before 030310. Pours dark brown with some floaties, and a nice white head. Aroma of sweet dark fruits. Lots of fruit notes in the flavor: raisens, plums, apple. This is complimented by some bready and sugary malt flavors. I can pick up some amount of alcohol in the finish, along with the dustiness. Not bad. I was wanting to drink this next to a Westy 12, but as we all know, Westy’s are bitch tom come by. I got tired of waiting. Nice beer.

Bottle. Great pour-hematite pour with a thick FROTHY head. Nose is malty and cardboard. Flavor is prune, acidic, a little alcohol, and yeasty. Taste is raisin, yeasty, and a little metallic. Very chewy palate, like a Chimay Red. Good full mouthed flavor. This is a very full bodied beer. It sits on my stomach like a whole meal-yummy. Finish is dry, cold, and bold like the Gobi. Good beer. It gets better as it warms.