St. Bernardus Abt 12 Oak Aged with a branded goblet. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.
Today’s a big day around here at the Belgian Beer Bureau. It’s my birthday!
I celebrated in my usual manner. I had a fantastic burger at my favorite local restaurant, Mid City Grill, a BYOB restaurant, and took along a new Belgian beer to sample.
Given that it is my birthday, I tried a special one tonight. I have already written about my love for St. Bernardus Abt 12, which is brewed in Watou, Belgium. But I hadn’t tried the Oak Aged Abt 12 until tonight.
I even broke out my vintage St. Bernardus goblet for the occasion. I bought it for $1 at a local thrift store. Happy birthday to me, indeed.
Smell: Red wine is the first thing that hits you. Then it mellows into a typical Belgian, yeasty, dark beer smell.
St. Bernardus Abt 12 Oak Aged poured into a branded goblet. Copyright 2015 by Andrew Dunn.
Sight: St. Bernardus Abt 12 Oak Aged pours a dark chocolate hued with red mahogany. It is topped with a full oak-stained frothy head.
Taste: Spicy and sweet with only a faint red wine quality. This beer does seem drier than the regular Abt 12. If there is any oaky or vinous sour tinge, it is indistinguishable.
Alcohol: This is a heavyweight, punching in at 11 percent. Sip slow and among friends.
Overall: I love Abt 12, and I love Oak Aged Abt 12 just as much. But to be honest, it didn’t blow me away. I was expecting more. I was expecting this monumental shift, this complete divergence from the regular Abt 12. I was expecting a full-bodied, Burgundy wine, sour beer, funky explosion. And it just didn’t deliver. It tastes a lot like Abt 12. That’s not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. But it wasn’t ground-breaking either. So overall, I still love it. And yet, it still let me down.
Bottom line: OK, this bottle of beer is stupid, STUPID expensive. My 750 ml bottle, a present from my mom, came from a local shop for about $28. That was cheap. Most have it for $30 and more. INSANITY! There is no way this beer is worth that. Look, Abt 12 is already a pricey beer. This Oak Aged Abt 12 just off-the-chain expensive. There is no way you can justify that price to me. It tastes exactly like regular Abt 12, which is about half that price. All I can say is that this beer is 100 percent NOT worth the price on the bottle. I love it, but regular Abt 12 tastes exactly the same.
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