Southampton Abbot 12
Southampton Abbot 12 is our version of a Belgian Abbey-style Dark Ale. This unique style of ale is referred to as "Quadruple" and is brewed by only a few Belgian Trappist breweries. Southampton Abbot 12 is made with imported ingredients and is formulated to allow the beer to age for several years in the bottle.
3.8
487 reviews
Southampton, United States
Community reviews
750ml bottle, thanks to DanielCoor for sharing. Bottle #3067, date is 1/24/12. ABV labeled 9.9%. Hazy burnt orange amber color. Thin off-white head. Lots of bits in the body. Bigger body, sort of slick. Very sharp carbonation, and soft. Caramel malt, dark fruit, some prune. Lightly spicy. Moderate sweet taste, moderate bitter. Lightly peppery. Solid quad. Friends seemed to like it quite a bit. Gets better as it goes.. Great dark malty, almost milk chocolatey aroma. Great dark fruit notes to it. Kind of vinous. Man... Gets much better as it goes and sits. Soft, sharp carbonation turns into creamy and mellow. Very nice.
Refrigerated 75 cl brown bottle corked and capped poured into a Trappist glass. Pours translucent mahogany with off-white head which dissipates quickly. Aroma is some dark fruit, medium body, medium carbonation, and very little lacing. Taste is caramel, dark fruit (mostly fig and some raisin), dark candy sugar, and some alcohol.
Bottle to glass. Pours a nutty brown with a slight red hue. Tan head that fades quickly leaving no head. My first thought was beer might be flat but beeer is lively on the palate. Aroma is sweet with some spice. Taste is what you would expect from a quad. Dark fruits, toffee, brown sugar. Very fizzy on the tongue. The taste is very good but there is something off and I can’t put my finger on it.
750 ml bottle: clear mahagony pour with an off-white head. Aroma of dates, figs, grapes, spice with hints of chocolate. Sweet caramelized flavor of dates, raisins and figs. Hints of chocolate and alcohol. Tasty beer.
Poured from a 750ml bottle, shared with my wife on Christmas eve. The aroma is fruity alcohol sweetness, dark stone fruits, melanoidin rich maltiness, big yeast character. The flavor is similar to the aroma, there is a nice sweetness that cuts through in the finish, hints of spice. This is a damn fine beer. Perfect for this cold night.
Draught at World of Beers, Key West. Dark brown colour with an off-white head. Aroma and flavour of spice, dreid fruit, nuts, yeast, malt and alcohol.
I had this at Global Brew. Pours reddish-brown with a tan head. Taste sweet, Carmel, dark fruit. I thought this was pretty good. I would definitely drink this again.
A: Dark Brown Hue, Passes Little Light, Off White Head Ring, Some Lacing
S: Light Dark Skinned Fruits, Mildly Funky, Mild Chocolate
T: Sweet Plums, Tart Cherries, Milk Chocolate
M: Decent Carbonation, Medium Bodied, Mildly Sweet
Overall, a decent Quad with some mildly fruity overtones.
Dark fruit sweetness on nose, more dark fruit and spices on palate. Nice sweetness but not cloying. Really tasty
Lovely clear brown body with an off-white fizzy head. Appealing aroma of grapes, chocolate, nuts, ... Moderately bitter, heavily sweet flavour. Very complex mouthfeel of dark fruit and chocolate. Very enjoyable.
Bottle with Pedro. Pours a cloud amber with medium beige head and some soapy lace. Nose of figs, prunes, raisin, spiced rum. Medium to full body with a sticky palate. Smooth for the abv.
Bottle from a beer club. Pours a dark reddish amber color with a moderate off-white head on it. Nose is a little toasty up front, but yields quickly to some sweeter and dark fruit notes. Taste is definitely a little sweet with the same dark fruitiness, but with a long-lasting sweetness that seems a bit muddled to me.
750 ml. bottle. Pours reddish brown with a nice biege head. Aroma of fruit, malt, caramel, and spice. Taste is dark fruit, malt, spice, caramel, and a bit of alcohol. Well made.
Dark amber/cider color; Medium slightly creamy body; Aroma of sweet malt, yeast, dark fruit, some caramel, & rich spice; Flavor of sweet malt, yeast, dark fruit (notably prunes & dates), caramel, and raisons; Warm finish; Nicely balanced; Good overall, but would like to try again with some more aging.
750ml to glass. Pours light brown/golden color, clear with a good fluffy white head. Bread, carmel, plums come thru on the aroma. Taste is sweet, carmel, butterscotch, bitter, and a hint of tobacco. Warms the palate and the belly. Good Quad, but would rather have others that are mass produced.
The Abbot 12 won a Gold Medal at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival and is described by the brewery as: "A strong, dark ale with notes of raisins, figs, and caramel, and a pronounced “dark rum” character. Deceptively smooth at 10.5% alcohol, this strong ale is ideal as an after-dinner sipping brew."
This bottle listed a 9.9% abv with an original gravity of 22.5 plato, and poured out with a generous lingering tan head. The dark aged fruit aromas wafted up and brought to mind rich brown malts, mixing with some background yeast spiciness. The flavor was candi-sugar sweet, with the slightest hint of cocoa/dark chocolate, a little alcohol as it warmed brought to mind rum, sweetly blanketing the mouth with its rich, thick body. This beer reminds me of Westvleteren, and that’s not a comparison made often, if at all.
This beer is the perfect accompaniment to a crisp, cool fall evening, sipped slowly along with a snack of nutty, sharp, aged Holland gouda. I think that I’m going to need a case of this beer to survive the coming winter.
750mL bottle, sent from BrewtopiaofPJ (thanks Mark), pours a deep dark mahogany / amber with a large off-white / beige head. Aroma of Belgian spices, toffee, some floral notes and candied sugar. Flavour is very complex and luscious, full of floral notes, caramel, some light spices, and candied sugar. Extremely complex flavour, with a wonderful integration of the different flavours - the sweetness is perfectly situated, never becoming cloying. Not as elegant as something like Rochefort 10 or St. Bernardus 12, but certainly one of the best American quads. Excellent.
Best before January 24, 2017.
Appearance: This is a beautiful quad, from deep garnet hue that is absolutely crystal clear to the thin but dense light tan head that settles into a dense coating. This wants to be drank.
Aroma: The aroma is unfortunately mild, but there’s a deep fruitiness to it that hints at fig, grape and medicinal cherries on the pour that yields to a spicy dough aroma. I wish the aroma were stronger as it’s great.
Taste: The flavor takes the aroma and amplifies it in strength, giving this a deep fruit flavor backed by light spices. The fruit flavors hint at syrupy grape and cherry along with a hint of figs that intertwine from start to finish over top of a doughy body that finishes spicy. Boy this sips nice.
Palate: Thick and slightly syrupy with light carbonation that has a slightly sharp edge to it.
Overall: This is an excellent quad, I will not be passing up this brewery’s beer anymore. I highly recommend buying this if you see it, though I wonder if this would really hold up to a few years of age. I think this is ready to go now.
Bottle on the balcony with the wife. Aroma of raisins, sherry, brown sugar, booze. Full bodied, but with decent carbonation. Flavors of plum, dried fruit, brown sugar. Long finish, with red ripe berried and more dried fruit developing. Exquisite.
Mahogany, off-white head. Nose is rum raisin, port, big booze. Taste is late vintage port, raisins, chocolate, brown sugar, prunes. Very boozy and warming. Smooth light mouthfeel.
This thing is killer! and i don’t like quads.... Sample pour of deep dark burnt caramel with tan head. Nose comes through with plenty of caramel and smooth malts, not too much sweet or dried fruit, thank goodness! Flavor is the same, again, smooth caramel malt and a mild spice with a mild sweet dried fruit, but not too much. This thing is great!
Pours deep dark brown with a fizzy off-white head that dissipates quickly. Dark fruits, some caramel, raisins, baking spices, and just a touch of grape, which I actually really like. Nice, full body, but good and clean. This is really quite good -- up there with the Roche for me.
Did anyone else have a really hard time getting the cork out? Anyway, this is a powerful abbey ale with intense flavor. Carmel notes and raisin. Great dark red color. Nice weight in the palate and the alcohol, although not exceedingly high, is well hidden. Great selection.
(Bottle). Deep brown-amber complexion with long head retention. Flavors of prune, sherry, sweet malt and mild spice. Alcohol nicely concealed. Excellent Belgian-style American Quad.
Garnet color, decent head retention and lacing, bitter and sweet notes of raisin fig sherry, nice beer
Pours a clear dark garnet with a lasting, though thin, light tan head. Aroma is dark dried fruit. Taste is sweet caramel malt, but short of cloying, along with the dark fruit again. There’s also a butteriness to the taste that connects the initial sweetness with the following tartness. This is a great brew.
Pours a dark chestnut brown color with a soapy off-white head. Aroma of dark fruit, fig, Belgian yeast, and hint of alcohol. Sweet flavor with dark fruit, fig, and caramel with a hint of Belgian yeast and alcohol warmth.
Surprisingly mild aroma with cookie dough, yeast, and alcohol. Flavor is candy-sweet, with bread, caramel, brown sugar, and apple. A little bitterness and some drying alcohol in the finish. If you’re in the mood for a treat, this beer is worth seeking out.
Belgian Brew Fest. Very good clone of classic Trappist beers. I found the sweetness to be a bit on the high side though.
Bottle. Pours dark brown with ruby highlights and thin, fizzy off-white head; short retention and minimal lacing. Aroma is booze, bread and cookie malts, caramel, figs, dates, and floral hops. Flavor is sweet malt forward with supporting dark fruit esters and light hops; booze undertones throughout with a dry finish. Medium/full body and low carbonation.