Westvleteren 12

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

Serve in Trappist glass

UPDATED: APR 15, 2011 33cl bottle, bottled in august 2009
Brown color with a red shine and a creamy beige froth.
Creamy nose of fruits. Flavor starts sweet with a gentle alcohol tingle, hints of caramel and a fruity finish. Silky mouthfeel and superb drinkabality.
Complex and yet so gentle, magnificent!

HUGE, HUGE thanks to DA for giving up this bottle to me after I missed a Portland Quad Tasting. I shared the bottle with Tweety during our home brewing session. Poured deep, dark amber with a white head. Wine-like tart fruit esters, cloves, a little alcohol warmth. A tad sour-tanginess with a murky, sulfur-like quality. A smooth, dark fruit tone which hinted to cherries and sweet dark malts, and other spices.

A lot of people has already praised this beer for its many qualities. However I find it a bit too sweet. An excellent strong ale.

One Word. Perfection!!!! If you by any chance shoukd get hold of one of these, buy it, drink it and enjoy it!!

As I like the sweet, dark beers, this is for me the best beer I have ever drunk. It has in my opinion a strong melon taste, except for the watery...

Review #600. Bottle brought back from Belgium by my wife - thanks Bryna! Served in a Westvleteren goblet. Best before February 10th, 2011, so roughly two years old. A - Thank god! After the flat bottle I had in Toronto I was worried. The cap comes off with a hiss and a touch of gunsmoke. Pours with a voluminous two fingers of dark tan foam (impressive for a goblet!), that dissipates quite slowly and leaves glass-coating lacing and a thick cap. The body is a nearly opaque dark plum color. S - The smell literally explodes out of the glass, with an initial wave of dark fruits and berries. Plums, prunes, raisins, black cherries - they’re all here. There’s some vinous red wine notes that emerge, along with a touch of sweet tobacco, apples, and nuts. There’s a caramel malt backbone that ties things together, but stays in the periphery. As it warms a touch of booze peeks through to remind you that this is for sipping. T - The taste is very grape-forward, with notes of port, red wine, dark fruits, rum-cake, and caramel. It’s not as saccharine as Rochefort 10, as it’s balanced by a dryish and slightly woody finish. While the taste isn’t quite as complex as the nose, the alcohol is better hidden. M - The body is chewy and viscous, without becoming heavy or syrupy. Carbonation is present, but soft. Finishes surprisingly dry with only mild residual stickiness. Not much in the way of alcohol heat at all. It’s everything I’d want in a quad, and maybe even a bit more. D - So, is it the best beer in the world? Probably not, but it’s a superb one nonetheless. It’s shockingly drinkable for a 10.2% quad, and I could actually have more than one of these without feeling diabetic too. There’s been a lot written about this beer, and I’m not sure there’s much I can add - it’s excellent, highly recommended, and worthy of the acclaim that has been heaped upon it.

Pours a dark brown red color with some yeast floating, with a nice long lasting beige head, lots of perfect looking pearl like bubbles. Aroma of roasted malts, caramel, brown sugars, dark fruits plums and raisins, and spices. Flavors are pwerfull, of roasted malts, chocolates, brown sugars, liquorices, plums and raisins, yeasts, cloves and spices. Good carbonation, good sweetness and bitterness, well balanced, smooth and creamy. Long lasting wonderfull flavors in mouth, with some hints of rhum finish. A perfect beer.

aged 2 years: compared side-by-side with Rochefort 10 and St Bernardus 12. brownish red with froathy white head. Amazing complex nose with fig, yeasty esters, and dark raison. slight bitterness before an amazingly deep flavor of esters with a little sourness. perfectly dry finish. remarkable beer that shockingly met all expectations, superb. dominated the other belgian dark strongs