Demand was way underestimated. My buddy at total wine said there were 30+ people lined up for the 8am opening and 120 bricks were gone by noon. According to him they got the largest single shipment of any CA retailer.
I bet the NPR story helped the hype a bit.
Did not come close to getting one at the couple of local spots that had it today. I hope most of the buyers are true drinkers and not people who will flip them on eBay. Would have liked to try it but I think Rochefort and St. Bernardus probably come close enough.
I was fortunate to score a brick and I’m going to do the two you mentioned + the Westy blind, see how it stacks up.
I have the same plan.
I have seen the prices on eBay for this that are MUCH higher than what I can get from my contact in Belgium who can send rare beers to me- and he charges a really high mark-up. So, the prices are insane. But it is worse- I saw some IDIOT selling the empty cardboard box for $75. Seriously? What a dick. Someone else selling an empty bottle and cap. People selling the glasses for the entire price of the beer. Insane.
it is clear that a lot of people are buying just based on hype because of the NPR story. it irks me a bit that people want this for rarity sake only (although that is a motive I understand as a wine and beer guy). I have been covetous of this beer for slightly different reasons.
To celebrate graduation from my residency, I took a 2 week trip to Europe with my girlfriend. While there, I proposed and we are now married. We traveled to Brugges, and ate in a hotel resurant that was closed, but the owner decided to let us in anyway. While there, he gave us two Westy’s (he didnt’ sell them as you are not allowed to do that). I had never heard of the beer, of course, and this is back in 1995 long before internet hype and whatnot. The beer was fantastic, and helped capped off a beautiful trip and wodnerful memories. Which is why when I discovered what these beers were a few years ago (we had never even remembered the name) I knew I had to get some regardless of the cost.
Rocheford is my favorite trappist beer, and is ahead of the others including St. Sixtus (which is where Westvletern comes from. I think of it as the Monk’s ‘home brew’ which is how the man in Brugge described it). Westvletern is in a similar style to Rocheford. It is better, IMHO, even factoring out my romance with it. However, is it so radically different that you are missing out on something truly different? No, not really. It is excellent and is the best, IMHO, but it is not like a Petrus, where you’ll never try anything else like it ever. I hope that puts it in perspective.
Great minds think alike. I also plan on doing that 
Please PM me as well. I got none. 
600 phone calls for Westy yesterday. Never seen anything like it, my co-workers said.
Glad that was my day off!
My local stores either took preorders or sold out in 30 minutes.
Incredible. Going to Belgium this May. I guess I will have to make a visit to the Abbey.
I was going to do the side by side by side, but the Rochefort and ABT 12 have 3 years on them so I decided on just cracking the Westy.
Sipping on the Westy right now and it’s eerily similar to the St. Bernardus with the dry finish, also kinda boozy. Probably not worth the coin, but at least I’ve now had one. I’ll probably do another soon and let the other 4 rest for a few years.
Remember that Bernardus and Westveletern are (or used to be) the same monastary, so the similarity shouldn’t be a big surprise.
Thank goodness all those folks don’t know about the awesome gueuze selection you guys have! ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
I’d selfishly hate to see an ongoing run on the one-and-only SoCal one-stop-shop for Belgian lambics.
But different water sources now, right?
Could be the same recipe.
Dude, the Total wine in Greenville had like 100 6-packs for sale yesterday…1 per customer.
Unfortunately…I totally forgot about it until last night and now they are sold out. Sucks to be me. I would have gladly bought one.
Nice work!
Who is this Scott Butler guy?
Bud Light drinker…also a big fan is Barefoot Cellars wines…yum!!
I was able to get a brick from a Total Wine in Cary, sending my Uncle on a mid-morning beer run. Question though, should I head down there this weekend to make sure I drink them before the impending Mayan end of days, or does the divine brewing mean the Westy will survive (even if I don’t)?