Origin: Belgium
Type: Quadrupel
Color: Copperish black
Alcohol content: 12%
Recommended serving temperature: 7ºC/45ºF
Brewery: Brouwerij Westvleteren
I want to celebrate this blog's 100th post by writing about something special, and as such I don't think there's anything more special than the Westvleteren XII, if not the best beer in the world, at least the best quad.
Before going on to talk about the beer though, let me briefly explain what I mean when I talk about quads, quadrupel, or quadruple, having not done so in earlier posts.
This designation stems from the old trappist beer division of beers between singel, dubbel and tripel. This distinction, sometimes mistakenly ascribed to the number of fermentations the beer undergoes, actually refers to the amount of solids or raw materials in the fermentable wort. In layman's terms, the amount of malt or fermentable sugars in the mix. A singel beer will therefore have the usual amount of malt, the dubbel will have double that, and the tripel, triple. The extra malt will mean that the wort will have more sugars for the yeast to consume in fermentation and will therefore poop more alcohol.
It naturally follows from all this that the quadrupel will need four times more malt than your normal beer and consequently will have more alcohol. Although it's not an exact proportion, it's pretty safe to say that makes it four times the fun of your usual beer and, therefore, better.
This specific quad, Westvelteren XII, is still brewed by monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Vleteren, Belgium, exclusively to finance their own sustenance and that of their abbey, making their output pretty limited and their beer incredibly coveted. I would recommend you take a look at the Abbey's webpage to see the complications of procuring yourself a lot of this beer. Just as an example, the same car will not be allowed into the abbey brewery to pick up a second order until at least 60 days after the first one.
It is all well worth the work though if you can take home a case of it
Westvleteren XII is of a reddish and brownish black color and boasts a decent amount of foam which keeps for a little bit.
Its smell is very complex and varies wildly depending on the time it has been open and in contact with air. The dominating smells are those of dark fruits such as raspberry, prunes and plums, together with some herby and sweet smells which remind me of licorice and honey, and some roasted malts, which give away coffee or chocolate aromas.
Despite that, the smell does not come off overly sweet, but more balanced, aged and oaked, as it does in wine. This similarity to wine is in fact the first thing that springs to mind with this beer, not only because of the appearance and the smell, but also because of the taste.
Many of the aromas described are also present in the taste, even if it is to different levels.
The roasted malts are the most noticeable at the beginning, providing a slightly bitter taste of coffee, chocolate and licorice, which is soon balanced by the sweetness the taste of black fruits brings, and smoothed down by a certain oakyness. This oakyness contributes to the wine-like feeling of this beer, but is also a testament to the traditional brewing methods behind this beer and the time it spends in wooden casks.
I guess that the factor that makes me think of wine the most though in this beer is the alcohol. It is not immediately noticeable until that first gulp has been sitting in your mouth for a little bit, but it's there, and at that point it's too late because god knows you can't spit a single drop of that big gulp out. That would be heresy (I think the monks actually lobbied for that to be the case).
The truth is that this beer hides a 10%ABV inside it and by the time you're done with it you will be made well aware. Painstakingly so.
My advice is drink it slow. Also, drink it without pairing to fully appreciate it. Basically, take on the demeanor of a lord sipping his brandy. This pretentious little ritual will make you feel special (in a good way) without looking a little special when you get up from your seat. Who knows, after enough practice you might even stop looking like a dumbass when you do it and appear worthy of the beer. Can't say I do...
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