St. Bernardus Abt 12

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

Presentation: Drank from an 11.2 oz bottle, poured into Watou brewery chalice. Bottle has a drawing of a balding monk with a very good beer in his hand. Appearance: In my limited experience, this sets the standard for strong dark ales. A deep orange-brown color, almost completely opaque. The head never really disappears from the top of the beer. Smell: This beer smells better than the smell of any other beer which my nose has smelled. Smells like fresh bread, with strong malty tones. Taste: This is possibly the best-tasting beer I’ve tried to date. If I go fat and bald from drinking this beer, it’s worth the price. God bless the monks from Westvleteren, who apparently created the recipe for this beer. God bless also the brewers at Watou who make this intense stuff. The beer is full-bodied, and leaves a coating in your mouth (a good thing). I’m not that good at picking out individual flavors, but I can taste sweet fruity flavors (plums, grapes, and bananas) with malt (chocolate and bread). I poured this below the temperature recommended on the bottle (52-56°F), and I think the taste becomes more intense as the liquid warms.

Huge gushing cinnamon head that descends slowly. Initial notes of raisin, sweet barley sugar, dark stone fruits and a slighty musty mushroom fragrance. As the beer warms further this complex aroma comes to the forefront. Colour is an almost opaque chocolate and coffee brown with only mild translucency at the margins of the glass. Tastes are initially dark woods, raisins, molasses, very sweet fruits and slighty aggressive alcoholic highlights that leave a pleasantly warm sensation behind the eyes. The mouth feel is very enjoyable - the sweetness coats the mouth like dissolving fairy floss. Subjectively, the potent sugars make this brew a strong competitor to the Trappist Rochefort (in which this aspect is more restrained), but the St Bernardus is still a delightful ale.

Pours a murky dark ice tea color, with an off white head that has a slight hue of brown. Smells consist of, prune, fig, and bread along with some raisin and booziness. Taste is very sweet and consists of dark fruits, bread , and caramel.

750, tried many times on draft and bottle. Huge pour with crazy tall white head that laces and stays. Dark but light-cutting brown. Huge rising flavor that is slightly metallic, robust and effervescent. High carbonation that bitters a touch. Flavor is a bit light and watery for the aim. Transcendent and essential.

Poured brown with a reddish tint and a big, fluffy off-white head with nice thick lacing. Sweet malt with fig and caramel notes. Well balanced, well made beer. Yum.

Sweet aroma with heavy undertones. Flavor is front-loaded and hits with a very slight bite. Shifts to a more brown sugar, metallic, caramel and spice (and, I swear, bubble gum!) that starts heavy and floats away. Huge head.

Pours a deep dark maroon with a nice off white head with nice lacing. Aroma of malt, dark ripe fruits such as plum, and candy sugar. Very smooth and balanced taste, dark fruits mixed with malt and molasses, possible a little caramel, and a bit of spice. Perfectly carbonated, medium mouthfeel which warms as it goes down. Top notch beer, world class.

Bomber, purchased for 13 bucks in Ojai, CA. Pours brown with some maroon tinges and a creamy tan head. Aroma is plum, licorice, and chocolate, blended boldly. This brew tastes much like the aroma, excellently balanced, and with vinous charateristics. Ends with a dry palate and dark fruit. Excellent, but well below Pannepot, for instance.