Word hit the net Tuesday about what states and stores would be getting the highly acclaimed and hard to obtain Westvleteren XII (aka Westy 12). I’ve done the leg work for you and contacted the retailers in the Greater Cincinnati are that’ll be getting this. Before we get there let’s talk about what the heck Westy 12 is.
Why the hype?
Westy 12 is a Trappist Belgian Quad, for more on that read my article explaining the Trappist system and their beers. Belgian Quads are my single favorite style of beer and are quite popular these days. On top of that up until next Wednesday, 12/12/12, this beer has only been available for purchase directly from the monks at the abbey in Belgium. Each customer has been limited in what they can buy. Basically it’s super rare and hard to get your hands on, worse even then Pliny the Elder and Heady Topper… unless you live in Belgium and if you do I’m jealous of you. On top of that it’s gotten some crazy ratings from online beer sites:
- Beer Advocate
- Rate Beer
This all raises a somewhat deep question. Is this beer really great or is it perceived as being great because it’s hard to get? This is a question I plan to answer when I get my hands on some.
Getting some is something I would highly suggest doing. Sure it’s $85 for a 6-pack, but that includes 2 branded glasses. Let’s guesstimate those glasses to be $10 a pop so now we’re looking at $65 for a 6-pack, that’s $10.83 per 12 oz bottle. Which really isn’t horrible. Rochefort 10 (which is the closest widely distributed beer to Westy 12) goes for $6 – $7 for a 12 oz bottle in most stores. So I’m fine with paying $4 more per bottle for a beer that will, as far as we currently know, never legally be on sale in the US again.
How to get your hands on it!
Note, the following info may be likely to change, as it already has in the time it took me to type this post.
The Party Source (northern KY) – Will be taking orders online, for in store pickup, starting at noon on the 12th. Check out Josh’s post of the party source newsletter for more info – Westvleteren 12 release at The Party Source.
Jungle Jim’s (north-west Cinci) – As has been my experience with Jungle Jim’s before they either know nothing or pretend to know nothing. What I was told is that they don’t know how much they’re getting or when they’re getting it or how they’re releasing it. I was told to stop in Monday morning around 11 and I should be able to buy it, I then told him that it wasn’t supposed to be sold till Wednesday and he knew nothing about that. Pretty sad state of affairs in my opinion.
Belmont Party Supply (Dayton) – The person I spoke with said the Westy 12 would go on sale as 12:01 AM on 12/12/12. This is the earliest they are allowed to sell it per the wishes of the monks and distributors. The guy on the phone didn’t have anymore details than that and suggested I like their Facebook page for more details, also the FB page confirms what I was told on the phone. That all changed this morning. You know need to join this Facebook group and they will assign you a number and people will be picked via lottery.
If you’re not in northern Kentucky or south western Ohio then you check here for the full list of stores – Retail Locations For the Westvleteren XII Brick.
If you miss out on all this action start getting into beer trading as I’m sure lots of bottles will be floating around trades. If you get lucky enough to get some you may want to throw a bottle in the basement for a few years and see how it develops, it should be great!
Back to reality
If you miss out on getting this beer and don’t feel like trading or doing anything crazy for it then don’t freak. It’s just a beer. But also, as I mentioned earlier and Josh said on Facebook, there is a beer that you can buy every day for $6ish/12 oz bottle that is the same style as Westy 12 and is a fantastic beer.
Trappistes Rochefort 10 (here’s my review of it) is another Trappist Belgian Quad just like Westy 12 except it’s 11.3% to Westy’s 10.3 and as I keep saying, you can buy it most anywhere, most anytime. Even if you do get your hands on a Westy 12 you should still check out Rochefort 10.
Good Luck!
BrewMinds 
Good luck! I think it is a little absurd for a sixer to reach the $85 price, especially with Rochefort easily available. I look forward to your review, as I wonder as well whether it is that good, or the folks reviewing it cannot justify a bad review after spending such a chunk of cash.
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Howdy and thanks for the comment. If you’re interested, I reviewed a bottle of this that I got my hands on earlier this year.
http://queencitydrinks.com/2012/07/09/beer-review-westvleteren-12-by-brouwerij-westvleteren/
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I’m very curious about the whole rarity/hype thing. I think it’s a very big problem right now for craft beer fanatics. I thought Pliny The Elder was all-right but nothing earth shattering. And before anyone gets on me about freshness I’ve had it 5-days after bottling, and if you think it needs to be consumed before then you are unrealistic and can get bent. Same goes for Heady Topper, I think it was 2 weeks old, and tasted really great but again not worthy of the amount of hype it’s received.
If/when I get the Westy 12 I’ll be sure to give it as fair a review as I can and to include considerations on the price. Though I will be slightly biased as I’m biased towards all Belgian tripels & quads.
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Like Tom said, it’s just beer. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s great beer for sure. But don’t expect it to be vastly different than Rochefort 10. Or St Bernardus Abt 12. In fact Westvleteren 12 has far more in common with the latter than with the former. For a time they were even brewed to the same recipe and the same yeast, just in different brewhouses, albeit across the road from each other. But by all means try and get hold of some and see for yourself.
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The best beer I ever tried.. Full of flavour, has a roasty floral aftertaste… It feels full in mouth and has some caramel flavours in the palate.. If this can help the ones who would like to try the beer, have a look on :
http://www.westvleterenshop.com ..
I had a great experience there, and found out the best prices.. Good luck
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i just bought a sixpack westvleteren 12 at http://www.westvleterenbeers.com , got mine in 6 days:-)
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