Westvleteren 12

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

A cloudy to muddy dark red/ruby brown beer with very little head. What can I add about the aroma, that wasn’t already said here? I picked up earth and plums at first and then so many other impressions that I couldn’t pick them apart, but just sat and enjoyed. The flavour is quite sweet and malty, but balanced and very long lasting (the beer lasted an hour, the flavour lasted another hour). There is a lot of hops to balance, and a licorice dark malt note too that adds a dry finish. Round, pleasant mouthfeel with just noticable bubbles and an almost oily whisky like mouthfeel. It’s just a wonderful drink and at risk of being Ratebeer conformist, I’ll have to say that it earns the 20 overall score second to only Kaggen.

Beer 500. Pours a very cloudy, very yeasty dark brown, similar to the color of the bottle its been housed in. When held to light some orange and red show. Oodles of yeast. Head is everlasting off-white froth that has dozens of bubbly strings rising from the sides of the glass. Leaves an excellent lacing. When viewed from the side, the beer is like a starry night with particles floating and shooting all over the place. Quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Smell is strong and wafts across the room all by itself. Powerfully fragrant, exhibiting caramel, roasted malt, fresh prunes, dark grapes, slight chocolate and raisins all in perfect proportion. Taste is well crafted and of perfect thickness and viscosity. Coats tongue long enough to leave behind flavors of roasted malt balanced with pit fruits. No misused or maligned flavors. Alcohol is recessed in taste for nearly 11% and does not bother the palate in any way. This beer certainly has an excellent reputation that precedes it and admittedly that worried me about rating it. How do you rank something that is supposedly one of, if not THE greatest beers in the world. Well, after drinking it I have to say it is great and I’ve never had a Belgian of better overall quality, taste, appearance and aroma. I can’t say that it was spectacularly ground-breaking or that it reformed my impression of beer, but it did perform what it was supposed to for its style, and it did so magnificently. For now, this beer is king.

So, the time has come. In approximately 14 hrs, my senior paper is due. I have 24 pages, no footnotes, intro, or conclusion. I should hit about 40 pages (including coversheet and bibliography). So, I sit down with the monster, the king, Westy 12. It pours a golden brown, settling to a deep brown-red in my glass, with a big offwhite head that is peppered with little yeast particles. The smell is intoxicating. Roasted coffee, toast, white wine, bread, fruit rollups. This is definitely 8’s bigger brother. Very vinous nose. Taste is huge. Similar to Bernardus, but more going on. It’s epic. Last night I was discussing how I wasn’t sure that I really care for dark Belgians. This may be the exception that proves the rule. THe taste is very yeasty and fruity at the same time. I get wine at first, almost like bread soaked in wine. Through the middle and at the finish a pleasing bitterness comes through. In between the middle and finish, tamarind and unsweetened tea marry together to form one of the best tastes I’ve gotten from Belgian. This is indescribable. This time, the beer begins sweet and moves into the tea flavor once again. The alcohol warms my insides. While this is not my favorite beer of all time, I cannot find anything within this beer that detracts. Is this perfection?

Pours a murky and muddy brown color with a thin creamy white head. Amazing aroma of raisins, sugar plums, caramel, malt and yeast, maybe spices too. Excellent, mind blowing flavor of raisins, sugar plums, carame, malt and yeast, again I feel that there might be spices in there. Medium body, creamy, confortable mouthfeel, moderate carbonation. This is a world class, mind blowing beer, every bit as good as its reputation.

Astonishing beer. The monks of Westvleteren Abbey really know their craft. The colour is noot too attractive, but its aroma makes you dream of roasted nuts, its taste fills you with joy and stays in your mouth a very long time. This beer must be enjoyed slowly and with love, like an age-olg Cognac. Too bad this jewel of a beer is so rare.: the monks voluntarily limit production. A great loss to beer drinkers!

Tried this at the Hopleaf in Chicago with Paul. No doubt the best Belgian beer I’ve ever had (we tasted it alongside the Rochefort 10 and a pot of steamed mussels). I did not take notes, didn’t want to make the experience too much like work, or interrupt the far-reaching conversation. But enuff about me, on to the beer: Smelled a bit like apple cider, but more yeasty and dark. Palate was thick, tasted so complex I couldn’t pick out any one predominant flavor, loved the sharpness contrasting with the sweetness. If there are hops in this beer, I missed ’em. I quite like hops, so it’s hard for me to score this as a 5, but that’s splitting hairs with a beer this good. Someone wrote this beer is "delicate" -- that’s a great way to put it. $12/11.2 oz bottle.

Got this one from Hopdog during my quest for the holy grail and it was worth the search. Dark body with creamy caramel head. Thick full flavor of dark fruits, prunes, raisins, plums, chocolate.

An excellent trappist ale, that is full bodied and full of flavor. Served with a slight chill, to bring more of the flavor to the top. Has a nice toasted taste.