St. Bernardus Abt 12

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

Interesting brew. Pours medium brown with soft fluffy head that just hangs around nicely. Aroma is malt and fruit. Taste is similar but alcohol is pretty apparent. Other than the alcohol shining through, it is not overly bitter. Flavors are fruits, malt, and some underlying nut flavors. Not my favorite style and I’ve not had enough Abt’s to review this fairly. Will revisit this eventually but these are my impressions.

Bottle at Beer Bistro, Toronto, July 2007. Pours a dark reddish brown with a generous foaming head. I smell wonderful aromas of dark dried fruit, apple, caramel. This thing is loaded with flavour, complex: raisin, prune, licorice, sugar, alcohol.

A very nice and good ballanced beer. Tasted on draft as well as on bottle. Fruity and full bodied with a great aftertaste. A must for everybody.

I drank this right after a westy 12 b/c i’ve heard it’s as close as you can get without going to the monestary. It is similar, but much more carbonation. nose is of candi sugar and slight alcohol. The high carbonation takes away from the taste. A very thin mouthfeel, though. hints of fruit, but just a tease.

Finally- And on draught too! Pours a deep ruby red/mahogany with a large creamy almond coloured head. Aroma is fruity- black cherry, mangoe, brown sugar and raisins. Taste is semi sweet, again notes of dark, overripe fruits- apples, peaches and possilby a little bananna. Cloves and other spice is noticeable in the finish. Well carbonated, great structure holds up well in the mouth.

There’s a reason I keep this one on tap at home and the price is totally justified when it hits your tongue. Huge malt aroma and flavor. Sweetness balanced out by high alcohol content and mild hop character. Dark fruits dominate this flavor along with yeasty spiciness. Please don’t drink it ice cold because you’re wasting your money.

11.2oz from Total Wine, Durham. Like all St. B beers, this one is hugely rich and flavorful. Over time I’ve become more impressed by top shelf quads, since it’s so hard to pull off the style without going overboard with boozy sweetness or without producing a beer with a thin body. This one’s got it going on, with a lustrous dark pour, a big nose of malts and ripe fruits, a gentle hint of near-smoke in there too. Flavors emerge patiently, like good wine or whiskey does, and there’s some faint bitterness in there that makes the beer even more complex and well rounded. Long lingering finish, a top notch quad.

Funny to rate a beer that you have had 50 times before your initial rating. Alcohol pretty well hidden, barely present in tail end. Dark, great lacing. Full palate with a lot of mild dark fruit hints throught. Candy malt. Many layers on my palate. Aroma of grapes, dates.