St. Bernardus Brouwerij

Regional Brewery in Watou, West Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪
Associated with 3 Venues

Established in 1946

Contact
Trappistenweg 23, Watou, 8978, Belgium
Description
In the heart of the West Flemish hop district, we brew a truly inspiring beer that fancies a lot of beer lovers. Special top-fermented dark and light beers have been produced in our establishment ever since 1946, and they are acclaimed as the best in the world. Visitors can stay overnight in Guesthouse Brouwershuis and have the opportunity to join a guided tour, rent an e-bike and sample to their heart's delight our delicious beers in our brand new rooftop bar ‘Bar Bernard’, offering marvelous 360° panoramic views of the area. This bar makes part of the new visitors’ centre we’ve opened in August 2018. And to top it all off, in the brand new beer shop visitors can buy their ‘heavenly nectar’ to take home.

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7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 7.5 Texture 7 Overall 7
Full/deep brown colour, a few reddish hints through light; looks perhaps a bit opaque. Not much head for the style, almost perfectly white with a kind of pinkish nuance to it; so-so retention and limited lacing. Quite good intensity in the aroma: a general soft, slightly yeasty/floury base, honey, almond, dried/dark fruit notes (prune perhaps most noticeable), licorice, a bit of spiciness (can't pick something specific, maybe anise), maybe a hint of coffee. Definitely a complex and interesting aroma, though it a felt a bit messy to me. Feels more integrated in taste, but still a bit lacking in the definition/polished department. Sweet malty base, soft and a bit doughy as per aroma, honey, a bit of sugary feel showing up, dark fruits as per aroma, a relatively potent spicy component, a background of licorice, maybe slightly balsamic, freshness. Quite sweet in the overall feeling, both in taste and aftertaste, partially balanced by alcohol attenuation; a clean, never sticky sweetness, but nonetheless a bit more than i'd like. Medium or slightly above medium bodied, actually quite easygoing for the abv; average, soft bubbled carbonation. Overall mouthfeel is quite soft and slightly creamy with just a hint of fullness. Overall impression: felt very interesting and complex and very much fine as a whole, but i felt like it had a few drawbacks. Still a pretty nice dubbel, but perhaps the less impressive of the 6-8-12 range.
Tried from Bottle on 20 Nov 2025 at 20:46

7/10
Tried from Bottle on 19 Nov 2025 at 21:56

8.1/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 8 Flavor 8.5 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
330ml bottle, stored in the cellar for 10 years. Remarkable. No oxidisation, no dust, no cobwebs.. just excellent harmony. In a blind taste I could swear this was a year old. Still bears a nice richness, same abt12 flavour profile, nothing diminished. Didn't expect this. Wonderful.
Tried from Bottle on 08 Nov 2025 at 09:10

8.3/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8.5 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Bottle. Candi sugar aroma with notes of apple, pear, bready malt, caramel, toffee and spicy Belgian yeast. Pours deep brown with a finger of tan head that has excellent retention and lacing. Starts with bready malt, caramel, toffee and pear flavors as well as having a rich, full body and smooth, malty mouthfeel. Finishes smooth with Candi sugar, apple and spicy Belgian yeast flavors. Quite nice.
Tried from Bottle from Veterans Liquor on 26 Oct 2025 at 22:37

6.6/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 6 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
Gold pour Thin foam around the glass. Scattered lace. Lemongrass with brown sugar or caramel notes. Light bodied and light carbonation
Tried from Can from Wine Warehouse - Charlottesville on 22 Oct 2025 at 23:28

6.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 4 Overall 7
Bread, caramel nose with skunky overtones. Hazy amber, medium head. Caramel, lemongrass, bread crust. Medium body moderate carbonation. Elements of both an ESB and Helles. I like it.
Tried from Bottle from Wine Warehouse - Charlottesville on 22 Oct 2025 at 22:39

7.3/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 7 Flavor 7.5 Texture 7 Overall 7.5
75cl bottle (with tin) @ Belgian Beer Geeks Autumn Gathering 2025. Praise be to Tim for this one. Pours an unclear deep amber, foamy off-white head. As expected the deep dark rich candy rock sweetness has subsided in favour of a more gentle, malty amber ale character, medium-bodied, lightly oxidised but seems to have aged gracefully with light allusions to dried dark fruits. Glad to have tried it. Rated kindly.
Tried from Bottle on 20 Oct 2025 at 15:18

7.9/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
Bottle from the Packie enjoyed at home. Pours a lightly cloudy deep gold color with a bubbly white head that persists. Rich bready crackery toasty malts with earthy hops to counter. Decadent beverage that I thoroughly enjoyed, I should have bought more than a single.
Tried from Bottle from The Packie on 19 Oct 2025 at 20:50

8.3/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 9
30.09.2017
Barwa ciemno brązowa, może delikatnie bordowa, mętna. Piana koloru białego średnio wysoka i średnio trwała, redukuje się do grubej warstewki i tak już pozostaje do samego końca. Pozostawia sporo tłustych nacieków.
Aromat mocny i intensywny a zarazem ciężki. Jest karmel, ziemistość, popiołowość a dalej ciemne owoce pod postacią powideł. Aromat wyraźnie ewoluueje wraz ze wzrostem temperatury, jest świeższy, lżejszy. 
W smaku ciężar przeniesiony jest na bardziej zdecydowane nuty owocowe, gdzie podobnie jak wcześniej owocowość ma charakter konfitury. Ponownie lekka paloność i popiołowość z odrobiną akcentów ziemistych. Po ogrzaniu piwo staje się bardziej wytrawne, jest więcej czerwonych owoców.
Goryczka bardzo delikatna, popiołowa.
Świetnie ukryty alkohol to kolejny plus tego wyśmienitego trunku. Nasycenie wysokie, jak to u "belgów", szybko zasyca. Piwo charakteryzuje spora pełnia, jest grube, tłuste, mocno treściwe.

19.10.2025
Kolor ciemno brązowy, klarowny. Piana drobno pęcherzykowa, przypomina mus, jest wysoka, trwała ładnie oblepia szkło.
Aromat bardzo nikły, jest slodowy, nieco palony, karmelowy, owocowy - tutaj głównie ciemne owoce (śliwka), z nutami ziemistymi, piwnicznymi.
Spodziewałem się więcej, no nic.
Smak: słodowa słodycz, pojawiająca się na początku, skontrowana jest ziemistą, może nawet lekko przypaloną goryczką.
Alkohol idealnie i generalnie zdradziecko ukryty. Wysycenie wysokie, przeszkadza. Ciało, z uwagi na wysycenie, wydaje się być wysokie, choć w rzeczywistości jest co najwyżej średnie. Tekstura gładka. Posmak średnio długi wytrawny.

Wygląd 8 Aromat 6 Smak 6 Podniebienie 6 Razem 7,5 Ocena: 6,6
Tried from Bottle on 19 Oct 2025 at 19:32

7.8/10 Appearance 7 Aroma 7.5 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
Bottle shared at BBGG. Bit hazy dark brown. Sugary, figs, alcohol, dusty hops, dry grapes. Greasy, malty and sugary. Solid sweet and bitter. Almost full bodied. Not bad, but probably past its prime.
Tried from Bottle on 18 Oct 2025 at 23:14