Westvleteren 12 clone competition & swap

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It's this one I can assure you:
150517.jpg

:D
 
Received two boxes today, one from FL and one from NC.
 
bottling mine tonight!... Prob wont be ready in time for judging, so will sit here and wait for everyones results!!! :tank:
 
Didn't know you were looking at entering! Its probably not going to be ready for judging time as you want to have that one good and mature before its truely ready to be judged, it changes a lot over time!
 
First post updated with received entries.
Displaced Masshole, chri5 and Bokonon I am still waiting on yours.
 
Looks like chri5 has to drop out, his beer didn't ferment out properly and is not very good. Hopefully he rebrews it sometime and doesn't have these problems next time!
 
You guys are lucky this isn't a REAL competition or almost all of you would've been disqualified so far :)

Freezeblade sent in squatty bottles. This isn't exactly disqualifiable material per the BJCP but many competitions do not allow them. He also taped/glued his bottle ID onto the bottle, the rules are pretty explicit for rubber-banded only or risk disqualification.

KingBrianI forgot to send in his recipe sheet (I couldn't find it at least). Again not strictly disqualifiable but a lot of competitions require it or you will get disqualified.

Sigafoos forgot to label his bottles, this pretty much guarantees disqualification. I had my girlfriend put

So far the only person other than myself who is free and clear is juvinious. However he had the stuff packed together so densely and so redundantly I was worried about breaking the bottles getting them out. Seriously I've safely packaged and shipped 10 bottles in the room he sent 4.
 
I totally breezed over the "rubber-band only" rule, I've never done a comp before, and the bottles were the heaviest duty bottles that I could find in my bottle stash, due to the high carbonation, hell if I was going to bottle 'em into thin LHBS bottles or Sam Adam's bottles.

Next time I'll know better.
 
You guys are lucky this isn't a REAL competition or almost all of you would've been disqualified so far :)

Freezeblade sent in squatty bottles. This isn't exactly disqualifiable material per the BJCP but many competitions do not allow them. He also taped/glued his bottle ID onto the bottle, the rules are pretty explicit for rubber-banded only or risk disqualification.

KingBrianI forgot to send in his recipe sheet (I couldn't find it at least). Again not strictly disqualifiable but a lot of competitions require it or you will get disqualified.

Sigafoos forgot to label his bottles, this pretty much guarantees disqualification. I had my girlfriend put

So far the only person other than myself who is free and clear is juvinious. However he had the stuff packed together so densely and so redundantly I was worried about breaking the bottles getting them out. Seriously I've safely packaged and shipped 10 bottles in the room he sent 4.

You better have found the damn thing! It was laying right on damn top! And it took me a good 10 minutes filling the thig out. Look again!
 
I included the labels with my shipment though! I admit that for some reason I thought you didn't want them rubber banded on, which I thought was weird, but in my experience the registrar doesn't always judge anyway.

I thought it was 'you'd be disqualified... these all suck!'
 
...
So far the only person other than myself who is free and clear is juvinious. However he had the stuff packed together so densely and so redundantly I was worried about breaking the bottles getting them out. Seriously I've safely packaged and shipped 10 bottles in the room he sent 4.

Lol, I've never shipped beer before so I was being very cautious. I'm glad everything got there in one piece. Hopefully you can read the chicken scratch I put on the brewing sheet. :D
 
You better have found the damn thing! It was laying right on damn top! And it took me a good 10 minutes filling the thig out. Look again!

I looked, didn't see it anywhere. You can email it to me and I can print it out. Anonymity is not that big on that part.

The format for the how the competition will be going is something like this.

Part 1
BJCP style competition, to BJCP rules for 18E. Anonymous bottles, straight notes on how the beer rates. BOS gets bragging rights.

Part 2
Drinking of entries next to a Westvleteren 12 for comparison to try and identify the technique(s) best suited towards reproducing the beer. This is where the recipe sheets with detailed brewing and fermentation/temperature schedule becomes important. Winner gets a bottle of Westvleteren 12.
 
I just received a healthy looking package from Bokonon. All we are waiting on now is Displaced Masshole and I can talk with the judges on getting a committed judging date.
 
Bokonon I didn't get any recipe sheets in your box. Could you email them to me? Displaced Masshole seems to be MIA. Should we continue without him?
 
If I don't hear from Displaced Masshole by the end of the day tomorrow I think I am going to hold the judging this weekend. Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
 
Bokonon I didn't get any recipe sheets in your box. Could you email them to me? Displaced Masshole seems to be MIA. Should we continue without him?

oh shoot, I wrote them out by hand and sent them with the first package that UPS busted and in the rush to get the new bottles out I forgot to do the same. I'll put them together and get them over to you.

Like you mentioned in the CdT thread, maybe all the tasting notes and recipe info could be compiled for an article for zymurgy or BYO. If I had all the information I'd be willing to try to put an article together, or at least review/edit it
 
If I don't hear from Displaced Masshole by the end of the day tomorrow I think I am going to hold the judging this weekend. Friday night or Saturday afternoon.

Still on for this weekend? I keep forgetting to fill out another recipe sheet and email it to you. I'll get on that tonight.
 
I am so exited. I am going to brew Westvleteren 12 and 8 clone on xmas eve :)

Marius
 
How are you storing these? I tasted one tonight I've had in the fridge for a couple of weeks and it's slightly different from the one I had a week ago that hadn't been in the fridge for as long. I'm not sure how the real thing tastes, but mine is getting very smooth and creamy tasting. It begins a bit vinous and fruity on the palate but quickly transforms into dark chocolate and caramel. Finishes dry with a subtle and fitting lingering bitterness. Mouthfeel is rich and creamy. Carbonation seems right on. I think I'm going to have to brew this one again!
 
They are rich beers, but i would not characterize them as very smooth (although i like smooth beer :). )

Drink a rochefort 10, and you are within the right category, although the Westvleteren 12 and 8 are more dry than rochefort 10 and 8. There are naturally more differences, but I have always thought these beers have some intellectual similarities.

Pardon my English, I am from Europe.

I think this swap is a great initiative.M
 
I've had the rochefort 10, though I can't remember how it compares. I did try my westy 12 clone and a westmalle back to back a couple weeks ago. I preferred mine. Your English is perfect, what country in Europe are you from?
 
Thank you for your compliment :)

I am from Norway, it is somewhat similar to Canada, but much smaller. It is located next to Sweden. We are responsible for giving Mr Obama the Nobel Peace Prize :)

Westmalle is a nice beer :) I think what makes Rochefort 10 a decent comparison to westvleteren 12 is that they are heavily based on the results of yeast/sugar/fermentation temp. Westmalle beers, esp Westmalle dubbel, I think, may have a less of this feature.

You can send me one of your westvleteren clones for xmas, if you want :)

Marius
 
Ok, looks like the tasting is happening Saturday afternoon for sure. I have two confirmations from judges (one is BJCP certified) and another one thinks he can make it (also BJCP certified).
 
Forgot to answer your question earlier KingBrianI.

By the time of the comp the beers will have been in the fridge for about 2 weeks. While they were arriving they were at room temp which lately has been about 72f. Even if you were a little slow on carbonation before they were sent they should have finished off during waiting, and they will have settled out nicely with 2 weeks in the fridge.
 
Completed the Westvleteren competition a little while ago. The tastings were interesting, there were a lot of similarities among beers but also a lot of differences. Overall the only beers that didn't score well were two that were more or less flat. If they weren't flat they would have been very competitive and could have placed much better.
Also one of the judges dropped out at the last minute due to some complications so there were 3 judges.

I had one of the judges be the steward and pour the beers in the glasses for complete anonymity. I really didn't know who's beers where who's and the two I thought were mine ended up not being mine at all.
We did an initial judging of all beers on their own, with a best of show judging, and then judged the Westvleteren 12. By the time we drank the Westy 12 we had a pretty good idea of how the beers differed. One interesting note is that we also judged the Westy 12 to the same standards as the other beers and in came in 3rd place overall.

Interestingly the 3 BOS judged beers were also most like Westvleteren 12.

I will compile scoresheet information and send them out shortly. I also have flight information on the scoresheet and its also reflected below.

Without further ado here are the results.

Westvleteren 12 scored 122 points and was 9th in flight.

BOS: saq - New World recipe with 128 points total, 5th in flight
2nd place - KingBrianI - Traditional recipe with 123 points total, 3rd in flight
3rd place - Juvinious - Traditional recipe with 115 points (picked as the best of the 115 pointers) 6th in flight
2 way tie for 4th place - FreezeBlade and saq traditional recipe with 115 points (4th in flight and 7th in flight respectively)
5th place - Bokonon (did not get recipes from him) 103 points first in flight
6th place - Bokonon (did not get recipes from him) 87.5 points (no carb could have scored higher) 8th in flight
7th place - Sigafoos traditional 76 points (totally flat would have scored higher) 2nd in flight

I think all of the entries (including the flat ones) were great beers worth being proud of. As is they could be serious competition in any BJCP comp and with some tweaks they would be almost shoe-in's for placing. I am shocked that my new world recipe did so well as I figured it would come in last and I highly favored the traditional recipe over it in all of my personal side by side tastings.

Seeing as I already stated in the event of me taking first place the bottle of Westvleteren 12 will go to the next in line which would be KingBrianI. I'll get shipping info from you and hopefully get the beer of next week.
 
omg hax :'(

I kinda figured I wouldn't do too well. I didn't realize until just now, reading this, that I was supposed to pitch more yeast when I bottled and I didn't do that. So, you know, I'm a moron.

I'm going to have to enter the next HBT competition or something just to prove to people that I'm not some crap brewer. Except, you know, I probably am ;)
 
Oh snap, that's awesome! Can't wait for the tasting notes. And I really can't wait to get the real thing! Now the hard decision, do I drink it or put it away for a while to age.:D By the way, that beer didn't place in the HBT contest we just had. ;)
 
Congratulation to everyone!

Oh snap, that's awesome! Can't wait for the tasting notes. And I really can't wait to get the real thing! Now the hard decision, do I drink it or put it away for a while to age.:D By the way, that beer didn't place in the HBT contest we just had. ;)

Just drink it man, then go to the monastry next summer and have a whole lot :) M
 
That's a good idea! My fiancee has a class reunion in the netherlands next year anyway.:D Might as well hop over to Belgium.

That sound great!

Hire a car, go to Brugge or Oostend. There is a pub in Brugge, called Cambrinus located on Philipstockstraat, and they sell Westvleteren Blond, 8 and 12 (despite the ban) (check out their menu: http://www.cambrinus.eu/bierkaart.htm). But if you have the car, I would go to the town called Westvleteren too, there is a pub in the monastry called In de Vrede, they have good food and beer (westvleteren Blond through 12), but suck at english :) . Many breweries you can get guided tours which are ineteresting for us brewers. The guides gives us superficial information, and we get the pleasure in lecutring them in brewing :D

If you get a bicycle from the hotel, there are so many things to see around the city. Brugge is a medieval town. Very pretty. Oostend is more bathing/sunbathing orientated. These two cities are located next to eachother, aprox 30 mins drive, so you can go back and forth between them depending on yer mood.

I would stay away from the big cities, esp Antwerpen, in my opinion, they are not as nice.M
 
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