Who knew that my day was going to take a fabulous turn when I poured a bottle of St. Bernardus Abt 12? I knew it was going to be good, I had no idea it was going to blow me away! This is hands down one of the best beers that I have had the pleasure of consuming to date. The brewery has past connections with the Trappists and sits in Watou, West Flanders in Belgium. No, I didn't know that off the top of my head but pulled it from one of my new favorite books, Michael Jackson's Great Beers of Belgium 6th Edition.
Ok, so what makes this so good is that the beer is huge but disguises how strong it is amazingly! 10% ABV in a 11.2 fl oz bottle. You don't really notice the alcohol until you hit the warm finish of the beer, as you have a virtual cornucopia of flavors you experience first. So far I have picked up raisin, vanilla, dark fruit, brown sugar in a syrupy way, a little phenolic and am sure I will get something different and more complex with each sip. For a beer of this style that is this big it drinks impossibly light bodied while remaining it's complexity with many different flavors that play shockingly well together.
No comments:
Post a Comment