Two At The Most

Before I wrote about cocktails, I wrote about beer. For a while, I was an avid homebrewer. And even though I haven’t been brewing recently, and have been passionate about mixed drinks, I do still love beer.

The Yellow Cap

When my friend Matt told me he had the chance to try Westvleteren 12, I have to admit I was envious. Reputed to be one of the single best beers in the world, it’s also one of the most difficult to try.

It’s made by the Trappist monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren, Belgium. The monks brew and sell the beer to raise funds to support their monastic lifestyle. Unlike other monasteries, however, they’ve decided they will only brew the amount needed to finance their spartan lifestyles, and no more.

Currently, they limit production to about 4000 barrels a year.¹ Given that Westvleteren’s beers have consistently high ratings among beer lovers, including being named “Best Beer in the World” by RateBeer.com in 2005, this means there is increasing demand for limited output. The monks currently ration out the beer.

You can only buy it at the monastery, after first making a reservation. You can only buy two cases at a time, and only once per month, a restriction apparently enforced by recording license plate numbers. The receipt warns you Niet verder verkopen (“Do not resell”). Naturally, there’s a thriving grey market for the bottles that can be obtained. So imagine my delight when my friend offered to give me one of the bottles he’d managed to procure! Apparently my cunning plan of plying him with tastes of the bourbons I find has paid off!

The unlabeled bottle

One of the notable features of a bottle of Westvleteren is all the information is printed on the bottlecap. No labels are put on the bottle itself. Given my homebrew past, this felt very comforting.

Westvleteren 12 is frequently described as a quadrupel style ale, which refers to the fact it’s especially strong and spicy. It’s bottled conditioned, which means that it is carbonated by adding some additional sugar to the bottle. I find bottle conditioned beers to have a smoother, more integrated carbonation than force carbonated beer.

In the glass, the Westvleteren is a beautiful deep reddish brown. On the nose, there’s a rich caramel scent, perhaps even some coffee.

On the tongue, this is just a symphony of flavors. This moves beyond barleywine almost into a liqueur level of taste. There is definitely a rich malt flavor, deeply caramel, and bitter chocoloate. It also made me think a bit of clove and cinnamon, but in a very integrated way, as opposed to a spiced beer.

This was truly a delight to try, and I look forward to chances in the future to sample some again. Rumors are this ages well, although I doubt I could hang onto a bottle for a year or more to see for sure. Until then, I’m glad to have this chance to have tried one more item on the Imbibers 100. If you ever find yourself in West Flanders, and remember to make a reservation, be sure to pick up a case or two of this delightful brew.

[1] By comparison, a US microbrewery brews around 15,000 barrels a year.

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