Brouwerij St Bernardus is famous for both their beers and their heritage. The brewery brewed the famous Westvleteren beers before the monastery returned all production back to within the abbey’s walls. Their Abt 12 quadrupel represents what Westvleteren 12 used to be before the abbey changed their yeast strain. Abt 12, one of the world’s most beloved and highly regarded beers takes the spotlight today, 12/ 12, with the return of St. Bernardus Abt 12 Day! Peaks & Pints will celebrate Abt 12 all day Tuesday with Abt 12, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, and their Wit on tap and in the cooler, cool glassware giveaways, while supplies last. We also present an in-house flight of thee three St. Bernardus beers — a flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: St. Bernardus Abt 12 Day.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: St. Bernardus Abt 12 Day
St. Bernardus Wit
5.5% ABV, 10 IBU
St. Bernardus Wit is a traditional Belgian white beer developed and brewed in collaboration with the legendary Master Brewer Pierre Celis, the Godfather of Hoegaarden and Celis White. A witbier or Belgian wit (white) beer is commonly made with pale barley and unmalted wheat, sometime oats, and in the case of St. Bernardus Wit, a second fermentation in the bottle. This wheat beer is famed for its zesty tastes of coriander and orange, with background touches of spicy cloves, fragrant with fruit and citrus. These zingy herbs combine with the creaminess of the wheat to produce a beer that is well balanced. The mild mouth feel produces a lovely interaction between the sweet malty taste and the refreshing touches of acid to produce a feeling of freshness overall.
St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
10% ABV, 28 IBU
St. Bernardus’ Christmas Ale is brewery’s Abt 12 offering, but gussied up with rich malt, dark dried fruit, fig, hints of anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar … basically a fruitcake.
St. Bernardus Abt 12
10.5% ABV
The Abt 12 is a classic Belgian dark quadrupel brewed since 1946, on the basis of the original recipe compiled by the Westvleteren monks. The Abt, or Abbot, is the highest-ranking monk in the abbey; so perhaps it’s no surprise that the brewery sees the Abt 12 as the highest-ranking amongst abbey beers. It hits the nose with banana, tropical fruit, raisins, spices, and rum. The flavors come through as intensely fruity, with notes of banana, pineapple, as well as spicy clove, añejo rum and anise. Throughout the sip, spicy pepper and black licorice counter the sweetness before a flash of bitterness segues to the beer’s enduring dry finish.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
