TOPIC:

One of the walls in the monastery is in need of repair and the brothers released a 93,000 case batch for sale through a Belgian supermarket chain as six packs retailing for €25 a go on 3 November. Most of it was sold the same day.

Apparently there is a 70,000-case batch being brewed for international distribution next year. The US and France will receive cases, as could Japan and China if distribution deals are secured. After that, with enough money raised to make the repairs the plan is to return to the normal regime of restricted availability.

And that I thought was that, we were hardly going to see any of it here. However, I did speak to someone in an off-license recently who said they planned to get some in. Make of that what you will.

I went in December 2009.

You can read about it on my blog.
Brussels part one[/url:3903vrl6]
Brussels part 2[/url:3903vrl6]
Brussels part 3[/url:3903vrl6]
Anterwerp[/url:3903vrl6]
Bruges[/url:3903vrl6]
Cantillon Brewery - Brussels - A must see[/url:3903vrl6]

"mr happy":dqbqk2hz wrote: I did speak to someone in an off-license recently who said they planned to get some in.[/quote:dqbqk2hz]I met Wally a couple of weeks ago and he said he definitely will be getting some to wholesale in Ireland.

"TheBeerNut":1hv65jvs wrote:

"mr happy":1hv65jvs wrote: I did speak to someone in an off-license recently who said they planned to get some in.[/quote:1hv65jvs]I met Wally a couple of weeks ago and he said he definitely will be getting some to wholesale in Ireland.[/quote:1hv65jvs]
For those who don't know: who's Wally? <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

He's a beer importer and wholesaler.

&amp;quot;mr happy&amp;quot;:16y42w9n wrote: Rumour has it that Westvleteren 12 will be available in Ireland in January and in all honesty I don't think it is that different to St Bernardus 12 - both are great beers if you are in that part of the world. But, despite having spent a week in Westvleteren last September (when the brewery was closed <!-- s:| --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_neutral.gif" alt="" title="Neutral" /><!-- s:| --> ) there is way more to Belgian beer than Westvleteren. However, if you are in the area make sure you pass by Oostvleteren on a Saturday when the DeStruisse brewers can be found (with the aid of Google) selling such fine beers as Pannepot to the general public.

For me though, the biggest highlight of our trip (apart from the Popperinge hop festival) was the Drei Fontanein restaurant and brewery in Beersel just outside Bruxelles. The food was great and cask faro, kriek and lambic was a delicious treat - not to mention the privilege of forking my cash out to Armand DeBelder[/url:16y42w9n] himself when we made off with a load of fantastic lambic and geuze.
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Westvlettern (Abbidj Sint Sixtus) is trying to raise funds to rebuild rundown parts of the abbey; they sold something like 800,000 6 packs of Westvlettern 12 directly to Belgian beer retailers this year, and have said that they plan to open up sales next year of around 700,000 six-packs globally in 2012 (I think I read in February) although I have no idea how distribution is going to work.

Right now you might be able to find Westy12 for far cheaper than in the past and probably even cheaper come late Feb/early March.


I completely disagree that Westvlettern 12 and St. Bernardus ABT 12 taste the same, though. (Rueben and I did a side-by-side tasting last year.) Personally I think St. Bernardus tastes at least 15% better when fresh. -With 3+ years of aging Westvlettern 12 is worth the hype, though.


I'm so jealous of your visit to 3 Fontein; I really hope to make it there this spring.

Pannepot Grand Reserva is absolute excellence, too; but the different years of Grand Reserva are aged in different barrels. One of the years is aged in French Calvados barrels and it is one of the most unique and wonderful beers I've ever tried. I mistakenly bought a "normal" oak-aged Pannepot Grand Reserva 2 weeks ago in the Netherlands and it was not the same as the French Calvados version. The French Calvados version is worth selling a kidney for!



Adam