St. Bernardus Abt 12 Special Edition

Formerly brewed at St. Bernard Brouwerij
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Watou, Belgium

From a 750 ml bottle and poured into a tulip glass. The body is a very dark brown with some nice garnet colored highlights. The head is a dark khaki color and lasts for a while. The aroma has some new leather, prunes and milk chocolate. There is also a hint of fresh whole grain bread. The taste has some rich toffee and apples. There is also a nice note of milk chocolate and pears in the finish. The mouthfeel is silky smooth with soft carbonation and it’s amazingly light for the abv. Nicely done.

C&C 750. Garnet brown pour with a dark tan head. Sweet, malty nose, brown sugar. Sweet flavor, bready, fruity and malty. Seems to be slightly more flavorful and a softer mouthfeel than the standard 12.

Any first impressions?
-A warming sheet of foam protects the burgundy-tinged darkness.
-Roastiness and potent raisins produce a firm, rich nose, which is somewhat less yeasty than its regular Abt counterpart.
-Chocolate and roastiness mingle with the raisins and prunes in the most elegant manner.
-The fluffy carbonation and muscular maltiness join for a delectably massive yet classy mouthfeel.

What if you dig deeper?
-Roastiness and sweet malts are ably balanced.
-Caramel builds within for the pleasure of maltheads.
-Alcohol warms up the back end, but perfectly mixes with the supporting hops.
-A fascinatingly rich and reverend Abt from St.Bernardus isn’t exactly a surprise, but to meet my high expectations this one had to deliver, and boy did it ever.

Bottles; the one batch?

750 ml bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar: Chestnut brown with ruby highlights and a generous light beige head. Aroma is plum wine like and spices. Flavor starts dark fruit sweet and tangy with a gentle peppery bitterness a little black cherry followed by a soft sweet finish. Medium bodied and creamy with lively carbonation.

Very dark brown with a huge tan head. Aroma is fruity and well spiced. Taste is same, but I was a bit distracted by the fizz. $11/750ml

750 ml bottle poured a clear reddish copper with a large lasting off white head. Aromas of dark fruit, spice, carmel and toffee. Palate was medium bodied. Flavors of spice, toffee, brown sugar, plum and pepper with a lingering warming finish.

I love the original Abt 12, which has a dark, haunting character. This one just feels too thin, too carbonated, and too hoppy. It’s missing the deep, dark character of the Abt 12. Maybe it needs to age for a few years. Don’t get me wrong, this is good stuff, just not great. I enjoyed a bottle of it with sliced pears and colston bassett stilton cheese, which was wonderful. *Re-rate, 6 months later...either something was wrong with my taste buds when I first rated this, or it has just improved significantly with time. Rich, lush, creamy mouthfeel, fantastic dates, figs, and vanilla. More lavish than the original Abt 12.

This bottled brew from Aofoxxy at a rating party poured a large sized head of foamy finely sized bubbles that was long lasting and left behind a semi-opaque brown colored body with caramel brown edges and a good lacing. The aroma was malty and sweet. The mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of dark malt. Delicious and one I would certainly like to try again.