Here Today... Gone To Hell!

OK, So I have an odd request. I'm a beer lover. Specifically Belgian beers. And one of the highest rated, is also the hardest to get. All beers from the Westvleteren Brewery are only sold at the brewery and at a cafe across the street from it. I live in Las Vegas and can't exactly afford to fly over there and get it. I'm not quite sure about the legalities of it, but If someone lives near there, I would be willing to obviously pay for the beer and all shipping costs with it. They make three beers:

Westvleteren Blonde (green cap), 5.8% ABV, introduced on 10 June, 1999.
Westvleteren 8 (blue cap) (formerly Extra), 8% ABV.
Westvleteren 12 (yellow cap) (formerly Abt), a 10.2% ABV, introduced in 1940.

I most want to try the Blonde and the 12. If anyone could help me out shoot me a message, it would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Apparantly you can't even drive up and just buy it either, this is what Wikipedia says:
Buyers were originally limited to ten 24-bottle crates of the beer per car, but as the beer increased in popularity, this was first reduced to five, then to two. For the Westvleteren 12 in 2009, it was limited to one case. When making an order now, the type and quantity of beer available for sale are revealed. Sales are limited to one order a month per person per license plate and phone number. Also, the beer must be reserved on their "beerphone" beforehand.[5] The monks do not sell beer to individuals who drive up to the abbey hoping to purchase beer. The reason for this is to eliminate commercial reselling, and hence give all visitors a chance to purchase the product.

The current production is 4750 hl (60,000 cases) per year, and has remained the same since 1946.[5]

Aside from the brewery itself, the only other official sale point for the beer is the abbey-owned In de Vrede, a cafe and visitor's centre opposite the abbey. All beers can be bought there for immediate consumption or take-away, depending on availability (however, prices are higher than at the abbey). Often there is no beer available at the shop.

as a fellow beer-lover, id' be happy to help you if i still lived in that shithole of a country. but thankfully, i moved outta there 2 years ago.
they have fantastic strong beer. but what ive learned from being all over the planet since then, is that most countries have beers that equal their beers. so dont give up even if u cant get ur hands on this stuff. try different micro-breweries and stuff, and im sure u'll find something u like just as much, if not more.

in most big countries they have breweries that specialize on belgian types as well.
i live in Brazil, i tell you, the best lager here is better than the lager in Belgium. and there are some real kick ass strong beers as well!
i know this might be too mainstream, but have u had a Carlsberg Elefant?
that was my favourite strong lager even when i lived in Belgium.

Edit:

after checking with a buddy, it seems u can get Westvleteren bier in supermarkets over there now. i dunno if its exclusive to this chain, but the name of the chain is Colruyt. i used to go there several times a week....all their stores are very messy and have a real weird cash register system.
Guess u have tried stuff like the different types of Kasteelbier, Chimay, Westmalle, Rochefort?
if not, i recommend! :D
Kasteelbier blond (11%!) and Chimay blue (9%)  were my good friends there. but they're all good.

Hey! Thanks for the reply! I've tried the Rochefort 10, Chimay, Westmalle, and Orval. My favorite so far is Duvel. A bit pricey, but absolutely excellent. I live in the US, and there are many great Micro-brews, depending on what part of the country. Lately my go-to beer is called Pranqster. It's made by North Coast Brewing company out of California. I'm not sure if they export it or not, but keep an eye out in case they do. I still want to get my hands on the Westvleteren, although most likely because if they say I can't have it, I want it more!! Haha. But anythings better then what most of my fellow Americans choose.......I'm not a fan of piss-water. Ha! (Although living in the desert when I want to party all day long I do go against my morals and drink Coors Light when I want to drink a lot) Haha. If you don't mind me asking, why did you not like Belgium? I was actually considering making a trip and doing a tour of the countries beer.From the pictures anyway it looked beautiful!

Oh, and I have found Westvleteren on Ebay.....but I can't bring myself to spend $50 - $100 US for a three bottle set. I love been, but I could buy a LOT for that price, lol.

This is off topic, but I remember spending an evening trying out Belgian beers in Antwerp.

Man, some of them were not to my liking....  :hihi:


But it was fun. It's not just "yet another pint of whatever". Some beers were served in their own glass etc.



/jarmo

Haha, from the reading I did, most Belgian beers all have their own specific glass. Now here's a question for you, does the shape of the glass "REALLY" matter?

I don't know if it matters, but it was something different compared to getting a regular lager from a generic pint!  :hihi:




/jarmo

According to the "Experts"......the shape of the glass affects the taste of the beer. Now while I beleive that Draft beer is better than a can/bottle, and I think bottled beer even tastes better when poured into a glass, I'm not quite sure if I buy the shape argument. Here's an article explaining the how's and why's: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/glassware

I live at 50km from the place and actually going for a ride with the bicycle over there next weekend and afterwards  :beer:

Best (strong) beers are to be found in Belgium!  :peace:

Hell Yeah! The best I've found all come from Belgium!

Last saturday, as mentioned, I had few 'Westvleteren 12?'... it's not a lie to say that this beer is amongst (not to say the) best beers on this planet!
But quite difficult to purchase them. (or you go onsite like me, and then you can drink some in the canteen near the abbey)

TIP: 'Rochefort' (also a trappist beer) tastes almost the same...and much easier to order  : ok:

I have tried a Rochefort 10 before. ($5.99 US for one 11 oz bottle) Truthfully I didn't care for it. I like beers thick and with substance, but I'm not a fan of really dark beers. (If it looks like coke a cola in the glass I probably won't care for it.) As I've said in an earlier post, my favorite so far is Duvel. It's not a trappist beer, but just as an absolute awesome flavor. But none of these beers are cheap here in the U.S. I pay $9.99 for a 750 ml for Duvel. That's pretty spendy, haha. One of my dream vacation plans, (one among many) is to go to Europe, specifically Belgium, and visit all the different breweries and try and many different kinds as possible. Out of all my friends, they all drink crap. Bud light. An "exotic" beer to them is Hennekin. Gross, hahaha.

For me, Belgium is one of those countries you go through en-route to other countries.  :hihi:

I will maybe visit for a bit of fun and try the beers you mention. I am not keen on thick ales though. I went to the county of Yorkshire in England and tried a few of those, and they were headache material.

If you want to visit all the different breweries, then I suggest you move to Belgium...you won't have time enough to visit them during one vacation  ;)

There was program called 'Tourn?e G?n?rale' with Ray Cokes (ex MTV VJ) where a lot of Belgium's finest breweries were visited... maybe worth to have a look if you are interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpBsQKuDNsE

'Tourn?e G?n?rale' translated to English (freely) means 'Drinks are on me!...for everyone in the pub'

 :beer:

I gotta quit reading this thread while at work.....hahaha

thats exacly what Belgium is, and thats one of the many reasons it was a huge pain in the ass living there for 3 years! hehhe
the beer and cheap wine and booze is what made is worth it in a way.
axlrosegnr, it is a country definately worth visiting! theres a lot to see, and many towns are very beautiful. you wont be bored if you go there for a week or something. but spending 3 years, i wont recommend :D

you say Duvel is expensive? when i was there i think the price was about 80 euro cents pr bottle, in any decent bar i coult get it for 2-3 euros.
so its not one of the most expensive beers there, but one of the most loved. i really like Duvel too...i brought a liter bottle for my brother when i went back to Norway once, and i got a text from him saying he had foam coming out of his nose..hehe. i asked back how he was drinking it. he said "straight from the bottle of course" :D hehe
so theres some point to having glasses when you drink good beers...but that each type of beer needs e specific glass to be poured into, i dont buy into it....but something is true! no matter what bar you go into in Belgium, when you order a beer, and you always choose the brand or type, you get the glass thats made for it.

but you said you like light coloured beers? imo, carsberg elephant is much better than duvel.
also, did you try Kwak? a friend that visited me when i lived there have sworn to it since then.
he even make special orders in his neighbourhood store to get his fill once in a while.

i know you said you dont like dark beers as much as lighter ones, but Chimay Blue is really fantastic.
i worked with a welsh fellow in Brussels, and when he came stumbling into work a couple of hours late looking very scruffy, he would always say "Chimay Bleu is a too good friend of mine" :D

Thanks for the info Hutz!!! I will for sure try Carsberg Elephant and Kwak (If i can find them!) I'm drinking a Budweiser as we speak. (I know, I know, but I have twins on the way, I gotta drink what I can afford! hahahaha) I just love trying new beers. I would also love getting into making my own. I think it'd be a great hobby to try at least! I've gotten the "Mr. Beer" kits, but those are kinda like mixes, I loved what I got, but it's not really "making" it, ya know? Hopefully one fo these days I can plan my trip, I'd sure love to meet up with anyone who wants to drink some beer! :)

im drinking beer now, hehe. cheap norwegian beer. cant afford much either from flying between Norway and Brazil as much as i do.

btw, did you try any eastern european lagers? they make my favourite lagers in Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic and Poland...really stellar stuff, and im pretty sure you will like it if you try some, brand isnt that important...or might be, but i dont remember any names, haha.
when i lived in Brussels, i had this little Polish-Russian cornershop run by an Armenian family (haha, love the mix) right by my apartment, opened the last year i lived there. and i drank as much Ukranian and Russian beers the last year i lived there as i did belgian.
the son who was usually behind the counter when i came in just said loud "Russian beer!" when i came through the door, hehe.

here's a picture of Kwak with the glass. the glass is the most special thing, and really cool to drink from.
http://www.google.no/imgres?q=kwak&hl=no&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=653&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=-pXP1D3OsZa4GM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauwel_Kwak&docid=meZm-kRilYcv-M&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Kwak.jpg/200px-Kwak.jpg&w=200&h=243&ei=-DcbT7W6FM7T4QTokbnODQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=423&sig=102095847298206225221&page=1&tbnh=152&tbnw=125&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=90&ty=45

Edit: like you, i have many times thought about trying to make my own beer! like you said, it would at least be an awesome hobby, if nothing else!

So have you found a solution?

I don't live nearby (I'm in Brussels) but I'm not against a little trip to help a fellow fan :)

thats where i lived for 3 miserable years (in Laken...good hood turned to ghetto hood in 1 year!). go for it dude!
let me know if u wanna send me sone Kasteelbier blond!
u wanna know what ONE bottle Duvel cost here in Norway?...........10 euro....!
believe it or not, its true :D

Hey guys!!! I would love to try whatever you got! (I do have to keep it somewhat cheap though, I have twins on the way, lol) I'm not sure what that would cost. But thanks Guys!! I really appreciate it!! Let's check chipping and we'll see what we can do!

Check it out!!!!

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/worlds-best-beer-finally-available-173648182--abc-news-topstories.html