St. Bernardus Abt 12

Brewed by St. Bernard Brouwerij
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Watou, Belgium

Pours a very nice brown with a cream-like colored head, with wonderful staying power. Large smell of malts, and a few other things I can’t put my finger on. First taste on this was so good, I started wondering why I have not been drinking more quad. Just simply amazing. Soft on the mouth feel, and goes down nice and smooth. A touch of sweetness at the end makes this brew just that much better. Outstanding brew. Simply outstanding.

Nice pop! Cloudy brown/anber pour with a thick cream head. Aroma is citrus. metal, bananna. Great mouth feel: pungent and warming - foam on the stash is always a plus. Yeast is there along with bread, banana, caramel and tannins.

Dark brown pour into a THICK foamy off white head that slowly dissipates into sticky lacing on the glass. Lightly carbonated bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass through murky floating spicy bits. Aroma of malty fruity citrus that fades into sweet malty hoppiness. Almost wine-like initial flavor with floating spicy bits providing the hoppy bite that fades into a balanced malty sweetness.

Bottle poured dark brown and red with a great head. Rich aroma of bread, fruits, cedar and malt. Smooth, thick, rich and creamy, mildly bitter but mostly masked. Complex flavor that I couldn’t start to describe. Moves through flavors perfectly and rapidly throughout the drink. Amazing beer.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown with a beautiful, lasting head. Pungent, banana clove esters dominate the aroma. IN YOUR FACE yeast character, though nothing offensive, just very dominant. Malt profile is impeccable, sweet but not cloying, body is soft and delicate. There are earthy notes in the body that I’d prefer a softer yeast to be able to detect, but this is at least on par with Roquefort. One of the best I’ve had.

Date: 26/2/09 Beer info: Bottled in brown 330ml bottle 10.0% abv BB 08 05 13 Sampling notes: Served lightly chilled in chalice. Major gusher! Not cool! Murky bronze body with the remants of what was probably a very nice tight offwhite head. Rich aroma, plenty of bread, dried fruit particularly sultana, fig and prune, some vinous berries and spice. Smooth, rich palate, silky on the tongue, fantastic length. Carbonation seems low, probably due to the initial gush. Very deceptive alcohol indeed! Lovely smooth, rich caramel body, with some rich cake and burnt toffee in there. Followed by a well balanced attack of ripe and dried fruits, not to mention spice and malt complexities. Figs seem prominant, as does pepper and ripe pears. The list could go on, but it could get lengthy! Smooth finish, a lingering ripe fruit, alcohol a whiff on the breath, no more. Huge shame this was a gusher, because i recall it being so much better. Having said that, this is amazingly well balanced yet complex ale, one of the best around!

on tap at the publick house. well balance, incredible tasting beer. medium head, fruit and woody flavors. was a toss up between this and another and this was recommended to me and im glad i chose it

St. Bernardus ABT 12 11.5 oz bottle. Poured a deep reddish amber with a large foamy light-tan head, leaving moderate lacing throughout. The head was so dramatic as to warrant extra care on my part upon opening to avoid spillage, and spillage with this beer is nothing short of sinful. To put it frankly, St. Bernardus ABT 12 is the greatest beer I have ever tasted, surpassing Chimay Grande Reserve, Westmalle Dubbel, and perhaps even Gulden Draak, which had previously held something of a tie for my favorite beer. This divine ale carried aromas of cedar and warm malts, as well as a hint of the bold fruit notes inherent in the flavor. The accents carried dramatic flavors of pear, banana, and apple, as well as alcohol, cedar, hickory, and Danish bleu. The mouthfeel was especially pleasing - thick, creamy, and smooth with only mild bitterness considering its ABV. The only drawback (and quite a trivial one it is) is a slightly silty appearance. But who said a beer has to be beautiful to taste fantastic? The beer was very fittingly accompanied by a plate of organic dark wheat bread and some Australian “Roaring 40’s” cow’s milk blue cheese (which was, coincidentally, also the greatest blue cheese I have ever tasted). *For posterity’s sake I wrote this review prior to eating the bread and cheese, so the Danish bleu accents aforementioned were strictly from the beer. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.