About a year ago I decided to purchase a case of 750s of St. Bernardus Abt 12. I always enjoyed this beer and consider it one of the best quads easily available and figured this would be fun to age and see what it does over the long haul. The date on the cap is 6.2.19 which is February 6, 2019. From my research the best by date is five years from the bottle on date so that mean it was bottled February 6, 2014. Recently I popped open the first bottle from the case. The results were quite delicious. I’m sure many of you out there have had this beer, but I must say this was probably the best one I have ever had of the Abt 12. The flavors were so well integrated, there was minimal alcohol burn, usually this can be a bit hot, and it was just so buttery smooth I probably could have chugged it. I was just so surprised how well it was drinking and how much better it was than anything I previously had. My theory on why this was so good is because it was properly aged. As soon as I got the case I put it in my cellar which is my basement that is usually 65 degrees year round and left it untouched. Each time I have purchased this bottle in the past has been off the store shelf and honestly I did not pay attention to the date on the cap or most times it was illegible. Since then I have checked bottle dates in the stores and some have a best by date of 2018, so bottled in 2013 which isn’t that old. We all know quads hold up very well so it shouldn’t really matter, but I can only speculate with these sitting on store shelves or at the distributor not in the proper condition has affected the flavors. Maybe this quad is more sensitive than others? I have no idea. All I do know is that with one year on this in the right cellar conditions is amazing and I couldn’t be happier. I will probably try another one in about six months to see what is going on with it and share my findings, I don’t think I can wait another year.
Cheers