Beer Spotlight!
St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
$26.99 for the four-pack 12oz bottles
Abbey Quadrupel
St. Bernardus is the beer that you want to think is a Trappist ale, but isn’t. It’s close, though. For years, we’ve called it “the beer that’s as close as you can get to Trappist without actually being Trappist.” Truth be told, we may’ve seen closer, but it’s fun to say that, and the beer is good enough to make monks jealous — turns out, for good reason …
St. Bernardus Brewery is in the West Flanders village of Watou — way west! It is right over the border from the northernmost corner of France — some 15 miles from Dunkirk and 30 miles from Calais, as the crow flies. It’s also just six miles southeast of the Trappist Westvleteren monastery and brewery, a fact not insignificant to St. Bernardus’ history.
In the early 1900s, French Trappist monks fled new tax laws and settled across the border in Watou. They called their abbey, la Réfuge de Notre Dame de St Bernard. Being good Benedictines, they needed to make a living, so they settled into making and selling cheese. Thirty years later, France said, “All right, we’ll back off with the taxing,” and the monks returned to their home, allowing Evariste Deconinck to take over their dairy. However, just after WWII, other monks — the monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Westvleteren — made a deal with Deconinck to brew and market their beer for them. So the St. Bernardus cheesemaker brewed Trappist beer for Westvleteren monks … for decades. By the 60s, the cheese business was sold and the husband of Deconinck’s granddaughter (his grand-son-in-law?) was re-upping the contract for another 30 years.
By contract’s end, however, the brewing Trappist monasteries had formalized rules for what could “officially” be a Trappist beer, one of them being that the brewery had to be a physical part of the abbey. So in 1992, suddenly, it was, “Thank you. Bless you. We’re out.” The monks were building a new operation, and St. Bernardus was a brewery without beers … but not without beer recipes. So, they continued doing what they’d been doing but now under the St. Bernardus name.
The St. Bernardus Christmas Ale is a variation of their legendary Quadrupel, the Abt 12. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’ve spiced it, but we can’t confirm our suspicion. What we can say is the already fruity nature of the Abt. 12 has a hair more sweet cherry or apple to it with hints of aniseed and cinnamon. Still, there remains a bristling acidity giving the beer a zing. Not sure if it’s from the hops or the yeast or these hypothetical spices, but it playfully keeps your palate on its toes. Have this classic brew cool but not cold — preferably by a fire with good friends or family you can stand.
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