I recently purchased two bottles of Westleven 12 from a reputable source. As the beer has no label i check the caps and they seemed correct. But the two bottles are different. One is smooth and the other has a raised glass band with writing on it. Did I get ripped-off, are they both real, is there a difference between the two? I could just drink them but i was thinking of aging one of the two. Any thoughts?
I think some years have the "glass band" or ridge, and some are smooth. Are the caps both gold and say 12?
There is variation with the bottles used, some have a glass band with Trappist, others do not. There is no need to worry on that account. The date code is 3 years out from the bottling date, my personal opinion is that the beer is best at around 2 years of age.
The date code on the cap will tell you, sometimes the code is not there but most times it is. Edit: the code will read day-month-year, as in 23.1.16 would correlate to being bottled on Jan 23, 2013. The bottle variation has absolutely nothing to do with age as they vary every year.
Agreed with Bobz, when I went to the Monastery and bought a couple 6 packs (unfortunately the 12 was not for sale in sixers, though I had it on tap), they had both types of bottles mixed into the packs. So year, the bottle type has nothing to do with age.
My Westies had a label on the back. The front has no paper label, but is "etched" (or painted) with the XII across it in large yellow.
That was the Westy sold in the US i assume? It was required to have a label by law. I bought 3 bottles of Westy 12 at a bottle shop in Brussels two years ago...no labels, 2 with the trappist band, 1 without.
yup...if you get them in Belgium...no label. OP-just curious what you paid for 2 bottles and where you got them?
Well, no, just the opposite actually - they (in US brewing terminology [and now pretty much obsolete at that]) refill the returnable bottles, since "Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products" according to the EPA.
Forgive me, I was using this definition: to use again in the original form or with minimal alteration
Remember the 3 Rs: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. The Abbey does the second one. And the same practice is quite popular around the world outside of 'Murica!
