Sint Bernardus Abt 12 (10%)

After giving blood yesterday and going over to my cus's for dinner with her and friend Immy, I heard we were going to be having a choc caramel self saucing pudding, so thought i needed to bring a blockbuster beer with me to try and top it. unfortunately, or fortunately, the pudding was amazing, so it overshadowed the beer. however, I will try to keep to the beer.

I had found out yesterday this brewer came about when they were trying to mimic some of the Westvleteren beers, a trappist brewery also in Belgium. This was interesting as it seems to be quite hard to find the Westvleteren beers (for reasons well know by trappist drinkers... even at an upcoming tasting of trappist beers i will be attending at the belgium beer cafe in southbank, the only brewer that will not be represented will be the West... at least they will have a beer at the belgium beer weekend festival i will be attending within 24 hours of arriving in Belgium in Sept).

So to the strongest beer in the Sint Bernardus range, it came out quite frothy with a nice dark body, but the fine froth dissipated quickly. there is definitely that 'belgium' flavour that is hard to describe, apart from bubblegum, but with the dark malt that reminded me of another dark beer i had at the recent belgian beer tasting i had at Purvis. however, by the mid palate, the alcohol takes over. it is not stinging, but does tingle on the tongue, before it warms in the mouth, however it does not linger on the tongue in aftertaste which is good. while i am still getting over a 55km walk i did at Wilson's Prom on the long weekend, i still managed to smell the alcohol. after tasting this beer, i think i would like to try a lighter alcohol version, to blend the beer more to allow more malt flavour through and diminish the alcohol. i can sense the dark malt as a characteristic that structures the beer, but not so much in the actual flavour.

Anyway, am sure i will learn to appreciate these beers a lot more and like them more personally than i do right now, and looking forward to that adventure. still, for now still have the Sint Bernardus Triple to try, so will hopefully do that once i am over my cold.

In other beer news, I have booked my brewery tours of cascade and moo brew for when i am in Hobart with my brother and Joel in August. I have also ordered 6 moo brew vintage stouts, so a taste test with the previous years batch will also happen soon. Stass, get your taste buds ready...

Also, Stass and i will open another bottle of the raspberry stout. if we survive i look forward to letting you know if they continue to taste ok.

Cheers,

Beef