St. Bernardus Abt 12

Bottle 0.75 l. Bought Kvickly Hilleroed. Colour deep red-brown with very high soft beige head. Aroma sweet fruity - plums and cherries. Complex spicy taste - more liquorice/anis than fruit. Pleasant bitterness. Soft carbonation. Long lasting a bt dry aftertaste

dark honey brown with nice off-white, dirty head. Not very impressive aroma (but I did serve it kind of cold which probably froze up some of the aromas). Aromas of booze, wine, and port. Flavors of vanilla, hickory, liquorice - very unique - grapes (wine/port), malt, whiskey. Heavy, smooth and sticky on the palate (the alcohol leads to an ultimately dry finish). Overall - great beer.

On tap at The Bavarian Lodge, Lisle, IL into Trappist glass. (This was beer #2 from a night of enjoying real rarities on tap. It took a Tyroler Schnitzel and lots of rye bread to get me back on track for the ride home!) A raisiny, ruby-brown with a chunky, lacy white head. Aroma is heavy on dark fruits like raisin, cherry, etc., plus a slight alcohol tingle and some nice balancing maltiness. A wonderful aroma! Flavor was a tart, sweet, rich fruity and malty joy. Blew out whatwas left of my taste buds after drinking the De Dolle "Mad Bitch" earlier in the evening. Alcohol was evident, but not so much as to make one think it was a 10.5% beast. The alcohol evident was more of a reminder of the fermented goodness that was present. Palate was thick but clean. Wonderful flavors lingered. In a way this almost reminded me of a Central or Eastern European cordial. Overall, another great beer that I was lucky enough to try on tap. Wow, I’ll have this again, I suspect. Just great.

Bottle 0.33l, pours with a nice deep beige head, very thick dark brown ale. Very rich, thick malty taste. Quite sweet also. Hides it’s strength very well, perhaps the best beer I’ve drank this year.

(Bottle 0.33l, BBE271212, at Poirotti on 2008-04-25) Dark amber colour. Medium a bit tan-coloured head. Fruity and malty nose. Full and bit acidic palate. Lots of malts in taste. Liquorice and chocolate flavours. Would improve when aged, now too young.