Westvleteren 12

Brewed by Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Westvleteren, Belgium

Sampled many, many, times at the café across the street from the abbey. Drove up from Paris just to try it. I wasn’t disappointed - great aromas, great taste. Even 6 beers later I was tasting different things - coffee, chocolate...more? A complexity that’s amazing, the real disappointment is that it’s too hard to get. These guys should take a cue from Chimay and realize their lost revenue could really benefit the surrounding community.

a bottle of westvleteren doesn’t come with a label on the bottle and is normaly only sold at the brewery itself the stuff you can buy on the net there for is a lot of times fake beware of that before spending a lot of money

Ok just finished my 1st Westy 12! Very similar to St. Bernardus 12, I know St. B. brewed Westvleteren up until 1996. Honestly the smell is what i really noticed at first and set it apart from the St. Bernadus. Very dark of course it is a quad with sediment. Flavor was fantastic cannot describe it really so many raisin, dark fruit flavors, cherry and others cannot describe in detail sorry. At first it was a bit too cold so there was a slight alcohol finish, but as it warmed no detection of any alcohol and just great feel overall while drinking. Overall a great ale id put it up against 1st in a blind taste test with a St. Bernardus 12 and i will. My recomendations drink it at a little below room temperature 70 degrees IMO.

Was planning on ageing this for awhile but something inside just told me to drink it tonight during a nice summer thunder storm. Poured a smooth brown and settled into a darker shade of deep dark brown in the glass. The head was foamy and thick and held an almost indigo hue. As I polished off the pour, the sweet smell hit me...raisins and rum mostly. Tasting this behemoth was a stage-by-stage event that involved multiple phases and finishes. Stage 1: Lots of raisins on the taste buds, some alcohol presence felt as my whole tongue kinda tingled upon the first sips...felt really good. Finish was very rounded, slightly hoppy, and so smooth and balanced. Stage 2: As it warmed up, that alcohol became far more evident in the taste...almost canceling out all of the raisin aspects from before and introducing some kind of medicine-like feel...not unpleasant...but reminded me of vodka with it’s icy, somewhat metallic tone. At this point in time, the smell seemed sweeter and made me think of cotton candy and the finish had quite a burn to it. Stage 3; That burning sensation has tapered off a bit but still noticing mostly alcohol in the finish; although the balance remains stable. Stage 4: I’m thinking of port now, some smoke and a slightly toasted flavour that is difficult to pinpoint. Some fruity aspects coming out to me now also...apricot, apples, grapes. Stage 5: Coming near to the end of the glass now...sad to say. More of a distinct bitter sweetness coming through in the taste...brown sugar, cloves, spice, and cinnamon. But those elements are kind of attempting to cut through that thick hazy alcohol wall and not always making it. There is a sort of tar-like flavour that I am detecting along with orange peel and a burnt coffee zest. As I downed the final drop, it kind of sent a slight shiver through my body. The monks done good again. Bottom line: an interesting beer for sure, not sure how often I could truly drink these and seems like something I could enjoy more in the dead of winter...especially around Christmas/New Years Eve. Festive, complex, and comes across more like a Belgian Barleywine than anything else. So glad I could drink this. Will try and keep my patience and age the next one properly and compare.

Bottle thanks to belguimbeergirl and daknole for telling her to send me a bottle rating # 400 and a very happy birthday to me pours brown and hazy with meduim body,aromas are of licorice,figs.cherries and other dark friuts taste is tangy and smooth, with dark fruits a very hearty beer, is it #1 in the world only god knows

Amazing off-white fluffy head and light brown colour.Smell is mostly toffee and the taste is coffee, alcohol and hundreds of other dark and fantastic flavours. This is the second time I’ve had this famous beer, once In de Vrede and this time from the bottle, incredible both times. In my opinion the only beer that comes close is Rocehfort 8.

Yes it’s a great beer. The best in the world? Debateable. It serves as the holy grail and does its job well. Poured a magnificent auburn unfiltered ruby red. A sight to behold. Nose of raisins, alcohol, toffee etc. Taste was expressive. Lots of alcohol, port, sweet dark fruit and a little coffee. Mouthfeel was medium to full. Left a lasting impression of alcohol and cinammon in the mouth. Lots of yeasty sediment to this one. Glad to try it, now I can move on try a few more on my wishlist!

Line up the top 50 beers in the world and give me my choice and this is the one I would pick 99 times out of 100 (Rochefort 10 being the 1/100). It just doesn’t get any better. Too damn hard to find here at home but I spend a lot of time in the Netherlands and Belgium thankfully. If you can find it buy it and enjoy one of the truly great luxuries of the world.