Over Easter my brother
Mike and I finally indulged ourselves in a ritual we had been saving for a special occasion: drinking the best beer in the world.
I present to you two bottles of the
Trappist Westvleteren 12. According to our favorite source on beer, BeerAdvocate.com, this beer is the best in the world. It's a Belgian Quadrupel brewed by Trappist monks at the
Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. They make only three beers at the Abbey; the bottles come unlabeled, with different colored caps.
You can only buy the beer directly from the monks at the brewery, by reservation, by the case. A case retails about 36 Euro. When you purchase the beer at the brewery, you agree not to resell the beer. So the fact that I found our bottles - significantly marked up (don't ask how much) - at a store in Columbus means that someone broke their promise to the monks.
Mike and I took advantage of that broken promise to drink our bottles of it last weekend. We poured them into large goblets and slowly sipped them while we discussed them and jotted down notes.
Was it the best beer in the world? Hard to tell. Was it really, really good? Most certainly. Not the best I've ever had, but it was smooth and creamy, very well carbonated (even though the beer was probably 3-4 years old), and tasted/smelled fruity and sweet and bready. I may never have this beer again - it's too expensive to buy regularly, and I'm not planning to visit western Belgium any time soon - but it was fun to drink it with Mike. It's incredibly tasty, and I like the fact that I can say I've had one of the best beers in the world.
Here's some video of the tasting!
I present to you two bottles of the Trappist Westvleteren 12. According to our favorite source on beer, BeerAdvocate.com, this beer is the best in the world. It's a Belgian Quadrupel brewed by Trappist monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren. They make only three beers at the Abbey; the bottles come unlabeled, with different colored caps.
You can only buy the beer directly from the monks at the brewery, by reservation, by the case. A case retails about 36 Euro. When you purchase the beer at the brewery, you agree not to resell the beer. So the fact that I found our bottles - significantly marked up (don't ask how much) - at a store in Columbus means that someone broke their promise to the monks.
Mike and I took advantage of that broken promise to drink our bottles of it last weekend. We poured them into large goblets and slowly sipped them while we discussed them and jotted down notes.
Was it the best beer in the world? Hard to tell. Was it really, really good? Most certainly. Not the best I've ever had, but it was smooth and creamy, very well carbonated (even though the beer was probably 3-4 years old), and tasted/smelled fruity and sweet and bready. I may never have this beer again - it's too expensive to buy regularly, and I'm not planning to visit western Belgium any time soon - but it was fun to drink it with Mike. It's incredibly tasty, and I like the fact that I can say I've had one of the best beers in the world.
2 comments:
Nerd Alert!
Dan's unbiased review of Westy 12
A: More combined sex appeal than an Enzo Ferrari and Blu-Ray DVD player
S: Smells like a fresh spring rain, combined with new car smell
T: Tastes like hope with a hint of brilliance.
M: Impeccable. Carbonation must be Zuess himself blowing bubbles in the beer.
D: Drinking this beer brought me more joy than my wedding day
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