Twelve Beers of Christmas: Day 7

December 20, 2016 Jack Perdue

St Bernardus Christmas Ale

While not one of the official Trappist breweries, St Bernardus, none the less, is a great abbey-style brewery with many favorite beers in their offerings. Their famous Abt 12 is rated 98 points and the Christmas Ale is not far from it at 93 points on Beer Advocate. Like many winter seasonal beers, this is a high alcohol content at 10% ABV beer so caution is given.

Shortly after the Second World War, the Trappist Monastery St.Sixtus in Westvleteren was looking for somebody to commercialise their beer because they did not want to do that themselves anymore. They gave a license to the cheesefactory, and Brewery St.Bernard was founded. The brew master from Westvleteren, Mathieu Szafranski (from Polish origin) became a partner in the brewery and brought along the recipes, the know-how and the St.Sixtus yeast strain. We started selling the trappist beers under the brand names Trappist Westvleteren, St.Sixtus or even later Sixtus. During a period of 46 years we brewed and commercialised the beers, while the monks continued to brew for themselves and for sales to 3 pubs in the neighbourhood, amongst which In De Vrede, just next to the monastery. In 1992 the license came to an end and since then we are brewing the same beers, with the same recipes, but under a different brand name: St.Bernardus.

St Bernardus website

ST BERNARDUS CHRISTMAS ALE is a dark seasonal brewed in the classic 'Quadrupel' style of Belgium's best Abbey Ales. (10,0 % ABV) Similar to all the beers from our brewery, it greets the drinker with the signature aroma of the St.Bernardus house yeast strain (in use since 1946!) Rivaling the complexity of the St.Bernardus Abt 12, St.Bernardus Christmas Ale offers a spicy, mint-like flavor profile exuding the tastes of warming alcohol, fermented molasses, apricots, licorice and marzipan that are highlighted by the perfect balance of brewing sugars. The perfect companion to enjoy a cold winter evening, with or without the company of your friends!

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