Almost Ethereal: St. Bernardus Abt 12

St. Bernardus Brewery, Watou, Belgium
11.2 fl. oz. capped bottle
10 percent ABV
Sampled: Jan. 7, 2007 in a St. Bernardus chalice
(Because the mileage from notebook to blog varies)

In a word, wonderful. Abt 12 (or Abbot 12) is quite possibly the finest quadruple-fermented ale brewed outside monastery walls. I prefer it in a corker, champagne-sized bottle (750 mL, I believe), but its finer qualities are equally apparent in a smaller vessel.

In the chalice it sits dark brown, nearly opaque with a creamy head and a sharp roasted scent. The tastes will vary as the beer warms in the glass (like most abbey ales, it's meant to be served cool, not the icy cold of American gold lagers). Most common are the coffee, chocolate, even a slight bit of toffee, along with the standard ripe, dark fruits of ales conditioned to this degree.


This is probably the "youngest" bottle of St. Bernardus I've tasted - I could have let it sit in the pantry until July 27, 2011. While further complexities have not yet had the chance to develop, what it presents in its youth is still markedly better than 99 percent of the beers on the market.

As mentioned in an earlier St. Bernardus review, the water in its beers comes from wells more than 450 feet deep, and that anyone who feels a water source changes nothing in beer should give this a taste.

This is a maelstrom of a beer that offers no attempt to shield its strength or intricacies. You have been warned.

Rating: 9.5/10 (It goes 10 for 10 if poured from a tap or a corked bottle)