Where does everyone get their Westvleteren 12 from?

My brother worked in Belgium for a bit and sent me a gift set containing a chalice and a bottle of the 12 for my birthday. It was not packaged well so the glassware arrived broken but thankfully the beer survived. Upon returning to the States he brought me two more bottles. This was over 2 years ago and I still haven't tried it.

 

Just checked belgiuminabox. Looks like you can get a case of it in the crate shipped to your house for about $322 (including shipping).

 

My brother's a Trappist monk.

I also went to Brussels and got the last bottle at one of the bottle shops downtown.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a co-worker who is from Belgium…..so last time he was there he brought me back some!!!! He also has family there so he told me they can send more over when I want some more!!!! Score!!!!!

 

it gets unloaded only to choice places delivered by the hype train

 

I cellar lambics vertically too.

Fear the cork.

 

The Black Market my friend, the black market. Lol.. I was lucky enough that the main store I shop at knew a guy who brought back a ton of all the Westy beers from Belgium. They paid for my bottle then let me buy it back at no additional cost. Westy 12 is brilliant as is the 8, but honestly for the money I paid for them I could have bought a bunch of rochefort and had just as good of a beer. But I advise anyone to grab the Westy if the chance comes along. It's phenomenal.

 

A lot of people in USA still have it from 12/12/12 release.

 

Took a trip to Belgium and got it at the source.

Also, it was sold in the US in Dec '12 as a possibly one time thing.

 

Oh, they're still around. Still serious about the Belgian's: http://monkscafe.com/bottles.cfm

 

I have my wife call, go on a Saturday and pick some up then drive over to Oostvleteren and hit up De Struise.

 

All 3 of theirs are friggin' great, you really can't go wrong with any of 'em, but I think their blonde is easily their most underated. Usually when I have the 8 I think to myself I wish I was drinking a 12, it seems like a slightly less complex 12 on a diet. The blonde is just so perfectly balanced, delicious, and completely different in style to the other two, you could drink it all day long it goes down so easy.

 

A couple years ago, I managed to get a sixpack off of GreedBay that was made up of 2 Blonde, 2 Trappist 8 and 2 Trappist 12. Went to the Westvleteren site and found this at that time:

>>"How to keep and to serve our beer?

With the exception of our Blond beer, Trappist beer will keep for years: give the beer time and it will continue to ripen. The minimum sell-by date is stamped on the capsule. Store the bottles vertically in a dark place between 12° and 16° C. It is better not to refrigerate Trappist 8 and Trappist 12; Trappist Blond, on the other hand, may also be served cooled."<<<<<

 

I have a 3 year old bottle that will be popped sometime this summer. Will be the longest ive been able to age one.

 

a few guys who came to the bar i was working at had gone over there for business and picked some up for me because i offhandedly made a reference to it during a conversation with them. i still had to pay for it but it was probably the coolest thing a customer has ever done in my book.

 

I traded for 2 bottles from a fellow who managed to land one of those "Abbey Bricks" they sold in the US. I drank one and traded the other to someone else who had never had it.

 

My Westvleteren 12 came from the abbey's good will ambassador in the Netherlands. He's one hell of a guy.

 

Trades. They are pretty easy to get especially if you go international.

 

The Westy 8 is a Double, and is like a toned-down, more subtle version of the their Quad (the 12). The Blonde is a completely different animal, it's a Belgian Pale.