Westvleteren 12

Brewed by Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Westvleteren, Belgium

Serve in Trappist glass

11.2oz bottle into chalice @ Pub Italia in Ottawa, ON. This gem pours a murky, swampy brown with slight reddish and purple edge accents. Head was bubbly beige and held for quite a while. The smell is a buffet of ripe purple fruits: plums, currants, raisins and black cherries. Distinct Belgian yeastiness adds that desired bread nose. Taste is very complex...really the epitome of quad brew flavour profile, dark fruits, cherries, some pepper and amazing cloves. That bready yeast profile is nicely integrated and somewhat subdued. Wonderful experience - even if expensive. The mouthfeel is absurdly smooth, I didn’t notice an strong alcohol in the taste but that first sip did warm me up. I was a bit skeptical going in as this is quite the highly hyped, idolized, "epic" beer. However, the beer speaks for itself and completely crushes any of the perceived ’hype’ surrounding. Delicious, and that’s all.

Intensiver und dichter Geruch nach schokoladigem Malz, Feigen und reifen Bananen. Süßlicher, malziger und noch zurückhaltender Start. Dann erfolgt ein schneller Angriff von einem wahren Aromencocktail aus Feige,Pflaume, Mandarine und Schokolade. Erste alkoholische Eindrücke sind hier spürbar, die sich jedoch im Hintergrund halten. Langer, prickelnd alkoholischer Abgang. Malzig in der Statur und ein wenig röstig. Ein sehr volles und gleichzeitig sanftes Bier mit großer Aromenfülle. Meisterhaft!Test vom 17.3.2009, Gebinde: Glasflasche

Bottle shared with northropfrye. It smelled great - dried fruits and caramel. Excellent sweet taste. I sure enjoyed drinking this and wish northropfrye would let me drink the whole bottle.

UPDATED: JAN 7, 2012 Very nice beer with a great aftertaste

Bottle from the brewery. Pours a dark brown witha prominent red hew. The nose is malt with dried plums, raisins and figs. First sip is candy sugar with complex toffee and dark fruit paste notes. Finish is nice with little to no hops.

Bottle brought back from Belgium by my dad on a recent trip. Flavor is very warming with a strong fruity essence. My buddy and I split the bottle and one small glass was far different in texture and flavor than the other. One was dark brown, almost black while the other was dark orange. We mixed them and enjoyed the blend of fig, apicot, and sweet prune. Again, very warm alcohol feel, but smooth like an aged scotch. Unique.

Pour deep dark brown with big pillow of beige head. Aroma of honey, yeast, clove, bread, dark malt, dark fruits. Taste spicy yeast, honey, dark fruit, bread, nice hops, candy sugar, light earthiness. MF full body quite rich with fine fizzy carb. Overall a great beer with a lot of complexity, terrific mouthfeel, and wide variety of flavor. This is a world class beer however the hype over exceeds the end result with that said I would still drink this beer any day of the week and could easily see it amongst some of my favorites. A very special thanks to Jeff for this one I owe ya.

Bottle, sample, not sure of the vintage. Darker amber with a tan head. Aroma: vanilla, brandy, dried fruit. Stor och mysig arom. Taste: liqueur, vanilla, creamy, rhubarb pie with custard, dried fruit. Pretty full-bodied, towards oily. A really nice one. I’ll leave that whole overrated or not discussion to others.