Westvletern 12 - My 40 page journey to monastery in Belgium to finally try the Westvleteren 12

Originally posted by MacBoost
Blogs are pretty much the worst thing on the internet. Beer blogs doubly so.

Originally posted by SilkTork

Originally posted by BeerSensations

Originally posted by Maakun
Nice read! But these prices in the Brussels tourist bars/shops are crazy, there’s plenty of places in Belgium and even surrounding countries where you can get it a lot cheaper.

That sounds intriguing! The cheapest i managed to find was Au Brasseur (bar) and the Beer store Brussels and they both charged 15 Euro a bottle. What other places do you know about that are cheaper? It would be awesome to add a few places to the list :)

Most beer geeks know of shops in their area which sell it. I’ve always bought mine here in the UK - apart from some vintage St. Bernardus brewery bottles I picked up in Amsterdam. I’ve never paid exorbitant prices for the regular or the vintage.

You can also buy it online in several places - such as http://www.beerofbelgium.com/en/trappist-westvleteren-12-33cl.html

and

https://www.westvleterenbeers.com/shop/

I’d quite fancy buying a couple of cases from the monastery for the fun of it, but I think that in itself is quite a tricky route. Certainly trickier than getting it via the more conventional ways that most of us have used.

There are some desirable beers that are genuinely hard to get hold of - if you want a theme for your blog, you could start a quest for beers such as Hair of the Dog Dave. Or, better yet, go dig out some of the really vintage beers such as Bass Kings Ale or Allsopp’s Arctic Ale (which has eluded me). We know there are only a few of these beers left, and that each time someone opens a bottle and drinks it, there is one less bottle left in the world!

http://zythophile.co.uk/2012/06/10/an-1875-arctic-ale-tasting/

Originally posted by Maakun

Originally posted by BeerSensations

Originally posted by Maakun
Nice read! But these prices in the Brussels tourist bars/shops are crazy, there’s plenty of places in Belgium and even surrounding countries where you can get it a lot cheaper.

That sounds intriguing! The cheapest i managed to find was Au Brasseur (bar) and the Beer store Brussels and they both charged 15 Euro a bottle. What other places do you know about that are cheaper? It would be awesome to add a few places to the list :)

Basically every beer bar and shop in Belgium and The Netherlands has it. Usually between 9-13 euro for the 12.

I’ve never seen it in either country at a store or bar for those kinds of prices; you’ll almost always find it for 15-17€, regardless of whether or not it’s at a bar or a shop. The rare occasions that I’ve had it in a bar, I’ve only done so at Gollem in Amsterdam (the Raamsteeg location), partially because they actually have the Westvleteren goblets.

Check Beer Mania in Brussels. I bought one there about 2 years ago for 12€ and a quick search one their Website Shows that they still want 12€ for it.

Originally posted by Maracuja05
Check Beer Mania in Brussels. I bought one there about 2 years ago for 12€ and a quick search one their Website Shows that they still want 12€ for it.

Originally posted by BeerSensations
How would you further compare it to a fresh Westvleteren 12, except that its more like port wine? Is it still roughly the same taste or did it change alot after all those years?

Originally posted by Maracuja05
Check Beer Mania in Brussels. I bought one there about 2 years ago for 12€ and a quick search one their Website Shows that they still want 12€ for it.

Originally posted by adamnowek

Originally posted by Maracuja05
Check Beer Mania in Brussels. I bought one there about 2 years ago for 12€ and a quick search one their Website Shows that they still want 12€ for it.

Avoid Beer Mania. They’re notorious for keeping a lot of their bottles in the front window (which gets direct sunlight for at least a few hours in the day) and then placing them on the shelves. The number of spoilt beers in that store is outrageous because he has no idea when it comes to properly storing bottles.

Originally posted by SinH4

Originally posted by BeerSensations
How would you further compare it to a fresh Westvleteren 12, except that its more like port wine? Is it still roughly the same taste or did it change alot after all those years?

You would be able to say it’s a dark Belgian Strong, but besides that, it has of course changed *a lot*