Brouwerij St. Bernardus
Founded in 1946 in Watou, West Flanders, Brouwerij St. Bernardus began as a cheese factory before transitioning to brewing under license from the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. For 46 years — until 1992 — it produced Westvleteren-recipe beers for commercial distribution, using the original Saint Sixtus yeast strain. After the license ended, St. Bernardus continued brewing its own interpretations of those recipes, retaining the authentic yeast strain. The Abt 12 in particular is widely regarded as rivalling Westvleteren 12, the rarest Trappist beer in the world, and is considerably more accessible. The brewery remains family-owned and exports globally.
Beers by Brouwerij St. Bernardus
5 beers
← scroll to see all 5 beers →
The recurring character behind the beers
Drawn from all 5 beers in the catalogue.
Four notes carry across the range. That's a tight house style — most breweries in the catalogue share just one. 2 of them come through every single beer.
Everything sits in one family — which makes the comparison below the interesting part. It isn't what they brew that sets them apart, but how.
Brouwerij St. Bernardus's beers land close to what is typical for the Belgian Tripel styles they brew. The character is in the styles they choose and how consistently they hit them — not in standing apart from the field.
St. Bernardus Pater 6
Their beers place in the Top 52% of the catalogue on average, across 5 ranked beers. Consistent rather than spiky — no single standout carrying the rest.
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hopIQ exclusiveBased on style overlap and flavor profile
About Brouwerij St. Bernardus
Founded in 1946 in Watou, West Flanders, Brouwerij St. Bernardus began as a cheese factory before transitioning to brewing under license from the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. For 46 years — until 1992 — it produced Westvleteren-recipe beers for commercial distribution, using the original Saint Sixtus yeast strain. After the license ended, St. Bernardus continued brewing its own interpretations of those recipes, retaining the authentic yeast strain. The Abt 12 in particular is widely regarded as rivalling Westvleteren 12, the rarest Trappist beer in the world, and is considerably more accessible. The brewery remains family-owned and exports globally.
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