Westvleteren 12 US Release

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I thought about picking up a box, but I can think of better things to spend that money on and quads aren't my favorite style. I'm sure it is a great beer, but my tastes probably won't be able to say, "that's the best beer in the world".

I even had a dream last night that I bought it. Crazy.
 
Anyone up for a even swap? I have some with a cap date of 24.05.09. So it was bottled 05/24/06. It would be nice to do an A-B comparison. Shoot me a PM if interested.
 
Cracked it open at 12:12 today. Frankly, I like my quad better.

A couple buddies in my brew club in Ireland did a side-by-side tasting of Westy 12 and St. Bernardus 12 and there was unanimous agreement that the St. Bernardus was better. (Having said that I tried a 5 year old bottle in Amsterdam at the Bier Konig and it was world-beating stuff...)

I'd pick Rochefort 10 over unaged Westy 12 every time. Aged Westy 12 is something magical though. Mine has about 9 months on it since the bottling date already and I plan to open one bottle a year for 6 years and see how it ages.


Adam
 
Figures... I was discussing this purchase with the wife last night and we decided it was too rich four our wallet. I was okay with it cause I can make gallons of the clone with that sort of money. Anyhow... So I go out to get beer labels printed up and when I come home she tells me to get something for her under the bed, and sure enough there was a package with a sixer and two glasses in it!!! My wife is great! Now I have to decide when I want to drink them. I might drink one for new year's... Then one for new years next year...
 
I went to a site that was only selling on line. In the search field I enter "westvleteren", happily see the results showing "in stock". I click "add to cart", then another link to check out and..........d'oh!........the order isn't there. Happened twice. On the third try it said "out of stock." Pretty disappointing, but...trappist glass half full, it's $85 saved.

Same thing happened to me...Party Source in Bellevue, KY by any chance? I had it in my cart, but had to set up an online account. When I got back, it still said it was in my cart, but I couldn't check out. I came back a little later to try it again, hoping I still had it reserved in my cart...nope, out of stock.

My first mistake was probably trying to do this all on my phone. Oh well, I'm not too torn up over it. Like you said, I can find better ways to blow $85.
 
Same thing happened to me...Party Source in Bellevue, KY by any chance? I had it in my cart, but had to set up an online account. When I got back, it still said it was in my cart, but I couldn't check out. I came back a little later to try it again, hoping I still had it reserved in my cart...nope, out of stock.

My first mistake was probably trying to do this all on my phone. Oh well, I'm not too torn up over it. Like you said, I can find better ways to blow $85.

There must have been a bunch of us with this same result !

You might be able to get a bottle from westvleteren12.com. It worked for me. It is a good beer. I'll be setting it up against the Rochfort 10 and St Bernardis Abt 12 this weekend, and GES. But I think that I already know that Guinness Extra Stout is gonna win.
 
There must have been a bunch of us with this same result !

You might be able to get a bottle from westvleteren12.com. It worked for me. It is a good beer. I'll be setting it up against the Rochfort 10 and St Bernardis Abt 12 this weekend, and GES. But I think that I already know that Guinness Extra Stout is gonna win.

I know my wife and at least 3 friends were also online trying with the same result. From what I heard, they sold out in 3 minutes.
 
My co-worker just returned from Belgium and brought me back a bottle. I am cracking it tonight since it's not available for purchase in Washington State.
 
I guess I just got lucky. I was goofing off on Facebook and a local shop announced they were selling so I took an hour off work and drove over there. Stood in line for around 10 minutes and left with a brick.
 
I picked up 3 bricks and am glad to have contributed to the fund raising effort. 250 six packs sold in 30 minutes at the total wine store I went to. I'm planning on letting them age out. Planning a trip to Belgium in April so want the first time I try it to be at the Abbey.
 
i feel lucky to have just waltzed into my local store, browse for other beers, and walk out with a brick. Easy peasy
 
Not sure I would jump on this one.

Is it bad to say I got kind of tired of Belgian beers when I was living in Europe?
 
A couple buddies in my brew club in Ireland did a side-by-side tasting of Westy 12 and St. Bernardus 12 and there was unanimous agreement that the St. Bernardus was better. (Having said that I tried a 5 year old bottle in Amsterdam at the Bier Konig and it was world-beating stuff...)

I'd pick Rochefort 10 over unaged Westy 12 every time. Aged Westy 12 is something magical though. Mine has about 9 months on it since the bottling date already and I plan to open one bottle a year for 6 years and see how it ages.


Adam

few friends and I did a head to head not to long ago and came up with a differnt opinion. 1yr old westy was perfect 2yr old westy was good but boozy and 6month old st Bernardus kinda was watery. The rochefort and Achel were very unique. Favorite was the westy of all 7 people. Other beers enjoyed were Hendrick, BBQ, rochefort 10, box of chocolates (quad), chimay, and a few home brewed quads
 
I got mine, waited in line from 6am - 9am, and was 40 something in line. People in front of me had been there since 8pm last night. Our Binny's only had around 64, 6 packs and our Fryer Tucks was selling it off as a raffle so everyone had a fair chance. Glad I took my chance at Binny's because I didn't receive a call from Fryer Tucks.

2012-12-12_09-22-10_612.jpg
 
I picked one up today, waited in the car diplomatically until about the 10th car around 6:30 when some guys had to sit by the door and make everybody get out of their cars and wait in line. After that it seemed to grow exponentially. Overall Binny's in Chicago handled it well and had plenty for everybody, which was great. I think I'll wait to crack this open until after I brew up a clone and have a side by side with my clone, Rochefort 10, and St. Bernardus 12.
 
Not sure I would jump on this one.

Is it bad to say I got kind of tired of Belgian beers when I was living in Europe?

I'd say that must be a terrible cross to bear ;)

Nah, seriously though, I think I could also get burned out on even the best beer if I drank it daily. If someone were to ask me what one beer, or even one style of beer, that I could drink every day for the rest of my life, I wouldn't have a good answer. There are a few styles I can't get into much, variety is definitely a good thing. But I digress...:off:
 
JordanThomas said:
Link to your recipe? :D

I can't take credit for it. Thank "Saq". You can find the thread by searching for Westvleteran clone. Here are the details.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP530
Yeast Starter: 3.8L stirplate
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.090
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 35
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 33
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 5 @ 83
Additional Fermentation: 60 @ 50
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 @ 65
Tasting Notes: see thread

I have gotten a few PMs from people who followed the two Westvleteren 12 threads I did regarding trying to clone this recipe and a competition with the other people who were in on it so I'm posting up my notes.

There are two ways of making this, a "New World" recipe that uses specialty malts, and a "Traditional" recipe that goes by the way Westvleteren has been making it for a while with just two basemalts and sugar.

The Pious New World - Took 1st place & BOS in the Westvleteren 12 clone comp with 43 points beating out a real Westvleteren 12 with 40 points.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.54 gal
Estimated OG: 1.090 SG
Estimated Color: 26.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.50 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 74.71 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5.53 %
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 2.77 %
0.33 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.83 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.38 %
0.19 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.05 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (90 min) Hops 24.7 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.40 %] (30 min)Hops 5.0 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [4.10 %] (30 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
1.00 item Servomyces (10 min)
1.50 lb Dark Belgian Candi Syrup (80.0 SRM) Sugar 8.30 %
0.75 lb Amber Belgian Candi Syrup (40.0 SRM) Sugar 4.43 %
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 15.77 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Mash In Add 24.00 qt of water at 159.3 F 150.0 F
 
Same thing happened to me...Party Source in Bellevue, KY by any chance? I had it in my cart, but had to set up an online account. When I got back, it still said it was in my cart, but I couldn't check out. I came back a little later to try it again, hoping I still had it reserved in my cart...nope, out of stock.

My first mistake was probably trying to do this all on my phone. Oh well, I'm not too torn up over it. Like you said, I can find better ways to blow $85.

Yep, that's the one. I was logged in as a registered user and got to the order form seconds after noon came and it displayed, which made it more frustrating.
 
Any chance that nayone can tell me the length, width and height in inches of the case that the special 6 pack of Westvleteren XII comes in?
 
99fuller99 said:
Any chance that nayone can tell me the length, width and height in inches of the case that the special 6 pack of Westvleteren XII comes in?

What, have you found a suspiciously sized box wrapped for Christmas or something?
 
What, have you found a suspiciously sized box wrapped for Christmas or something?

I'm going to cut open repurposed basketballs and stuff all of the presents I'm giving to people this year inside of them. Then they will have absolutely no clue why I bought them so many basketballs... until they open them.

Trollololol
 
Now this is going to be a really dumb question, but I'm just so paranoid about screwing up my Westvleteren 12, I figured I'd ask. It says to store it between 12-18C (53.6-64.4F) and I've read that your not supposed to refrigerate it. Now for the dumb question, if I have a beverage center (pretty much a mini fridge) and I have it set for 54F is it ok to store the Westvleteren 12 in the refrigerator? The refrigerator wouldn't have any kind of adverse affect on it right. Sorry for my paranoia.
 
We sat it down with Santa's Butt, St Bernardis Abt 12 and Rochfort 10 this afternoon. It was a good progression of flavors in the order stated, with Westy 12 having been bottled this year. Moving from one's palette of neutral to surprise, we saw that Vleteren was in the medium-to-high range. A deeper and richer taste, with the formers seeming too neutral, and the latter seeming off the end and boozy.

The Bernardis was most fluffy, yet lacking the deeper taste of Vleteren.

Well done Bernardis and Santa's Butt ! And Rochfort 10 - not as close in taste, yet very enjoyable.

No special temp controls here. We just chilled and tasted.
 
Am I the only one that really *does not* enjoy Westy 12? I just had a bottle and it tasted like a hot mess of alcohol, wine, prunes, and alcohol! I let it warm up for a few minutes in the glass after the bottle was in the fridge, and the beer did change more as it warned more towards the end of the drink but sheesh... Well I am glad they got a new roof. Now I can strike the Westy clone from my on deck list...
 
Ebay just wiped the 8 or so listings for this beer at an average of $550.00 per six pack. Go Capitalism! No bailouts here people. Just some damn munks with a new roof who sold out. LOL
 
Ebay just wiped the 8 or so listings for this beer at an average of $550.00 per six pack.

I'm not surprised. They've done it before with other beers.

Go Capitalism! No bailouts here people. Just some damn munks with a new roof who sold out. LOL

I have no idea what you mean. I've read it a couple times. Are you saying that "munks" are selling beer on ebay?
 
Back
Top