Brouwerij De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren Abbot 12

Here's a rarity that occasionally comes into my life, and has to be saved and shared with friends, when I finally decide to open it. This bottle has been in my possession for at least two years, and was a "freebie" in a package with a painting of the bottlecap, which I purchased from the artist who I discovered via BeerAdvocate.com.

There are theories out there that it only falls at the top of the Best Beers in the World lists due it's scarcity, and the trouble involved with procuring a bottle. It only comes from the source, after one has made an appointment and given the monks your license plate number, for only one example. But once you taste, all doubt slips away.

This one was opened up at a gigantic, stupendous, incredible tasting hosted by my friends Dean and Rita at their hotel room in Duluth the night before the All Pints North beer festival. (Last night, as of this writing.) No one at the gathering had had it before, and all were taken with it's loveliness. It did come after some huge, heavy hitters, but our palates weren't so wrecked just yet, that we couldn't discern it's beauty.

Here, now, I share with you the notes from when I first tracked down this elusive treasure, way back in May, 2003, when I saved it for my 500th beer review on BeerAdvocate.com.

Appearance: deep, dark burgundy brown, rich as a raisin, with a fine reddish hue 'round the edges. Head is towering, huge, off-whitish color, and slow to sizzle down to size.

Aroma:....requires a new vocabulary! Deep, and heady, rich, full of fruit, grapes, raisins, plums, and spices, a very complex blend, soft, but sensual, deliriously so, and delicious, and the more I breathe it in, the more the flavors become pronounced, more is revealed here, pepper, anise, rich mollasses, rum, sweetness compounded by rich dark flavors...

Now to drink...I...um...serious contemplation is required, for I am seriously, honestly, taken aback by the force of, not only the alcoholic content, but the strong, full, bewitching flavor of this incredible ale! It staggers the senses! Honestly, I reel from it's effects and must wait until my consciousness can comprehend what is going on...many layers, many flavors, many ways that this incredible concoction can impact upon the senses.

I feel thoroughly slayed, laid waste, but utterly uplifted in my oblivion! Let the sword fall upon me more often, if the taste is as sweet!
Have I said heavenly already? No matter if I did, it's a truly transmogrific feeling, it is, and I could be in another galaxy, for all I care...fly me not to the moon, nor Jupiter, or the outer stars, but, merely wherever this impossibly exhilirating nectar may blossom...

Now that I have finally downed a simple sample of this much renowned ale, I can only say..."more, please!"