Westvleteren 12 (XII)

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

Serve in Trappist glass

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle. Pours dark with a tan head. A very complex dark, malty, fruity beer with floral notes. Amazing aroma and flavor fruit, yeast, citrus, alcohol, spices, oak, vanilla, the list goes on and on as flavors change. The best Trappist beer I have ever tasted.

A dark brown beer with a beutiful head. It has an aroma of caramel and fruit. It is very sweet and slightly bitter and has a fruity taste that tickles your tongue slightly (the alcohol?) Definately a great beer.

UPDATED: APR 16, 2007 33 cL bottle several times and at different ages. Pours dark brown, murky. Aroma is a complex blend of fruit, chocolate and caramel malt. Mouthfeel is soft and wineous. Flavour starts sweet, goes into a toffee sweet-/softness, a slight touch of bitterness breaks the sweet notes. Extremely well balanced palate, all elements blend perfect into each other and none of them dominate. Has a touch of warming alcohol in the finish. Simply perfect.

UPDATED: MAR 31, 2009 (Bottle 33 cl) Dark brown with only a small beige head. Extremely complex with notes of plums, raisins and perhaps some chocolate as well. Starts sweetish but ends with a fig-like driness. Hops are present but only to balance things, they never dominate. Westvleteren 12 is a revelation, a truly heavenly experience - the kind of beer that explodes with flavours in your mouth giving you new impressions each and every time. And if you store this it only gets better. More a meal than a drink. Excellent, excellent. 100398

Bottled. Dark nut brown, hazy colour with small beige head. Sweet aroma of caramel, alcohol, fruit, flowers a bit licorace and banana, very complex. Extremely wellbalanced complex flavour, being soft and sweet into a bit biting alcohol. Flavour consists of bananas, citrus, hops, alcohol and caramel and lots more. Excellent beer.

Brown colour with a fine white head. Nice aroma of malt and raisins. Good sweet flavor of malt and hops. Very balanced.

Having tried several thousand beers, if I’m hard pressed to come up with one single favourite this is usually the one. Every time I try it there are new fascinating flavours. It has a deep burgundy colour. A fruity complex aroma with a hint of raspberries. It is very malty, and as the beers warms to room temperature the flavours explode. Toffee, fruit, licorice, yoiu name them. The mouthfeel is soft and vinuous, and the finish is salty with well balanced bitterness.

Rating # 600; Pours a dark amber colour with a medium thick off-white head. Sweet fruity aroma with lots of raisin and dark fruits. Some spicy hints. Fruity flavor with some honey and raisin. Sweet malty and fruity aftertaste with some bitterness and warming from the alcohol. An excellent beer.

UPDATED: JUN 9, 2013 Bottle. Very dark brown colour. Creamy tan head. Very full flavour, peppery and malty. Nice smooth mouthfeel. 15 Dec 2004. 5 4 8 4 17

Bottle, 10.2%. Weak bready aroma. Cloudy dark brown colour. Big stable light brown head. The flavour is sweet and bready with a lot of brown sugar, some marzipan and a rather high bitterness. Mild carbonation and good mouthfeel. A little boozy finish. 7 3 7 3 18

UPDATED: OCT 16, 2009 Only avaliable at the monastery. 3 times 24 beers avaliable per. car only! Limited and Beautiful. Dark, full and long finish! Very smooth texture. Dark fruits & caramel - little sweetness & little alcohol. Rerating Oktober 09. Had this more than a hundred times and it really needed a few extra words. 2005 vintage. Deep, dark rum and fruits. Complex in a way that is hard to describe. Even after 3500 beers. World class and top 10 for sure.