Westvleteren 12 (XII)
(has 29 batches)

Bottle at home from Beers of Belgium as the third of the flight of three. A good pour with a big head and a sweet nose. The colour was spectacular, a deep golden coppery brown and it was very appealing. The taste is sweet (probably why our American cousins like it so much) with a rich caramel flavour that imparted a smoothness to the mouthfeel. The carbonation was well balanced to offset the richness of the beer. I definitely got rich fruitcake in the taste of what was, overall, a very well made beer. In fact, probably the second best Belgian I have drunk, (take a well-deserved bow Hercule Stout) but a long way from the best beer I have ever had. Overall I don't understand the hysteria about this beer.

Bottle from the abbey cafe. It’s a very hard one to rate. The hype is absolutely enormous, was quite shocked to be able to buy a box on my visit spontaneously. The smell, I really didn’t get much of it, just a standard ale smell for me matched by a murky brown colour. The taste is also quite subtle but for some reason, totally satisfying. It feels full of flavour whole also not revealing what any individual flavour really is. It fizzes on the palate - a delight- and washes down like a mix of a fine red wine and a praline chocolate. A very delightful beer to drink, of course not worth the insane hype but one should allow it for a beer of shuffle quality. ------ Re-rates (6,1,7,5,15). Takes it down from 4.2 to 3.8. Aroma was wine and this time, cask barrel basement. The appearance was pretty nasty to be honest, clumpy off brown. This beer is all about the feeling however and it delivers in bags. So satisfying to drink. (16/8/17) ----- Re-rated, bottle from brewery. Now aged for 3 and a half years. Aroma is deep chocolate and hazelnuts. Aroma is dark malt, but with sediment. Taste is red wine and Belgian sweet dark malts. Finish is a little too fizzy for my liking this time. Praline aftertaste that resslly growson you, turning out to be more like the dark star creme brulee beer and yet you know there has been none of that stuff added. It's an interesting beer that's for sure. 3.8 to 3.9. (21/10/20) ----- Bottle from the brewery. Oozing with chocolate vibes, a gorgeous lasting lasting and appearance and just all round fab. 3.9 to 4.1. (15/2/22) ---- Bottle from the brewery. Light sour and chocolate. A real class act. Extremely smooth. Sweetness and booze and bitterness in perfect harmony. Abv so well hidden. Near perfection. 4.1 to 4.2.

(Huge thanks, Brandon "Clownoisseur"!) Bottle. A- Molasses, fruit cake, raisins, caramel, port wine, subtle Christmas spice, complex. A- Brown color, cloudy liquid, tan head. T- Complex, raisins, subtle booze, caramel, molasses, prunes. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, complex finish. O- My 2,000th rate! Thanks to Clownoisseur for the great surprise! Pretty much lives up to the hype. Way better than Bernardus 12 and right along side Rochefort 10. Maybe not the best beer in the world but worth the experience and certainly a must try beer. Excellent stuff. The greedy me wants a whole case now to age and try over the years. Superb, superb, superb.

12-03-17 // in loving memory! Dark brown beer, small white head/ lacing. Very dark and complex beer. Malty fruity yeasty notes all well blended into a great beer. BBD15.04.18 - so vintage 2015

2014 bottle. Pour is a beautiful red-brown with a massive offwhite head. Nose is toast slathered in cherry and honey, slight boozy undercurrent. Taste starts with a hit of candi sugar and toffee, then rolls into honey and dark cherries and apricot, hits a yeasty backbone, and finishes with a semisweet fade touched by Euro-hop bitterness. Delicious.

Bottle at home. Thanks to Theydon for a trade for this one. Pours a murky dark brown with a good white head that remains. Aroma is Brown sugar, treacle, molasses. Taste is dried fruits, treacle, brown sugar, the sweetness fades into and a little tobacco and leather emerge. Really soft carbonation. Complex and interesting stuff.