Westvleteren: US release VS. abbey version

I've only had the Abbey version. It's a good beer, but whenever you're expecting something to be "the best beer in the World" it almost always disappoints. Personally, I was more impressed with the Blonde than both the 12 and 8.

Also, you are not the first person to prefer another quad. People have varying tastes.

 

I agree. I like both Rochefort and St. Bernardus better. I will say that I have never done them side by side, so maybe I am wrong. I will know with certainty tomorrow. I am going to a blind Quad/BSDA tasting where we will be having the top 10 Quads/BSDAs side by side. We have 4x330ml or 2x750ml of each and will be doing all of them side by side. Then we will match the top 4 against each other once scores are tallied.

p.s. If anyone in SoCal is interested, we would love to have more people. Bigger sample = more accurate results. HMU

 

In response to the original question: It is the same beer. They need labels to sell it in the U.S. If people noticed a difference it probably was due to differences in the age of the beers.

 

Awesome. I now know the answer to my question that I posted several months before the U.S. Westvleteren 12 release. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to post this thread. It's a top tier quad, period. It's not going to change your life, and just as importantly, the beer in the U.S. release is no different than what is sold out of the abbey.

It delivers on exactly what one should expect. It's one of the best quads available, and whether you personally like another brew better than Westvleteren 12 doesn't diminish this brew's quality. If you're disappointed, there is no problem with the beer. The problem is your bloated, unrealistic expectations.

 

I've only had Westy 12 while i was in Belgium. It is probably my favorite quad, but only by a very small margin. I thought it had an incredibly rich malt flavor and smooth mouthfeel, but that's just my tastebuds

 

I've heard from others that the U.S. release tasted different, but I took that with a grain of salt.

As far as the Westvleteren I've had goes: call me old school, but I loved it and thought it was everything everyone said it was. Did the Rochefort/St. Bernardus/Pannepot side by side and Westvleteren was best, bar none.

That said, I wish I preferred something like St. Bernardus. It would save me so much time and effort. Sadly, not the case.

 

The problem is that it is harder to get here and, as a result, more expensive than other quads which are in the same class, if not better. These bloated expectations are from reviews that make it seem like it is definitively better than Rochefort 10 or St. Bernardus Abt 12 (the margin is pretty high considering the amount of reviews for each).

I think it not being distributed (at least regularly) to the US, makes many people automatically give it slightly higher ratings. I am not saying that it is not very good or great; I am saying that many people rate it slightly higher as a result of it being harder to get here in the US. I can accept people liking it better, but many make it seem like it is much better than others. I find this ridiculous and the root of the "bloated, unrealistic expectations."

Of course, all of this is my opinion.

 

Westy is my favorite Quad, but widely distributed R-10 at $5.99 a bottle is one of the best things going in the brew world.

 

I too was questioning if the US version was a tweaked recipe. I was told by people who had the abbey version it is very chocolatey where i found almost none of that. The westy i had was completely yeast/ester driven. I did enjoy it but i was expecting something more rich and malty. I would like to try and obtain an abbey version for a side by side comparison some day.

 

There is no spoon.

 

I wasn't a fan, then again I don't like quads.

 

Based on the interviews the Shelton Bros. posted with Brother Joris, the US batch 2 (West Coast) actually sat in the vats longer than typical due to the holiday schedule. So, if anything, the US version should be extra good vs. normal. I don't plan on getting into my US batch for a number of years though...

 

Honestly, when I tried it all three Westy's at the brewery, the 8 was the best of the three. At the time, I attributed it to the freshness of the 12 (that is, the 12 was too young and didn't stand out). From what I heard, the recipe for the 12 is actually surprisingly simple; almost all of the character comes from the yeast and aging effects.

So it wouldn't surprise me to find that there is a lot of variation between the batches depending on when you drink them. Personally, I'm not going to touch mine until 2 years have passed (and I'm also aging some Rochefort and St Bernardus in parallel so I can I have a fair comparison).

 

Fresh Westy 12 varies a lot from 1 day to 3 years old. This beer comes into its own after 3 years of aging. 5-10 years are optimal.

 

I did a tasting of all three and I swore I'd love the abt12 the most. Side by side rochefort real shined. Westy had lots of dark fruit tho. It's just all a matter of tasty and availability

 

There is absolutely no difference between the two versions except for the fact that it was younger than the westy’s people usually drink. That beer increases greatly with age.

Indeed which quad you like more is a matter of preference as has always been the case. No need to add the westy myth to the whole about the non-US bottles being different.

It became sought after because it is relatively hard to get but still not so hard that only a handful people caught have ever tried. Way before the American hype this was the beer that most people with relative interest in beer had tried & it stood apparent because it was that one beer which they didn’t simply by at a specialty store, supermarket or bar.

 

It's a great beer and its reputation was built on user experience, not the abbey.

 

I have drank St B Abbot 12 and Rochefort 10 on the regular for a long time. I recently opened opened one of my bottles of Westy 12 that I bought during the US release. The group I was with all agreed that Westy 12 was on higher level. Not a hugely higher level, mind you, but it did have a bit more...nuance. It was also smooth as can be. Would I always pay the price difference between the two? Maybe not, but it is everything it was made out to be.