St Bernardus ABT 12 Belgian Beer Review

St Bernardus ABT 12 is a Strong Belgian dark beer coming from the St Bernardus Brewery in Watou, Belgium. It is not a beer for the faint hearted with its high strength of 10% ABV and it is definitely not a session beer. That said, is it a decent beer?

St Bernardus ABT 12 is a decent beer, a well balanced beer with some complex flavours. It pours a dark brown with an ivory head. On the nose it is sweet, malty and fruity with a slight yeast aroma. The taste is sweet biscuit malt with dark beery fruit and a nice bitter finish. A sipping beer with a warming feel, it’s good and gets a 4.7 out of 5.0 rate my beer score.

A perfect beer to sip on a cold winters night, lovely.

Table Of Contents

St Bernardus ABT 12 Review

St Bernardus ABT 12 comes in a 330ml brown bottle with a blue cap and label. On the label is a happy monk holding a glass of beer, presumably an ABT 12.

Pouring the beer into the glass, it settles to a deep dark brown with a slight red hue when held up to the light. A generous two finger ivory head sits on top, although this does fade to a one finger head and then continues to fade to a thin cover.

It has plenty of nose with a sweet biscuit malt hitting first, then comes some pleasant fruity aromas followed by notes of yeast.

The taste follows the same path with a pretty sweet malty start which then turns fruity, maybe dark berry fruits. To finish is a smooth bitterness which kills the sweetness off.

It’s a warming beer with some complex flavours, it’s like a sweet fruity journey that ends on a bitter note, but a good one. For me, I think you can taste the strength of this beer, it feels like a 10% ABV beer. I like it, and it gets a rate my beer score of 4.7 out of 5.0.

M’Lady although not quite as keen as me, likes it too, saying “A decent beer, but a little too strong and is not my cup of tea as a beer I would drink, but it’s a complex well balanced beer.” Lou scores it a decent 4.5 out of 5.0.

St Bernardus ABT 12 is not a go to beer for me, but it is a very good beer and one I would not hesitate on visiting again on occasion.

St Bernardus Brewery

St Bernardus Brewery started out on a farm in Watou, Belgium in 1900 when the Trappists fled the Mont Des Cats in France to avoid tax on their revenues which was not yet charged in Belgium.

Although the monks didn’t brew beer at the farm, instead they made cheese. And in 1934 moved back to France and the dairy was taken over by Evariste Deconinck.

In 1946 Evariste Deconinck was invited by the Trappists of Westvleteren to brew their beers under licence. This eventually saw a new brewing site established next to the cheese making facility.

It wasn’t until 1992 that the beer was marketed under the St Bernardus name, and since then the brewery has seen a lot of growth.

It now produces a lot of beer with around 55% being sold within Belgium and the rest around the world. They also do brewery tours and have a brewery shop and a roof top bar and tasting room.

St Bernardus Beers

St Bernardus don’t produce a massive range of beers, but they do produce a good core range of eight beers with the occasional limited beer. At the time of writing they have the St Bernardus Tokyo, a beer they first produced in 2012 to celebrate the first St Bernardus themed cafe in Tokyo.

However as I said their core range looks interesting, so here are a few that caught my eye.

Watou Tripel

Watou Tripel is a blonde style beer brewed in the traditional Abbey way. It is a refreshing fruity beer with aromas of apricot and vanilla and flavours of sweet honey and notes of orange.

It sounds like it could be a little too sweet for me, unless of course it balances out with a nice bitter finish. It is a beer I would like to try, but its not one for session with its 7.5% ABV.

St Bernardus Pater 6

St Bernardus Pater 6 is a classic Dubbel style beer with a dark brown beer with a creamy head. The beer has a malty base with a touch of fruit aroma and in the mouth notes of hazelnut and mocha followed by a light bitter aftertaste.

This dark beer sounds pretty good, but again it is not a session beer, although it is less than the Watou Tripel and the ABT 12 at 6.7% ABV. Definitely a beer I will look out for.

St Bernardus Tripel

St Bernardus Tripel is a traditional Abbey beer in the style of the Tripel beer. It’s a golden blonde beer with a fluffy tight white head.

Sweet and flowery aromas hit the nose with a refreshing fruity flavour that is said to have the perfect balance of sweet and bitterness. I can believe that as the ABT 12 has that balance too, so they must be good at their balancing.

Again another beer on my hit list.

Final Thoughts

St Bernardus then has a rich history in Belgium, and they seem to produce a decent range of beers. The ABT 12 is the only beer I have had from this brewery, but if this is the standard of their beers, then I am down for trying them all in time.

So in my opinion St Bernardus ABT 12 is a good beer that is complex in flavour, but also well balanced. If you have tried it, then do share your views and let me know what you think. Also let me know if you have had any of the St Bernardus beers and what you thought.