Westvleteren 12

Bottle: Unfiltered

Bottles are identified by the information on the cap.

Westvleteren has the smallest output of the Trappist breweries, with only a small part of their production available outside of Belgium.

4.4

3697 reviews

Westvleteren, Belgium

Community reviews

5.0 Best beer of all time!

5.0 Found a bottle at De Biertempel in Brussels. Dark brown, persistent,creamy blond head, very, very smooth mouth feel. Not too sweet, not too bitter, perfectly balanced. Notes of caramel and brown sugar. Surprisingly simple but delicious.

4.4 330ml. bottle. @"In de Vrede", Westvleteren (Belgium). 07/09/2022 [#5.382 Global - #218 Belgium - #3 Abdij St. Sixtus - Westvleteren] 2022 bottle - Pours brown with a tan head. Aroma: nuts, toffee, caramel and dried fruits. Taste: nuts, chocolate, caramel and sweet malts. Rich and sweet mouthfeel. Excellent. 2017 Bottle - Gifted by @tderoeck, many thanks. To compare with the fresh 2022 tasted today at the source. This has much more liquorice and molasses. Light boozy. Next one please!

4.6 Bottle tasted Cloudy red light brown color with a cream white thin head. Toast with so Plums berries spices some chocolate banana. Heavy body with medium carbonation. Round sweet start with some acidity on the palate and a slight bitter finish. Syrupy aftertaste with some alcohol breath.

4.8 Mörk mahogny med gulbeige skum. Söt maltig doft med toner av russin, marsipan, dadlar och alkohol. Söt maltig smak med komplexa toner av marsipan, russin, dadlar samt lite bränt socker, örter och alkohol. Lätt något torr beska och tydlig sötma. Fyllig varm och lite spritig.

5.0 So unbelievably complex and rich

4.5 Bottle from a crate ordered at the abbey. Bottled: 27/04/2022. Consumed: 06/2022 - hardly two months old. Finally, the world-famous Westvleteren XII has made it to my home and what better way to add my rating than with a young example? Obviously, I'm looking forward to drinking aged examples in the coming years... Pours a hazy dark amber to brown with a stable, foamy, tan head. Very expressive aroma of tawny port, red wine, wood, red apple slices, dried banana, pear, overripe blue plum, brown bread, baker's yeast, artisan milk chocolate, chestnut. Taste has a sweet estery mix of blue plum, red apple, dried banana & raisin in a thick brown-bready, slightly toasty, somewhat chocolatey malt body with a hint of candi sugar, but never in a cloying way, surrounded by a spicy and a dry-yeasty note, and even a sourish dark-fruity streak. The herbal & peppery hoppy finish offers more dried & candied fruits, spices and 'dry' brown bread and even a very vague hint of coffee. The whole is topped off with a noble, vinous warmth of brandy-like alcohol. Medium to full body, creamy-moussy texture, average carbonation (toning down when warming up). Evidently, it's hard to approach this beer unbiasedly, but its powerful character slowly but surely reveals itself, leaving you without a doubt that it's a masterpiece.

4.4 It pours dark brown with a tan head. It features dried cherries with strong maltiness. There is strong alcohol warming with raisins and earthly notes.

4.1 Aromas and taste of beautiful Belgian malts spices dark fruits candi sugar toffee brown sugar and marble bread. Overall, amazing stuff with excellent balance.

4.5 Ripe red fruits (plum, cherry), yeast, malt, and spices. Similar taste, mid-sweet, some alcohol.

4.5 PERFECT POUR.

4.9 Dark mahogany pour with a lasting white head. Aromas of white and dark bread, caramel/toffee, red fruits and some yeast. Tastes of sweet bread, sweet toffee, dried fruit, cloves, caramel/brown sugar. Longlasting aftertaste with a hint of licorice, especially if swirled around for a bit. The ABV carries the taste nicely and is not felt at all. Very, very well balanced with a pleasant level of carbonisation. Best beer in the world? Hard to tell, but it is really, really good stuff and for a moment I thought about what an barrel aged edition might taste like.

4.6 Hmm lastig. Beste bier in de wereld? Wel heel erg lekker.

4.4 Pours a deep, dark mahogany coloration with a ruby red hue when held up against the light and a medium, fluffy head. Smells of bready, caramel malt, dark fruit and estery fruit and spice, with notes of raisin, banana clove and allspice, as well as just a hint of brown sugar. Taste is an excellent balance of bready, caramel malt and dark, estery fruit and spice, with notes of raisin, banana, clove and allspice, as well as hints of chocolate, brown sugar and licorice. Finishes with a medium sweetness and some estery fruit and spice lingering in the aftertaste. Full mouthfeel with a rich body and low/medium carbonation. While I didn't want to admit it, simply due to the ridiculous secondary price, this certainly is one of the finest Quads that I've ever had. I still don't think that it's worth 5 times the price of Rochefort or Bernadus Quadruple, but from memory it does stand just slightly above these simply due to balance and body/mouthfeel. The balance of sweet and spicy notes really is excellent here, with a very rich estery character, body and mouthfeel. Overall, this makes for a very rich and well-balanced Quad that may not be worth its secondary price, but still stands on it's own incredibly well, with the ABV hardly being noticeable at all. I think that it's the richness, smoothness and balance which makes this stand just slightly above similar offerings, but from a value-for-money standpoint I'd still rather have a Rochefort 10.

4.7 Perfect quadruppel plum raisin caramel verry complex.

4.0 I have dreamed of this beer quite long time a s a fan of Belgian trappist beers. I was a bit disappoint ed but I am not sure I had drunk the original beer. I expected more complex taste and aroma.

4.3 Trapisticka parada, chutovo velmi podobne Guld. Draak quadrupel

4.7 330ml bottle, 2019 vintage, thanks Immanuel! Caramel malt aroma with notes of dark fruit, Belgian yeast, bread, candi sugar and a hint of booze. Pours deep toffee brown colored with a large tan head that has excellent retention and lacing. Starts with sweet caramel malt, dark fruit and candi sugar flavors as well as having a rich, full body and sweet, sticky mouthfeel. Finishes incredibly smooth with bread and Belgian yeast flavors as well as a bit of body warmth at the end. Wonderful!

4.9 Fantastisch, explosie van smaken. Het beste wat een Quadrupel kan bieden. Je ruikt gedroogd fruit, moeten, teveel om op te noemen. Je proeft chocola, karamel, zoetige tonen, fruit...heerlijk. de nadronk is subliem, alcoholisch op een aangename manier. Puur genieten!

5.0 Única, uma cerveja trapist de topo mundial. Encorpada, cremosa.

4.2 Fles. Fles. Licht bruisend, vol van smaak, bitter. Geen overdreven aroma of smaak van alcohol. Noten, hout.

4.2 Ooit genoemd als beste bier ter wereld. Mwah. Is naar mijn mening overrated. Neemt niet weg dat het smakelijk is.

5.0 Senteurs de noix, de prunes et boisées Première gorgée ronde et gouleyante, l'alcool ne se sent absolument pas, des arômes de pruneaux, de Kirsch, de réglisse, de vanille, de noix de pécan, de sirop d'érable. Exceptionnelle en bouche, c'est la perfection, d'une extrême finesse avec de légers accents de café. Une exception, un rêve, la bière parfaite, d'un équilibre absolument parfait, elle ne démérite pas son titre bien mérité !! Bravo !!

4.9 33cL bottle at Carlsens Kvarter Opaque and dark brown with lots of yeast sediments. Deep, earthy, and sweet aroma with clear notes of nuts and figs, finishing with vinous alcohol. Intense, incredibly deep and complex taste. Starts off with slight notes of citrus, rounding over in figs, nuts, honey, cocoa, slight coffee. This is followed by a slight bitterness before it ends in chocolaty feel. Full-bodied oily texture and very foamy. An incredible experience. The people who claim that Sint Bernardus Abt 12 is like this beer are incredulous, for lack of better word. Beats that firmly, and even edges out my old favourite: Trappistes Rochefort 10. 9-5-10-5-20

5.0 Really hard to get your hands on but worth it!

4.0 Ochutnáno sdíleně z lahve zakoupené v některé z pražských pivoték. Díky suen!

3.6 Brune - n’est pas vraiment à la hauteur de son prestige. Reste néanmoins une bonne bière brune

5.0 Bevuta con particolare emozione sapendo dell'unicità dell'esperienza. Bottiglia in edizione speciale XII, BB 02/12/2014, dunque imbottigliata nel dicembre 2009. Invecchiata per quasi 12 anni. Schiuma praticamente assente, colore marrone scuro non torbido ma con molti lieviti sospesi anche al primo colpo. Carbonazione leggera. Al naso enorme complessità, su tutto caramello, frutta secca e di bosco, sentori erbacei. In bocca leggermente acquosa ma allo stesso tempo di buon corpo. Caramello e i tipici derivati dell'ossidazione dominano la bevuta, la frutta rimane sullo sfondo. Arriva poi uno delizioso amaro che porta diverse pennellate erbacee e floreali, accentuando anche il resto dei sentori. Finale dolce ma secco, che assume anche una nota acida e tostata quando la birra sale di temperatura, oltre a un pelo di liquirizia. La transizione tra amaro e il finale è il più grande pregio di questa birra. Un viaggio in un sorso, estremamente complessa ed elegante nonostante 11 anni di invecchiamento. Alcool che non si sente per nulla nonostante si avverta una parte quasi di rum. Mistica.

4.6 Bottle was shared with my by my partners in-laws who live in Koolskamp Ardooie Belgium. Cap indicated it was drink before 13.01.24. As good as advertised.

4.7 Follow the trip in instagram @juurperi #olutmaailmanympärimatka #beerworldtour Beer country number 3 Belgium