Westvleteren 12

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

Serve in Trappist glass

Poured into a trappist glass .... Best by date of Dec 2010! Dark brown pour with dark red hues tan creamy head that stuck around with light lacing left even when the beer was gone ... aroma of dark fruits (plums, figs, raisins) ..... insanely smooth taste which reminded me of rochefort 10 but this beer is creamy taste of plums, figs and slight tart .... a little sticky and sweet dark fruit finish that lingers a little .... a complete beer i see why this is ranked number 1

Courtesy of a trade with digita7693 I had this "young" with a 2013 "best by" date. 12-oz bottle poured into a chalice. Poured a ruddy-red tinged, dark brown. A moderately aggressive pour yielded a huge three-finger white head. It settled to 1/2’ which lasted throughout. I sipped this beer and there was that fluffy head at the very last sip. The nose was coffee, caramel, plums, lemon, clove, and chocolate. The taste? My goodness...dark, sweet fruit (plums, grapes) with some chocolate at the start and some spices. Belgian (bready) yeasts were evident. The finish moved to dry and even a little bitter, providing a wonderful, complex and balanced evolution. Mouthfeel was thick without being syrupy. Carbonation was surprisingly high, but seemed to fit. It’s hard not to gush but this is just an amazing beer. I wanted to find fault with it but could not. Nothing in this review does it justice because it is the subtleties that make it special, and most of them defy description. It is NOT over-rated. You MUST have this.

I paid $150 for six bottles of it on eBay, which I’ll admit makes a me a little biased, but I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible... That being said, I believe this beer was worth every penny I paid for it. I’m only giving it a 19 overall because I figure that even perfection can be made even better. If anyone can do it, though, I’d suspect it would be these monks. I poured 2 bottles of this--one for myself and another for a friend of mine--and let them sit on the counter for several minutes until the head was almost settled and they were each about 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Pours dark reddish brown with a light colored head that doesn’t match the rest of the beer. Aroma of raisins, brown sugar, and plums with a hint of caramel. Thick, malty mouthfeel with just the right amount of natural carbonation. WOW!! Flavor explosion. Dark cherries, plums, and raisins dominate, followed by a faint hit of banana nut bread and a mellow, fruity finish. In summary, wow.

Onsite at the Abbey St. Sixtus. Well it lives up to the hype, and the atmosphere at In De Vrede doesn’t hurt. Malty caramel, complex, dark fruit. Wonderfully balanced for 10.2%. Dark brown w/ tan head, the mouthfeel and palate are perfect.

UPDATED: APR 1, 2011 A: Dark, reddish-brown body. Lighter along the edges. Large, frothy egg-shell head. Good retention. Dense coating of lacing. S: Raisin, caramel, brown sugar, grape skins, figs. Complex and pungent, yet remarkably subtle. T: Much like the nose, there are lots of subtle undercurrents of various dark fruits. Figs, raisins and cherries are prominent. Somewhat less sugar and caramel than is represented in the nose. The grape skin quality has trickled off and been replaced with a more boozier flavor. As the beer warms the flavors really pop out. M: Somewhat thinner than expected for a quad. Perhaps its the booze thinning it out? Regardless, there is a nice lively carbonation up front and a good, clean finish. D: Incredible. I tried to savor this guy, but I couldn’t put the glass down for long. All in all, it lived up to the hype. Now, the question is: when do I drink my two remaining bottles???

Appearance- This beer poured a dark amber color with a huge off white head. Lacing was present throughout the entire beer. Smell- Nice fruit smells with hints of alcohol. Has nice hints of raisins, dark cherries, chocolate and spices. Taste- Incredible. Great tastes of dark fruits, chocolate and spices(cloves, anise). The high ABV is hidden well. Mouthfeel- Nice thick yet smooth mouthfeel with medium high carbonation. Drinkability- This beer is absolutely incredible. I feel lucky to have been able to try one and now I want more.

2010 vintage bottle. Poured hazy dark brown with tan head. Flavors of raisins, coriander, bread, earthy. Taste is sweet with a hint of bitterness. It has a very smooth in the mouth.

(12oz bottle). 8 years old. Pours caramel colored with off-white head. Aroma of raisins, dried fruit. Sweet with dry hoppiness. Full bodied with smooth finish. A perfect beer in all its complexity!