St.Bernardus Abt 12

Info

St.Bernardus Abt 12 is widely regarded as one of the best beers in the world. It is therefore no surprise that it is our brewery’s flagship beer, ranked at the very top of the St.Bernardus beer hierarchy. It is brewed in the classic quadrupel style and adheres to the original 1946 recipe.

Colour

This is a dark beer with a robust head that is ivory in colour.

Characteristics

Colour Dark
Type of beer Quadruple / Top fermentation
Alcohol degree 10 %
° Plato 19,7
Recommended pouring temperature 8 - 12 °C
Colour (EBC) 70
Bitterness (EBU) 20
Shelf life 4 years (bottle) / 1,5 years (keg)
Packaging Bottle: 33 cl / 75 cl - Keg: 20 L

Character, taste, aromas

St.Bernardus Abt 12 has a very fruity aroma that is the result of using our own unique yeast. It brims over with different, complex tastes and stands out through its long, bittersweet finish. Thanks to its mild, rounded taste and perfect balance between bitter and sweet, this beer goes down very easily. When you drink an Abt you can enjoy life to the full!

Culinary

The Abt 12 packs a formidable taste punch which makes it the ideal partner for rich beef dishes and recipes with game, the famous stoverij beef stew or rabbit for example. Blue cheese – a Roquefort springs to mind – also forms a perfect match with Abt 12. And don’t forget to try out a pairing with chocolate for unexpected but highly successful results.

Magnum

Since 2012 we have produced a limited number of 1.5 litre bottles, our Magnums. To create this special edition, the Abt 12 is bottled into a special dark brown St.Bernardus magnum bottle on which the brewery logo is printed in relief. It also comes with a Bière Belge bottleneck, a branded cork and a unique muselet, the wire cage around the cork. Each edition of the labels on these bottles has been designed by a new artist, and all of their art works are kept in the brewery’s art collection.

Magnum 2012

For the first edition we invited Belgian artist Rik Vermeersch to paint 'De Abt'.

Magnum 2013

The Belgian artist with Italian roots Giampaolo Amoruso created a mouth-blown work of art entitled 'Bernardus e Marco'.

Magnum 2014

An idiosyncratic interpretation of Abt 12 was added to the collection by Belgian artist Christian Silvain in 2014.

Magnum 2015

Belgian painter André Van Schuylenbergh created 'Lynn', named after Lynn Van Royen, his daughter-in-law.

Magnum 2016

To commemmorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the brewery, in 2016, a special label was designed with a statue to match.

Magnum 2017

In 2017, with "Van Gogh", French artist Bernard Pras used weird and wonderful objects to create temporary installations that he then records with a camera.

Magnum 2018

The Belgian, multi-talented artist Kamagurka painted 'De Regenpijp' especially on the occasion of the Magnum 2018.

Magnum 2019

Pjeroo Roobjee, born in Ghent in 1945, painted 'De zuster van astronaut Dick beluistert de ruis van sterrenstof'.

Magnum 2020

Belgian visual artist Christophe Malfliet paints in series, mainly figurative, abstract or in interaction. He always manages to inspire his paintings with a rebellious undertone, how innocent the scene may look. His 'Illuminato' adorns the label of the 2020 edition.

Magnum 2021

Panamarenko’s photograph 'Around The World in 80 Years', which would unintentionally become his last, was the photographer’s take on Jules Verne’s adventure novel 'Around The World in 80 Days'. The man behind this photograph is the narrative photographer Bart Ramakers, who in turn derived his inspiration for the scene from the work of the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio.

Magnum 2022

Ten years after his son Rik helped us launch our Magnum tradition, we are honouring ‘100 years of José Vermeersch’. The sculpture ‘Vrouw and Man’ dates from 1986. His body of work is a bold, free expression of an authentic search for existential truth.

Magnum 2023

In the works of Belgian painter Hervé Martijn we sense a never-ending quest for the essence of what it means to be human. Martijn’s visual language is typified by the fragility and introversion of the figures he paints with immense virtuosity. He created a serene portrait 'White pigeon in black' of West Flemish composer, pianist and singer Katrien Verfaillie.

Magnum 2024

The French-Belgian artist Kalbut created 'Full Metal Bernard', entirely made of recycled metal. It's his distinctive interpretation of our St.Bernardus. The majestic sculpture, no less than 220 cm high and 600 kilos also awaits you at the entrance of our Brewery Tour.

What about the best before date?

Wat als je een fles hebt waarvan de THT (tenminste houdbaar tot) datum overschreden is? Geen paniek! De THT is een kwaliteitsgarantie van onze brouwerij. Dat betekent niet dat het gebruik van het product na die datum een gevaar betekent voor jouw gezondheid.

What if you have a bottle that has passed its best before date? Do not panic! A best before date is a quality guarantee from our brewery. The product does not pose a danger to public health when used after that date.

Is your beer still safe to drink? Certainly. The Magnum editions of Abt 12 are always refermented in the bottle, because of this the beer continues to develop over the years. You can easily compare this evolution in the taste palette with how a red wine also evolves over the years.

The changing nuances in the taste of our Abt 12 ensure that you can undertake a 'vertical tasting', where you taste different vintages of beer side by side. Do the test!

Our brewery otherwise only sells young, freshly filled beer. Our Magnum editions of Abt 12 offer you an unique opportunity to also taste slightly older beer, without having to leave it in your cellar for 10 years.

Mathusalem

Did you know that our Abt 12 is also available in a festive 6-liter bottle? Completely tailor-made for your party with family or friends.

The design of the Mathusalem is inspired by art deco, the art movement our owner Hans Depypere adores.

One of the characteristics of art deco is the integration of stained glass in large windows, walls or ceilings. Attentive visitors will have already noticed several of these architectural style elements in various public areas of our brewery.

The carefully designed label is fully in line with this vision. Each bottle is also numbered and signed by Hans. In short, a real collector's item!