St. Bernardus Pater 6

33 cL bottle. Pours hazy brown/reddish with a huge crispy and light brown head. Caramel malty sweet with mild yeasty spice notes. Thick raisin flavour. Spiced. Sweet. Fruity. Malty finish.

Nose of dark sweet malts, chocolate cake, wet flowerbed. Dark cloudy brown, tan head that vanishes, leaving tan lace as thick as paint on the sides of the glass. Taste of chocolate, espresso, and dark roasted malts. Dry nutty finish ... hazelnuts ... and dry nutty mouthfeel. I worked in some well deserved bonus points as a low alcohol Belgian ... sort of Westvleteren lite.

Pours a dark amber, translucent to opaque, with a slightly off-white head. Aroma is spicy to malty, and flavor is typical brown ale with a little fruit thrown in for good measure. Good, solid beer.

Murky brown with a huge white head. The nose is full of sweet fruit and toast. The flavor is sweet with estery goodness and the finish is dry. Great ale.

First try 6/28/07. Bottle. Cloudy dark amber color. Large off-white head with good lacing. Aroma of malt, yeast, cloves and other spices. Taste follows suit, but expands to include figs, cinnamon and brown sugar. Slight metallic finish when cold, but it softens considerably as it warms. Solid Belgian, but make no mistake, the 12 rules this family.

Coloração marrom escura, com um bom creme. Cerveja encorpada. Carbonatação alta.

330. Pours deep brownish-black with clear garnet highlights against the light. Mammoth fluffy/sudsy whit head with webs of clingy cobwebby lace coming down the sides of the glass. Fairly restrained nose; some oxidized apples and cherry there, some light barnyard funk and maybe a bit of sweat. Light body, surprisingly watery for 6.7, actually. Fairly flat. Restrained flavors, and they’re really just a re-tread of that nose: light funk, light sour tree fruit. Not a knockout by any means.

The St. Bernardus Pater 6 is the youngest brother in the Bernardus family. It is, like so many younger siblings through European history, a victim of primogeniture. The 12 finds success in inheritance, land and lordship, while the Pater 6 must seek out a life of humility and ascetism in a monastery. But that doesn’t make it any less good. It only makes it more difficult to realize its potential. Besides, monks and clerics are generally more well regarded in history then the lords who, well, lorded over them. The crown of the Pater 6 is very bubbly and porous, with an elderly silver white color that glistens in the light, while the body is the color of dark and dusty oak like an old chest or wardrobe stored in the attic. Save for the vigorous streams of bubbles I might have thought this beer was sitting by itself for many years before I bought it. The aroma is fresh like an outdoor vegetable stall, but with an assertive and semi-sweet creamy quality that lends it an appealing richness. Wood, beef consommé, hops, dust and brown sugar are the most emphatic aroma components, designating the Pater 6 a moderately dry, flavorful and engaging beer. Pink lady apple, candle wax and a mild hint of pear are the finer aromatic etchings, like a rococo detail, essential for the Pater 6’s bouquet but comparatively minute. Before I notice any distinct flavors I’m struck by the Bernardus’ softness. It’s frothy, but thick like a great cushion, impacting with every sip. I feel crude and churlish with every drink as if morphing this malleable treasure were somehow a desecration against art. Yeast and yogurt, no doubt part of the creaminess, barge into the mouth with a welcome tanginess, while wood, dust, apple, pear, cinnamon, spring water and mandarin orange create a sophisticated sweet and cheesy palate. I love this combination, and if I could define as its own category of beer, it would be my favorite style. The Pater 6, concurrent with the toothsome flavors, is soft, light and entirely drinkable. I find it a challenge not to devour it all in a single raise of the glass, but an impetus to savor it restrains me. Indeed, this may be the little brother, cast aside for the big blue, but it has many merits of its own. The Pater 6 knows what Augustine knows – being the marginal blue blood is of no consequence when it comes to greatness.