#abt 12

St. Patrick's day was this weekend, so naturally, my friend Sarah brought over a four pack of Belgian beer. (To her credit, she also brought a singular Brooklyn Dry Irish Stout, for festivity's sake.) I'd had my eye on St. Bernardus in our local market for a while, but at $24 for four 11.2 oz bottles, it's not exactly a Tuesday-night-with-takeout beer. Good thing I have fancy friends.

St. Bernardus Abt 12

Style: Quad

Where: Poured from a bottle at my apartment

5 words to describe it: Clove, Plum, Carob, Brown Bread, Boozy

Paired it with: Nothing. (Okay, like three dark chocolate covered peanuts.)

Should have paired it with: Super rich brie, smoked meat

Score (1-100): 99

Drink it if you like: Superlative beer. Shiraz, American Strong Ales, Bourbon

                                                                     Sometimes you drink the beer and sometimes the beer drinks you...

The first place in Portland I was able to find a reasonable selection of beers was a market around the corner from my work called Haggen's Market.  Unfortunately this location will be closing down in a few days, which is only sad to me because it was once a convenient place, but to be honest the place was overpriced and really not doing well against it's local competition.

I found out they were liquidating EVERYTHING in the store (including 20% off beer) just by stumbling upon it a few weeks back and had to take advantage of what was left in the cooler.  So, I'd always heard good things about St. Bernardus being one of the best small Belgian labels, so I figured I should totally take the last one they had on the shelve (the other varieties from the same brewer were in greater abundance - always a good process of elimination when determining which of a brand is best to buy).

So this Abt 12, as it's called, normally a $10 - $12 beer was now more like $8 to $10 (I can't recall exactly how much it was) but I knew it was more than I'd normally pay.  I bagged up a full 6 pack of bombers and went on my way.

I left this one for last of the six (the other five were Pelican -Doryman's Dark, HUB - Crosstown Pale Ale, Firestone - Double Barrel Ale , Anderson Valley - Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, Mendocino - Red Tail Ale) which were all very good microbrews, but I knew the Abt 12 was special, so I waited to drink it last.

First, it's corked and secured with a wire cage so you know this ain't no bullshit... this is a real, from the motherland, BEER.  So much so that it caught me by surprise when I poured it.  It features the largest, foam head I've seen on a beer in quite a long time... just like the pictures. 

So after the pour and a quick perusal of how much CO2 appeared to be in that head (huge bubbles) I noticed it was also a stickier than usual variety as it's residue lingered in my 'stache for quite a while (too much infos?).  There's also plenty of lacing, at least at the onset, on the glass.  Drawing the nose of the glass was a treat, as I immediately noticed the expected malt scent which was not too overwhelming, yet it also breathes notes of liquorice and cloves.  Very herbal.

But it's the flavor.  Oh the luscious flavor!  It's like no other Belgian I've ever had.  Technically it's a Quadrupel (like a stronger Doubel or Tripel) which is basically a heavily malted Belgian Trappist ale that's generally darker and redder.  This one appeared more like a dark, unrefined honey brown.  Really gorgeous.

The front end was very sweet, malty and unexpectedly smooth.  The tail has only a tinge of bitterness and a slight alcoholic kick.  Funny thing is, I drank nearly 2/3rds of this large bottle, relatively quickly, before noticing it weighs in at a hefty 10.5% ABV.  Even crazier is that as I drank more, I found that it more tasted almost like wine - that over time the subtleties of this beast were laid aside, with the alcohol taking a more prominent place on the palate as time went on.  I was mostly gone by the time I could even saunter over to the couch to begin writing about this amazing find.

If you like Belgian beers, your owe it to yourself to go get this now, especially if you haven't tried it yet.  It's amazing.  So, go get yourself a glass goblet, put on some mellow tunes or hell, put on a brown robe, monk style - just prepare yourself for one of the best there is.  Maybe sipping is a better idea...