St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Brewed By: St. Bernard Brouwerij in Watou, Belgium  

Purchased: Jolly 750ml bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Quadrupel/Winter Warmer, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

After yesterday's disappointing winter seasonal from Rogue, I feel obligated to dial things up to "11" and drink some kick-ass winter beer. I haven't actually had today's beer before, but I love me some St. Bernardus 12, and I love giant Quadrupels. About St. Bernardus: 

St. Bernadus is a brewery based out of Watou, Belgium. The brewery has a rich history that began at the Catsberg Abbey. The Catsberg Abbey moved from Northern France to Watou, Belgium due to anti-clericism in France at the time. Once in Belgium, the Catsberg Abbey became known as the "Refuge Notre Dame de St. Bernard." The Abbey funded itself by producing and selling cheese. In 1934, France dropped its anti-clerical policies, and the Abbey community moved back to France, leaving behind an empty factory. Evarist Deconinck took over the factory, and commercialized and developed his own cheese. He built a new factory for the cheese at the Trappistenweg in Watou, and the original building was transformed into a private facility. 

After the end of World War II, the Trappist Monastery St. Sixtus stopped commercializing their beer; they decided to only brew their beer for their own consumption, for sales at the gates of the Monastary, and for a handful of taverns associated with the monastery. However, they agreed to lease out their beers for 30 years to Evarist Deconick who could commercialize and sell the beer. A new brewery was thrown up next to the cheese factory, and Deconinck began brewing Sixtus beers with the help of the Masterbrewer of Westvleteren. 

In 1992 the 30-year agreement between St. Sixtus and Deconinck came to an end. Due to changes in the law, Deconinck would be unable to continue brewing beer branded Sixtus. However, he could continue to use the same recipe and brew the beer under a different name. Hence, the beers brewed at Trappistenweg in Watou are now branded "St. Bernardus," because authentic Trappist beers MUST be brewed inside the walls of a Trappist Monastery. And that is that folks. For more history, roll over to the history page HERE. 

Tonight's beer is a BIG Belgian Ale that is brewed as a winter seasonal. If you check out the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale page, you can get some info about this beer. This beer uses the St. Bernardus house yeast strain (which has been fermenting beer since 1946), and is comparable to the St. Bernardus Abt 12. This beer is described as spicy, with hints of mint, warming alcohol, molasses, apricots, licorice, and marzipan. Let's glass this up and see what's up.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

I'm very happy to report that this beer did not gush. I was greeted with a lot of smoke upon popping off the cork, however. This beer poured all foam, and that's probably my fault; I stirred up the yeast inside the bottle about an hour earlier. The beer pours with 3 fingers of dense, foamy, tan/sandy head. In low light the beer has a dark brown/purple color. When held to bright light, this beer is MURKY AS HIZZY. This is some swampy stuff, and has an orange-brown color. There's a lot of active, visible, streaming carbonation; this is an effervescent beer (as per the style). Head retention is great, with a thumb's worth hanging out. I'm sure there will be some lacing.

The aroma on this reminds me of the Trader Joe's Anniversary Ale. Which is a good thing, because Unibroue has that sexy yeast strain. I'm getting a lot of clove, nutmeg, spruce, white sugar, sugar/candy perfume, slight fruity banana, Juicy Fruit (the gum), spicy yeast phenols, and just hints of fruit (cherry?). Overall, pretty spicy and yeasty, with a big hint of spruce. 

Unlike the Trader Joe's Anniversary Ale, this tastes like you are being punched in the mouth by a Belgian Monk wearing a Santa's hat. Holy shit, this is huge on the palate (much like the Abt 12). I'm getting big clove, yeast spice, candied sugars, dark fruits (plums, cherries, figs, apricots), a hint of dusty/oxidized dark fruits, and just a HUGE backing booze character that fills out this beer. Each sip expands on your palate, and you get impressive alcohol warming on the back end without any abrasive alcohol. There's a hint of bitterness in the taste, with some pine and spruce. Overall though, lots of big yeast spices, and tons of sugary fruits. 

Ladies and gentleman, this right here is a proper winter warmer. At 10.0% ABV, this drinks a bit too smooth. But make no mistake, this beer is warming on the back end, and will quickly get you drunk. This beer is smooth, creamy, carbonated, and just a touch dusty; but it has a medium-full to full-bodied mouthfeel. Really nice stuff here, especially in terms of the style. Palate depth is off the charts, and complexity is moderate for the style. Up front is big spice, clove, sugar; this rolls into fruits, spruce, more spice; the back end is creamy, with lingering spice and spruce. The finish is dry, but creamy, and you get impressive warming on the back.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This reminds me of the Abt 12, with a little spruce and bitterness thrown into the mix. This is really nice stuff, and this has phenomenal palate depth and mouthfeel. I don't know if it's quite as complex as you can get, but this is an easy recommendation for a winter warmer. Yeah...this beer is a bit pricey at $10-15 dollars per bomber, but it's a big beer that can easily do you in for the night. Food pairings: pizza, meat and cheese plate, any winter stew, a hearty creamy soup, honey ham, duck, turkey, and many desserts...a 10oz pour of this with some bread pudding? Oh lawdy! 

Random Thought: It's supposed to warm up to 60 and rain this weekend. I'm not complaining! I swear! I enjoy the warm weather, especially in late November and early December. But I'm also okay with snow...especially if I'm not driving anywhere, and I have a few bombers in my fridge.