Westvleteren 12 (XII)

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

Serve in Trappist glass

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UPDATED: DEC 25, 2008 (2005 bottle sampled 12/2008) Aroma of raisins and dried plums, anise, saltiness. Salty-anisey flavor, lots of dried fruit, quite intense, sweetish maltiness, slight sourness, orange-peel and anise in the finish. Medium body, no alcohol presence. (Bottled, BBE 09/2007, sampled Dec 27, 2005) Smooth, syrupy aroma of raisins and plums, plus anise hints. No alcohol. Very malty, syrupy, smooth-anisey flavor with soft, warming alcohol hints. Some sticky-sugary bitterness. Quite full-bodied, silky-smooth-carbonated palate. Already considerably better than the fresh (06/2008) bottle I compared this with. Will probably get much closer to 5 by more cellaring... (Bottled, BBE 09/2007, sampled Dec 19, 2004, was 8-4-9-5-18=4.4) Dark reddish brown color with a medium, beige head. Slightly roasted, malty and alcoholic aroma with licorice and some coffee hints. Sweetish, malty and wineous flavor with some salty soy-sauce, fruit, anise and other herbs. Quite full-bodied, smooth and slightly alcoholic, very warming palate with a somewhat high, but balanced carbonation. A very nicely balanced, complex, but a bit alcoholic brew. A few years of maturing would probably do good for this one. [Old re-rate Feb 4, 2004, was 3.7 before this] Dark drown color, no head. Wineous, a bit alcoholic cocoa aroma. Very full-bodied, wineous, peppery flavor with plenty of herbs (anise). Heavy stuff! Needs to mature more to soften the flavor, but very good anyway.

UPDATED: AUG 17, 2004 Unlike most, I do not understand why this is the God of Beers at all. A nice ale, yes but a little sweet. Aroma of dates or raisens (I could not tell which). Very complex flavors.

Aroma and flavour were very complex and full with strong notes of molasses/sugar, malt, licorice and many more components. All in good balance with the alcohol and carbonation. Mouthfeel was fantastic and the bitter aftertaste just lasted. Great.

UPDATED: NOV 9, 2009 I saved my 100th rating for the beer most everyone hails as supreme.It poured an exquisite brown red color, the aroma was malty sweet, with a little bit of citrus,not as wonderful as I thought. The taste was sraight malt citrus, with a hint of cherry. A very nice brew, but not the elexiar I was led to believe.I read one report that the new brew is a little raw and may take a couple years to peak, so I bought another bottle and will let it sit.

Now, I usually prefer blondes to brunes, at least in beers, but Westy has amazing complexity. Every sip is a discovery. It looks splendid and smells good too, but there's less aroma than I anticipated. The alcohol is warming and as you get further down the glass you'll be finding yet another facet of this many splendored nectar. Variety of fruits and tastes to be discovered, among the dried fruits some chocolate. I'll need to rate this again to do it properly, but I'm hardly overrating it now!

UPDATED: NOV 1, 2007 Sweet. Vapory essences of chocolate & vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, coffee & cream. Port wine, raisins & plums. Addictive. Ruby brown clear (until last pour) with small lacing off-white head. The best mouthfeel of any beer I’ve had. Liquid velvet. Sweet & complex to start. Can taste most of the odors described above. Alcohol, too. Finish stays sweet but some mild hops introduce themselves for delicate bitterness that persists to the aftertaste. Leaves with nutty dry sweet-bitter. This beer is near perfect.

OK. I signed up for ratebeer a few months ago and have been trying to become a beer snob ever since. I have spent a great deal of time "tying one on" achieving my goal and I would like to start my ratings today with the ratebeer king of beers. Opening the westvleteren 12 was a treat. Not an overpowering aroma as I anticipated however there was a strong smell of dates/raisins to me and a strong alcohol aroma. The appearance was dark cloudy brown, with a thick light brown head that never died. The taste is quite complex. I taste the dried fruit and molassas. It is extremely silky on the tastebuds and has an outstanding burst of complex flavors. It almost leaves you guessing. I like that. Outstanding on the palate, in a class of its own. I can see how this beer is rated as one of the top dogs in the world. As I finish the bottle, it gets even more enjoyable. The only drawback is that the bottle ends to quickly to make a final analysis. I look forward to purchasing another bottle and doing a rerate.

Pretty damn close to perfect. I sample this side by side with the Rochefort 10 (which I thought was slightly better). Very complex aroma - molassas, dried fruit, toffee. Flavor was equally complex - all aromas were present as a flavor, with some addided rich spiciness. Finish has some nice hops, along with some nuttiness and toffee.

Cloudy, brownish color with a sensational malty aroma of chocolate and raisins. It had a nutty taste with butterscotch or caramel notes. The feel was full and creamy. Perhaps one of the best beers of all time.

I only got started on "good beer" a short time ago. And, this was one of my first. The complexity was mind boggling. I've been a huge Belgian fan ever since.