Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Beer Tasting: St. Bernardus Abt 12

This is a quadrupel style Belgian from Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV in Watou, Belgium. The 22 ounce bottle was purchased from Beer Yard in Wayne, PA in December 2005. It had been stored at approximately 45F until 6 hours prior to consuming when the temperature was raised to approximately 54F. Have you tasted this beer? Let us know what you think. As a suggestion, try to keep the review as brief as possible for each of the following: appearance; smell; taste; mouthfeel; and drinkability. Appearance Adam: mossy medium brown with islands of bubbles in head (what does that mean? :-) Bryan: freshness date of 4/8/09; dark brown with deep ruby highlights; thick head, slowly dissipating to a lumpy, inconsistent head and some serious lacing Nate: caramel amber, cloudy, with a thick foamy pillow of off-white head. Nice lacing. Smell Adam: yeasty with tinge of spice Bryan: pleasing sour aroma; a whiff of orange, like grand marnier(?); a note of molasses; not much else but some alcohol tickling the nose Nate: sweet with cotton candy, caramel, and nice maltiness. There's a bit of hops coming through and a tang of wet canvas sourness. Taste Adam: savory, would be great with a meal, not sweet, like a meal in itself really Bryan: sour, alcohol, orange Nate: is sweet, but not sickly sweet like many hi ABVs can be. Caramel, candi sugar, ripe plums, and deep maltiness. Nice bitter in the finish, and you can taste the alcohol Mouthfeel Adam: softly carbonated, stands up well at room temperature Bryan: carbonation levels keeps this soft beer alive from start to finish Nate: medium-heavy watery body with smooth carbonation Drinkability Adam: slow and steady wins the race, again would work well with a meal, not as good on its own Bryan: yes it is; esp. as it warms from the 50F that we started at; this is a very soft, smooth beer that's deceivingly easy to drink, especially as it gets closer to room temperature Seconds? Adam: brother Bernardus, may I drinkith another? And please pass the roast beef. Bryan: Yes, but the earlier Avery (Reverend) and the follow-up Rochefort (10) trumped this beer. This is a very decent beer, but not the greatest, from my point-of-view....there, I said it! Nate's Overall: really nice quadrupel and one to savour.

1 comment:

Adam said...

Thanks Nate. I added your comments to the main post.