St. Bernardus Abt 12

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

Re-Rate 10/09/02: Deep brown color on the pour the head is prodigious, the lace husky, beige and long lasting. Nose is sumptuous, nutty sweet, bubble gummy, rasin like, a most ’Sniffable’ beer. Front is ambrosial, the top is light, the finish is congenially dry, magisterially hopped, notably acidic. A treasure not to be missed if your into ’Belgian Ales’, and one of only a few to get a ’Perfect 5’ from this ’Olde Gusler’. Ranks or I should say is tied for #1 on my current 1000 beer master list with Westvleteren Abt 12, and Abbaye des Rocs.

Incredible. The abbot surely has it made!!

Pours a dark brown, with some ruby tinges in it. Head is large, big-bubbled tan, slowly diminishes to some decent lacing. Body has lots of carbonation, and lots of yeasty bits swirling around in it. Aroma is huge, yeasty, vinous, fruity, grapes, raisin, some doughiness, and hints of honey. Flavor is equally huge and complex, lots of fruitiness and sweetness, and changes over time as the brew comes up to room temp. Very full bodied, massively complex flavors and aromas. Very similar to the Westy 12, but seemed to have more lively and lasting carbonation.

wow, look at that head, its gotta be ¾" thick,and creamy white, the color is a cloudy chocolate/ruby color, it is raisin and rootbeer scented, just simply delicious, rich creamy toffee/raisin/clove flavored with some bananas lingering, a little yeast flavor comes through, but is well balanced, this beer is very rich, the best beer in the universe, westy 12 needs to get on its knees to this mad man!

RERATE 060624. I loved this beer the very first time I had it. Since then I have tried it several times on both bottle and tap. And I just like it more and more each time. Simply wonderful, I just cant get enough of it. (Old rating: 10/4/9/5/17) Dark amber, nice lasting offwhite head. Great malty aroma with hazelnuts and other nuts, along with vanilla and malt. Malty dry and nutty flavor with vanilla and cream. Very complex and with a great body. Alcohol is well hidden.

Rerated: Beer pours from 25.4 oz bottle (into Chimay glass) a dark brown-red, clear liquid with a medium amount of slightly off white head that lingers and looks fantastic, like a smooth, creamy top of a vanilla milkshake. Aroma is of heavy, heavy malt, buttered walnuts, various dried fruits, chocolate, and yeast. Flavor is of heavy, creamy malt, dried fruits, almost chocolate, walnuts, with an extremely delayed aftertaste of vanilla milkshake. Absolutely outstanding beer. Alcohol is sometimes noticable with a burn, and sometimes not noticable at all. This beer is well worth the average of around $6.70 per bottle. Sampled at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. First rating was from an 11.2 oz. bottle into a snifter glass. The liquid was colder, cloudy, and had a very large head, but dissipated to near nothing leaving a thin film. The aroma and flavor didn't give off as many characteristics as the larger bottle rerate. Incredible, Incredible beer.

BB date 11-06. Poured a reddish brown with a modest head. I stuck my nose right to the foam and could pick up very little aroma. Slightly dry and fruity.Did not find it either creamy or complex as in the description. Not bad but should probably sit another year or so. UPDATE. After a second bottle and drinking it at 60 F + degrees instead of cold made a world of differance.Chocolate,figs,dried plums,very creamy and velvety mouthfeel and not near as dry as when tasted at 50 F.It did start to lose something as it neared room temp. So I had to upgrade.

This is by far the best beer I’ve tried. To me it’s taste is perfection in every way. I feel like I’m in heaven (or heaven is in my mouth) when I drink this. The colour is dark brown with a nice frothy tan head that lasts and laces the glass. The aroma is so inviting you just wanna dive in. The taste is molasses, yeast, banana, figs and brown sugar...sweet aftertaste the alcohol is very well hidden. If this stuff were regularly available here I’d turn into an alcoholic.