St. Bernardus Prior 8 Question

Love Bernardus 8, 6, 12, Christmas (especially), and am looking forward to trying the tripel as well. Anything that tastes sort of meaty or smoked in this beer should not be there. Could perhaps have been a bad bottle. FWIW, I found the Prior 8 to be much more balanced than Westmalle Dubbel, which I found way too lean, dry, and lacking in any malt intensity, as well as a bit too bitter. To be fair, I'm wondering if I didn't get a mishandled bottle of the Westmalle, as that beer has great reviews, so I'll have to give it another go. In the end, I'd suggest picking up another bottle at some point! Also, if you tried one of the 330 ml bottles, I might pick up the 750, as I've had a few Chimay Blue bottles (small) that tasted kinda funky and not at all like the larger format bottles I was used to.

 

Prior 8 is the absolute best dubbel I've ever had. Great dark fruit complexity with light chocolate and biscuit/caramel/nutty malts with a very balanced spicy yeast profile. Bernardus is a 5 year BB date. My current 750 says 6/2016

 

Been years since I had this but definitely don't remember any smoke or meat flavors. Either would be very out of place in an abbey dark ale.

 

Speaking of beers I haven't had in ages, and slightly off topic:

What is the primary difference between the 12 and the Christmas? I seem to recall them being the same price, style and alcoholic strength, but I don't remember anything else about Christmas (apart from that the bottle I split had crazy yeast floaties in it). Is it spiced like other Christmas beers?

 

the christmas tastes like a belgian strong dark ale style. I will also say the bigger bottles that are bottle conditioned do taste and smell much better than their smaller counterparts. The christmas is not spiced up like the winter beers which is a nice change from what you may be used to when trying winter beers. definitely do a side by side of the small and big bottles of the prior 8. I prefer big bottles. much better experience, or if you can get it on tap, do it for sure.

 

i've found the christmas and abt 12 to be very similar tasting beers. yea, you can tell that there are differences, but i'm too much of a noob to point them out exactly.

and i know i'm not helping the op here, but i enjoy the pater 6 far more than the prior 8. i'd say that's my least favorite of the st bernardus lineup.

 

Do we know why the largers bottles seem to be more consistent?

 

I would guess - and I'm completely guessing and pulling this out of my nether regions - that it has to do with the larger formats being more resistant to changes in conditions, especially temperature. You're looking at double the liquid, and probable more than double the glass. This size allows it to keep the beer at a more steady temp, and the changes are far slower. THis in turn would probably slow the changes that will inevitably happen in transport.

 

Did you decant the beer off the lees or just dump the whole thing in a glass?

 

There's cases of Christmas gathering dust at one of my bottle shops. I need to pick one up from the sound of it. I really enjoyed ABT 12

 

Do yourself a favor - their Christmas ale is phenomenal.

 

I can't put my finger on it, but the Christmas Ale does in fact taste like Christmas. Its one of the better beers I have ever had in my life, Holiday or not. Used to be able to gt it year round, but its popularity this past Christmas has created a shortage of it currently. Ready for this next holiday season to start.

 

I noticed that too and so did friends of mine who bought their bottles in Chicago and Portland, OR. The best by date on mine was the same as yours so I wonder if there was an entire shipment to the US of old bottles that had just been sitting around for years in some warehouse in Belgium.

 

OP, those Hunger N Thirst bottles are likley from Westy's. Belgian beer from Westy's is a crapshoot on age. Cheers, hope to see you there some time.