Special Edition St. Bernardus Abt 12 (three years old)

One of my favorite countries to have beer from is Belgium. They have some of the world’s best breweries and beers. So one of my family friends came for Thanksgiving with a big bottle of Special Edition St. Bernardus Abt 12 11% ABV, (Belgian Quad) but he had it in his closet for two years. What makes this St. Bernardus Abt 12 special is that it’s brewed for the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of this special variety of St. Bernardus Abt 12. This special edition contains hops from Poperinge: Challenger and Golding, and has been brewed with black, amber, Munich and pale ale malts. St. Bernardus Abt 12 pours a deep rich mahogany brown that is dark red around the edges with big light beige three finger head that does stick around for a little bit before it fades. I didn’t see any carbonation bubbles on this nor did is see any light streaming through the glass due to the dark color of the beer. The aroma on this three year St. Bernardus Abt 12 is a slight pipe tobacco with hint of vanilla covered leather, there is a slight scent of faded dark fruits like raisins and plums, but those ad almost not there due to the fact that this bottle is three years old. Now the taste on St. Bernardus Abt 12 is not what you would taste if you where to try this with a bottle you just bought, so the taste on this three year old bottle is way more vanilla and sweeter, but it’s not in your face sweet vanilla, it’s more of a smooth and silky tasting vanilla. There is less of the alcohol flavor presence due to aging this. I also found very small and faint roasted note, but it was so faint that at first I wasn’t sure what it really was. The mouth feel is medium but smooth; St. Bernardus Abt 12 finishes sweet and leads into a nice smooth vanilla and slight yet faint coconut aftertaste. St. Bernardus Abt 12 is one of the best Belgian Quads, if not the best in the world. But normally this beer isn’t as sweet and smooth when fresh, but after a little bit of age it become a masterpiece of Belgian perfection and mellows out a bit. So St. Bernardus Abt 12 (three years old) gets one big A+ here. Aging this is something you should try! I recommend that you pick up two St. Bernardus Abt 12’s one to have now and one to let sit and age for a while and you can see how they compare to one another. So again I hope you had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!