Wesvletern 12 vs. Rochefort 10 vs. St. Bernardus 12 | Beer Geek Nation Craft Beer Reviews
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
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Westvleteren 12 - 10.2% ABV
Rochefort 10 - 11.3% ABV
St. Bernardus abt 12 - 10.5% ABV
St Bernardus 12 - The absolute top quality in the hierarchy of the St. Bernardus beers. It is also the beer with the highest alcohol content (10.50 %). A dark ivory coloured beer with a high fermentation. The show piece of the brewery. Thanks to its soft and unconditionally genuine aroma, the beer can be smoothly tasted. The Abt has a very fruity flavour.
Westvleteren 12 - Westvleteren has the smallest output of the Trappist breweries, with only a small part of their production available outside of Belgium.
Rochefort 10 - The top product from the Rochefort Trappist brewery. Dark color, full and very impressive taste. Strong plum, raisin, and black currant palate, with ascending notes of vinousness and other complexities.
Rochefort 10 is liquid happiness. It always tastes Chrismasy/Spring Festivaly to me.
I'm proud i was born in Belgium and these 3 beers are Always in my basement !! the best place to store these beers !! my favorite is the West Vleteren 12 !! Rochefort is my second favorite !! In Belgium we're saying " Santé & schol , als ge er niet van drinkt blijft hij vol " cheers !!
Rochefort 10 is one of my all time favorite beers. My wife bought me a bottle for Father's Day because she didn't know what to buy me as a gift. Since I love craft beer, she picked up the bottle because, and I quote, "it was expensive so I figured you'd like it" lol
I went out and bought Rochefort 10 for my first time after watching this. THANK YOU SO MUCH! What an amazing beer.
Try the other two as well if you can. The Westy might hard to to find, but the Abt 12 is easy enough in most places. Haven't tried the Westy myself, but both the Rochefort 10 and Abt 12 are world-class brews. You can nit-pick all day on either of them of you want to and have a favorite, but at the end of the day, both are masterpieces.
Rochefort 10 is my all time favorite beer ever!
The real problem is that hard to obtain beer actually tastes better. Food is an experience, if something is easy it isn't as satisfying as something you had to work at. I agree with your comment 100% but I also think that the obtanium factor actually contributes to overall enjoyment in a significant way.
Agreed, St Bernardus 12 is not an "Abbey Ale" but it is closer to the Westy 12 than any other if you know their history.
St. Bernardus abt 12 and Westvleteren 12 are basically the same. because St. Bernardus used to brew Westvleteren it's recipes, until they had to stop brewing it cause a trappist monasteries decided that trappist beer could only be brewed inside the monastery itself. so Westvleteren pulled back it's recipes and St. Bernardus was born. i think this was in the early 90's. i'm from Belgium btw.
Icarus wingsofsteel Dont agree with you, yes they come from the same region, but for me the taste of Westvleteren is more complex, also the smell is different.
St Bernardus has som similarities, but misses the balance, complexity and layers from the W12. For me these are 2 different beers...
Pretty sure they use different yeasts. Westy uses Westmalle and St. Bern uses the original Westy yeast.
yes they use different yeasts, st bernardus uses the original yeast from the old recipe
People also forget that the same recipe brewed on different equipment can come out vastly different.
Possible natural variations including water type and changes in the grain and hops.
Whether it's the actual brewhouse, shape of the fermentation vessels, different temperature readings (mash, fermentation, etc.), fermentation length, maturation/lagering time, bottle ageing, lab setups, staff knowledge & training, packaging techniques, DO levels before and after packaging.
Possibly St Bern has more financial pressure to push beer out, not store it as long, affecting the resultant beer.
I happen to love both all three of the beers tasted, especially the I can get two of them pretty much whenever I want.
my fave quads
1. Westy 12 (when you get a spot on batch
2. St Bernardus abt 12
3. Gouden Carlous Cuvee Van De Keizer
4.Rochefort 10
5. Chimay grand reserve
Obviously everyone has different tastes just my faves when me and my friends did a blind tasting.
I love how you say the beer taste like a "classic" quad when the beers you're reviewing actually are the beers that make the term "classic" useful when describing other quads.
With those three in the mix, I agree 100% with your selections.
I haven't been able to get my hands on a Westy 12 yet, but I've had both Rochefort 10 and Abt 12 plenty of times over the years. I guess I'm the odd one out, but I prefer the St. Bernardus. It's just a more interesting beer to me. Both are delicious, but somehow I find something new in the Abt 12 every time I drink it. Not so much with the Rochefort, which also has a hair too much hops for my taste in a quad.
Grabbed a sixer of westy when it came out. First two I had were okay, a little boozy and a little harsh if I can remember correctly. I than forgot about the beer for a year, and wow does a little aging do this beer magic. Everything smoothed out and harmonized perfectly. To anyone who buys this beer, try your hardest to cellar it for at least 8 months (easier when you buy a few).
Very nice! My current favorite of the month is the St. Bernardus. Great blind taste.
With these craft beers it's worth noting that from batch-to-batch they may end up tasting slightly different each time. But in a way, that makes them even MORE interesting
Just tried Rochefort 10 for the first time tonight. Absolutely blown away. So complex and just a special beer. Westy 12 beats it but their American batch was not up to snuff in my opinion so it makes sense that Rochefort got the edge
I agree the Rochefort is just fantastic
I haven't had the American release of Westy 12, but I did have all three of those beers last week. I would have to say that Rochefort was my least favorite, although I don't know the ages of the bottles I had. I got the Westy directly from the monastery and it was in a different league than the other two.
Tried all three for the first time about 12 years ago.
Rochefort was and remains my favorite of the three also.
Rochefort
Westy
Bernardus
In that order is how I would rate them, but all three are truly world class brews.
Yep you really cant go wrong with any of them for sure
What a line up! A true clash between titans
When you mentioned A and B tasting similar, I figured they were Westy and St Bernardus, considering St. Bern is supposed to be the original Westy recipe (or so I've heard). Still, awesome, awesome review. Never had Westy but between St Bern and Rochefort 10, the Rochefort takes it for me, as well.
Cheers!
Just did the same test with three other "professionals". Threw a La Trappe in the mix for good measure which didn't fair very well. The Westy 12 came in #1 by a good margin. Followed the beer with a few wagyu burgers stacked with duck foie gras and a couple quail eggs....I figure we earned 'em testing all that beer.
Hi, I am from Flanders, Belgium. WV 12 and St-Bernardus are beers brewn from the same recipe. Though one is infamous and the other ain't. Plus a trappist tends to score higher due to it being harder to get.
My understanding is the recipe for Westy & St Benny are the same except for the yeast, as they virtually started life as the same beer. I have tasted both and I find the Westy starts out with less carbonation and therefore slightly smoother.
Awesome, awesome review!
Great stuff. all three are outstanding beers, couldn't go wrong with any if them.
But, for the easy accessibility I'd choose Rochefort 10 any day.
Great review man!
This made me very thirsty!
Westvleteren 12 en Rochefort 10 are definitely my favorites.
When I drunk them at the same time they were a lot alike, but I'm gonna do it again because it's never exactly the same! I had the abt 12 also next to it and was much sweeter than the other two, but definitely very nice.
I am from Belgium and I love Westvleteren 12. Tongerloo blonde is very in combination with a good meat dish. Gives more satisfaction. Some beers will give you a taste like in the 11 century. Belgium is making a lot of new beers. Not for export yet.
Palm Royale is a good beer when it comes fresh from the barrel.
Excellent review Chris! I think this may be one of your best yet - possibly the best! I was planning on doing a similar review sometime in the near future- all 3 beers are about 2 years old at this point, and gonna be interesting since I've never had Westy before. Rochefort 10 was my first 5/5 beer ever, and holds a very special place close to my heart, and glad to know from your review that it hangs up there with the best of the best.
This is what video beer reviews need. If my vote counts at all, more of these with other styles, especially IPA and IIPA.
I guessed perfectly from your tasting notes which beer was which. St Bernardus is simple and too sweet. It's like Westmalle and Chimay, they add glucose syrup for the sweetness. Westie is nicer, more "crafty" but it does not have the complexity of Rochefort 10. That's why I never understood why Westie got the favors of most critics, and I think it has a lot to do with its rarity. Put it in a blindtest, and like you most people will think Rochefort 10 is the best because of its balance and complexity.
Did a tasting recently - Rochefort 10 vs St Bernardus 12 vs Chimay Blue vs Achouffe N’Ice.
For me, the winner was St Bernardus - I loved the smooth fermentation profile and yeast complexity, absolutely flawlessly brewed.
2nd was the Chimay, is what it is and have always loved this beer. Has its own very distinct flavour.
3rd was the Rochefort - for some reason I found this the least palatable of the big 3. It was quite hot and boozy and seemed to have a more neutral yeast character. Had a more straight-up caramel flavour and even a hint of diacetyl (which I don't mind)
4th was the Achouffe - nice in many respects, but I HATE thyme in beer, it's just wrong wrong wrong!
I agree about the 10. I recently bought it and immediately was taken back by the boozy aroma as soon as I opened the bottle. I still enjoy it, but I'd prefer the Chimay or St. Bernardus.
I am on the same boat regarding the Rochefort. Damn alcohol aroma! St. Bernardus for me.
Chimay over Rochefort? wow!
Just goes to show that we all have different tastes etc...
i already said here that rocherfort 10 & st-bernardus 12 are the best, im glad you did this blind test!
Of course, they have been poured in a Chimay glass! :-)
Greg's beer review suggested the Westy 12 was specifically brewed for U.S may not be be same quality as Westy 12 brewed for Belgium interesting review rochefort is so raizonie and distinct.
And that's why I liove to live in Belgium! Now i'm drinking Tongerlo Blond, not bad, not bad at all. But it doesn't beat the Rochefort 10.
Agreed, but you shouldn't compare quadrupels with blond in my opinion.
The characteristics are so different, and the moment they taste best too (Winter, summer, evening, afternoon). I wouldn't drink a Rochefort 10 outside in the middle of the day when it's 35°C, but that's just me =)
The best of the video is that you're doing WVXII, R10 and SB12 on Chimay glasses...but no Chimay... awesome.. almost like drinking a Evil Twin beer in a Mikkeller glass
what a review ! we need more blind tests like this one! Next one is the best German Weiss blind test, maybe? My favorite beers so far are Gouden Carolus Classic, Struise Pannepot , Ommegang Three Philosophers,Ayinger Celebrator, Westmalle Dubbel!!!
Wow, this came as a surprise. I've never had Westvleteren, though I've had both Rochefort and St. Bernardus and to be quite frank, I prefer St. Bernardus.
Agreed, Rochefort is an amazing beer without a doubt, but the Abt 12 is more complex and interesting IMO.
I really cannot believe I got these right. I've had a Rochefort and Abt 12 one time and it was a long time ago. Either I'm a nerd or lucky guesser. Thanks for doing this. Was an interesting concept. Might do that with other beers like IPAs.
Great video! Blind taste tests are always very interesting and illuminating. Would love to see you do these more often.
Man, this video was SUCH a great idea to do, man. This is EXACTLY why I never sought after Westy 12 in my life. Enough people said Rochefort 10, Malheur 12, and St. Berny are just as good. Since Rochefort 10 has always been my favorite, I'm so glad Roch10 hit your no.1 in this tasting as well. Booyashaka!
Great video, one of your best. Certainly do more of these. Not a bad idea to do at home with some friends... makes you focus on what you like rather than a beer's reputation/status.
Absolutely awesome video Chris! You should consider doing more in this style! The only one I have had of those 3 is St. Bernardus Abt 12 and it's fantastic. My first Quad I ever tried I think.
Never had Westy 12. Have had the other 2. LOVED the Rochefort.
never had wesv 12 but I'm not in a rush, I am sure I will stick to Rochefort and st bern 12 is just a classic for me
I surely rate RF10 higher than Westy12, easier to get hold of here in Sweden too. :) My no:1 beer all categories!
Funny I read in the comments that some one did not like it because it reminds of IPA, that's weird, I H A T E ipa's&apa's!
Fakt!!
Best. Beer. Review. Ever!
NICE! Like the flight idea for these big beers. I've had both Abt12 and Rochefort. (Can't find my Abt12 notes to compare to yours.) Guess I'm not missing out on the best thing in the world then! LOL. Still very sad I couldn't come up with connections to get a bottle...Shelton Bro's went very quiet for long time about release.
Vertical tastings are the way to go if you want to get to truly get to know the beers....wish i could have been there.
laverdisti500, Agree, I'm American but in my personal experiences I think that the Belgians brew the best beers in the world. My favorite styles thus far coincidentally seem to be the tripels and quads. Dubbels are good too, but the others are my main preference. The Germans have some fine beers too!
Great beer. A few friends of mine get together every once in awhile for a themed beer night....on the last one we went for "trappist night" which included all the Rocheforts, Chimays, Orval, Achel, Westmalle and just the Westy 12. We paired with a London broil and various cheeses....we actually came away from the experience preferring the Rochefort 8 (which doesn't get as much love on the beer ranking sites). Sure it's a dark Belgian and not a quad...but quite excellent as well!
Everyone and their brother has a barrel aged stout now. KBS release coming up, maybe a blind BCBS vs KBS vs Some other amazing BA stout.
We are going to do a Westvleteren tasting for the Saint Sixtus monks. They asked me to try out some new bottles from different batches from 2012 and 2013 to see if there is a difference between them. That should be a lot of fun. Tasting will be held at the best Dutch microbrewer; De Molen.
Wow. I went back this weekend and saw your Hopslam vs. Nugget Nectar vs. Double Trouble video wondering if he would ever try something that again. HAHA. Cheers.
Just a few things (as a Belgian) ... good taste. Although you should know that one of the ingredients of Rochefort is indeed chocolate. But thank you for appreciating our beers (we certainly do :-) )
+youapiga Regarding your question, it depends. Some flavours only come out when room temperature (West-Vleteren and the likes) but a Rochefort should be kept cool ( fridge). All in all, this is for most belgian beers except Duvel which should be icy cold. We keep Duvel glasses in the freezer. And before I get bashed by my fellow belgians (beer is a big discussion :-) ), you should simply try it. Usually in Belgium you can choose between 'out of the fridge' or 'from the counter' ...
Hope this helps.
Rochefort 10 is my best and favorite beer. So happy to taste in Korea...
David Kang it's a top beer. Here in the Netherlands it's in every supermarket! Less than two Euro a bottle . They also sell the 8
@@SiliconMolybdenumNitrogen Less than two euro? Damn, I pay $6.50 USD per bottle at the local liquor store...
I think Westvleteren 12 is a little more complex than the Rochefort 10. But the Rochefort 10 is still a great beer. I pay 2€ for it per bottle here.. Insane price.
Never tried the Westy but St B is a real treat in itself., full of candy/sugar, cherry etc... a superb beer which is dangerously moorish hah. Rochefort 10 is a whole different beast altogether though, a real "sit and sip" beer which just get's better with every taste. A tough call between the two .
Two different beasts as far as i'm concerned.
Hah, having done the exact same thing I'm not surprised at all by the results -- in fact, as soon as you finished describing the smells I was able to map out which is which.
i won't be drinking any of these beers, as they are all out of my price range. but i love your side by side blind taste test of all three. and i hope it is a format that you carry forward to other styles as well.
Westvleteren 12 is the best. Trust me.
we did a side by side with a westy 12 brought back from belguim , an one from the 6 packs they sent here. and the beers tasted different. So we figured the beer from belguim was aged more but the bottle dates were only 1 month off. The one sent here was way sweeter. got a syrup stickness too
Also, we threw in a several-year-old Achel Extra just for fun, and it actually won the blind tasting by a unanimous vote. Need to try one of the same age as the rest of them one of these days…
in regards to using a fermentor again after fermenting a sour beer; you can reuse it for clean beer after washing and sanitizing the fermentor. there are lots of sour beer brewers out there doing it, i'm doing it, so it's not just mere luck that i have never had a cross contamination in the 3 yrs i've been experimenting with this. i'm not saying that you should do this, just that it can easily be done. the last lager i brewed fermented in a better bottle that had just been emptied of a 1 yr old sour beer. these are yeast and bacteria, not evil spirits, star san will kill them.Very good! Enjoyable.
The best for my is a Zundert trappist! 👌🏻😋
I really dig the blind comparison concept. Nice job as always.
The Westy 12's that came in the brick either aren't the best batch or they need at least a year more of age. Most people have never had it as fresh as what came in the bricks. I like it the most with two years. But no real surprise about Rochefort 10 winning.
Wow, I was about to do a blind tasting with Westy XII and St. B 12. I will have to add in the Rochefort. Great video!
I bought a bottle of St. Bernardus at a local liquor store with a build-your-own six pack. Never heard of it before walking in and seeing it. Judging by all the reviews sounds like I've made a good decision of picking it up.
Nice change from the usual. Thanks to you and your liver.
What the hell is raisin juice
I have tried many good beers, but from this first class category I've only tried Rochefort 6,8,10. To me, 8, 10 must be the best beers in the world. How come? Well, the beer gets you high, plain and simple. You can try many good beers but they wont get you high with one beer, and by high I mean it is better than a really good Marihuana without the muscle and brainy effects and similar to mushrooms without the hallucinations. Rochefort gets you gigly and so happy. I told this to other 2 friends and one day we went to the store and tried it and they got the same effect and told me they were really high, got giggly, etc. How many beers can do that? I keep some Rocheforts on the fridge for occasions when I need it like celebrations or a date in order to get me in a positive mood.
Yep. High alcohol ABV beers and overall beers get you ''high''. drunk, pretty much.
I let some Australians try this who were hungry but soon they forgot all about that and yes, we got all high. I get almost the same high from Delirium Tremens beer also. But I have to be in a certain relaxed mood , in the evening, in a nice dark bar, not tired, not depressed..
Rochefort 6 did nothing for me at-all but the 8 and 10 are superb quality.
Never drink Rochefort from a fridge!! (warm it up) like a good ale/stout etc...
Anything cold kills flavour ..that's something a lot of pubs over here in the UK could do with learning.
I don't know if you are, but if so, PLEASE let the beer get to room temperature first ..anything else is a crime to such a wonderful beer.
Great idea for a video! Nicely done as usual. I've never had Westy, but I'm partial to Abt. 12 myself. Cheers!
What i can tell you, for me, it's impossible not to guess which is R.10, so different in taste and aroma from the other 2, between w12 and st12, well, probably it's hard to guess, but, w12 definitely more aroma.
Well I agree with you: Rochefort 10 has a more interesting profile than Westy 12.
I'm going to try Rochefort 10 again. Last time I had it, I wasn't very impressed; enjoyed St. Bernardus more. Maybe my next experience will be different.
Recently did a blind taste test of double ipas.Pliny,enjoy by,and Firestone double Jack.highly recommend u try this one. I think you'll be surprised how similar they are
Dude. Absolutely loved this. Well done!
Very nice...exactly how my rankings go. Rochefort 10 is king of all quads...the benchmark
As far as quads go Rochefort 10 is great, but I prefer the Rochefort 8
I recently got to taste the Westy 12 - the Rosh. 10 is still my favorite. Bernardus 2nd and the Westy 12 third. The mystique of the westy has us over rate it
you had a wrong bottle. or did you eat sugar before tastign beer?
With those three beers, I guess the only real winner here is you. I'm practically drooling here!
There are other beers which are closer to the Westy 12 but the Bernardus is close.
I've been saying it for like a decade - Rochefort is a bit better, more unique tasting Quad. The Rochefort 8 is totally out of this world in terms of different tasting Belgian dark ales. It's just so different and in a great way. People were voting Westy 12 in the past due to it's rarity. Once it became a bit more available (due to roof repairs needed) they saw the truth. It's great, but not greater than Rochefort.
I'm here sipping on a St. Bern 12 and when it's warm (10 degrees), it's a damn fine quad too, esp when it comes from that dandy St. Bern mix pack - Wit, Pater 6, Prior 8, Tripel, Watou Tripel and Abt 12. To me it's the greatest mix pack I've ever had, since there is literally no weak link in it, like there tends to be in most other mixed packs.
Finally the review I was waiting for
Watching these videos, makes me feel very lucky that I live in Belgium. :p
Me too! and I love my Rochefort 10, had to go there and get a proper Rochefort beer goblet, :)
+Michael Poole You really must have had a bottle gone off. One of the problems of exporting (most of) the belgian beers is that they go bad after a few months (less so the problem if you have a beer which has bottle fermentation, these last a bit longer). Anyway, I am sorry to hear that it wasn't ok because it really is one of the better beers.
Called all three out just on the appearance. When you started describing the aroma's I knew I was right. Have had cases off all three. Rochefort 10 is actually my least favourite. Have you had Achel Extra? What's your thoughts on it?
You should try Rochefort 8... personally I like it better than the 10. Was funny though, from your first descriptions it was already clear which one was which. Allthough from reading the comments and viewing your and other US video reviews, it looks like the release for your market is different than the local release. I don’t know any beer that is more balanced than Westvleteren 12, deffinitely not Rochefort 10. I even find the R8 more balanced than the R10.
No surprise to me there. Rochefort 10 is a hell of a beer!
Outstanding review. Enjoyed this one immensely. I just had Westy 12 in Vancouver, Canada and also had a Rochefort 10. I completely agree with your conlusion. Cheers!!
Awesome video man, absolutely killed it!
Who is your helper ? Your wife ? Do you guys split beers ? Great video BTW
C is the Winners
I like the list. Don't get me wrong, the Keizer is delicious and all, but on some occasions I found it to be too much of a malt bomb, tasting like a brick of sugar and making Koeningshoeven taste like a well balanced quad.
That is awesome... Rochefort 10 is my alltime favorite, but i have not had the other two, so I'll have to find them here in middle TN somewhere, and perhaps do the same thing you did... Maybe a video response if I can find them all to try.
I told my friend about your video so I decided to watch it again myself (totally forgetting the result). This time I finally got to taste the Westy 12 last week so I have some context. And my result is:
A - St. Berny 12
B - Westy 12
C - Rochefort 10
BOOYASHAKA!!!!
very interesting, I guess I only need to try rochefort then
The St Bernardus thing I found weak as compared to Rochefort, which seemed like a truly complex and interesting beer. The first hit of Rochefort on the tongue is incomparable to anything I've had. It's so rich, yet still seems kind of rough and like a work in progress. I love it. St Bernardus and Chimay do nothing for me. If Westvleteren is anything like St Bernardus I don't want to try it.
Great video Chris! No doubt they are all great beers, not too surprising Rochefort 10 won though. I love that beer.
great video
With your descriptions I guessed a ABT12, b rochefort and c Westy 12