Feature Beer Friday: St. Bernardus's Abt 12 Quad

By Eric Ducote

Good morning and welcome back to Feature Beer Friday!  I've been featuring a lot of local beers recently, which I'm not ashamed of at all because there are plenty worth featuring, but today I'm headed across the pond to Belgium.  Belgium has always been one of the world leaders when it comes to beer due to their distinctive Belgian-styled ales.  The small country is littered with small breweries (often associated with monasteries) putting out excellent beers.  Belgian ales were really one of my first introductions to the world past macro lagers, as even before the craft scene blew up in Louisiana these options were readily available. One excellent example of a non-Trappist Belgian brewery is St. Bernardus, known for a wide range of styles and their distinctive Witbier.  Today's offering though, is their Abt 12, one of their three "core" beers and the strongest of the bunch. 

St. Bernardus Abt 12

This beer is a 10% abv Belgian-style Quad, which is sometimes referred to as a Belgian Dark Strong Ale.  Typically Belgian ales start at their enkel or "single" which is the lightest offering and usually drank by the monks themselves. After that is a dubbel which is a little stronger and darker, the tripel which is stronger still although typically lighter in color and more floral, and the quadrupel which is dark like the dubbel and even stronger.  The Abt 12 is one of the most popular and well regarded versions of the quadrupel style.  

The beer pours a brown color reminiscent of a coca cola with a very bubbly off-white head. The aroma is fruity, dominated mostly by sweeter plum flavors but also some grape and a little bit of floral hoppiness.   It's extremely pleasing and inviting, and I can't wait to get in a sip.  The mouthfeel is a little thinner than I remember from my early days of beer appreciation, but the flavors are still full and complex, with some rock candy sweetness, fruity esters from the yeast, and a floral bitter balance from the hops.  This was a fresh bottle of Abt 12, but I'd imagine the sweet and fruity flavors would be enhanced with age while the hoppy notes fade.  This beer has earned a reputation as one of the best in the world, and it does not disappoint.

St. Bernardus Abt 12 should be pretty easy to find around Baton Rouge, either in a corked & caged 750 ml bottle, a 4-pack of 11.2 oz. bottles, or in a gift set along with the dubbel, tripel and a glass like you see pictured above.  I know it's "on trend" to fill the beer fridge with all hazy IPA these days, but here's an outstanding chance of pace.  Cheers! 

      

Beers with Chuck: Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee Barrel Aged Quad 2015

by Chuck P

Back in the summer of 2015 I made a trip up to Portland, Oregon on a guys trip with Jay and a few of our friends. Portland is a destination spot for craft beer lovers with a plethora of local and regional craft breweries spread throughout the city. One of my goals for this trip was getting my hands on some local beers to take back home as well as any other West Coast brews that are unavailable here in Louisiana. Luckily, I was able to find some brews from Firestone Walker out of California and had to bring this particular brew back with me: The Stickee Monkee Barrel Aged Quad.

A Quad or Quadrupel is a Belgian style ale whose ABV normally runs between 10-13%. It’s a full bodied beer with a rich malt backbone. Normally I’m not drawn to this style but after having a taste at a local pub I was hooked.

Unfortunately Jay’s brother Eric had bought the last bottle in the cooler, but my disappointment was short lived as the bartender informed me he had a bottle in the back he could sell me but it wasn’t cold. This was perfect because that meant I could take it home and enjoy it back home. Success!

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2017. I was about to head to a Friendsgiving that my buddy Damon was hosting and I was trying to decide what beverages to bring. After searching through my cellar I spotted the Firestone Walker box hiding behind a few Bourbon County bottles. With two years of aging on it, I decided to open the bottle up and see how she was doing.

Pouring it into a glass the beer was a deep mahogany color with a nice foamy head that dissipated quickly. While pouring, the booziness made itself known in a big way. I smelled it immediately which is just the way I like it.

Hiding behind the booziness you get scents of oak, coconut, vanilla and toasted brown sugar.

Flavor wise, the booze is right up front but very smooth. Other flavors that I picked up were caramel, fig, dates and some cocoa along with the vanilla and brown sugar I got from the nose. The long, warm boozy finish was absolutely perfect and had me reaching for another taste.

The few people I shared this with at the party really enjoyed it and were sad to see it go so quickly. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on another bottle again.