So today is the big day: the first (and maybe only) official commercial release of Westvleteren beer in the United States. When I heard about the release earlier this year, I expected to find myself at the head of the line today. But that’s not the way it turned out.
As someone who has driven across two countries to buy Westvleteren beer, driving 90 minutes to the closest beer shop to get any Westy 12 didn’t seem like a big problem. But a couple of factors conspired to make it just not worth it. First of all, we’ve had Westy 12 before. In fact, we’ve still have a couple bottles that we brought home with us from the Netherlands. Second, it’s a great beer (and worth the $15/bottle you pay on the gray market), but that’s what they are selling it for retail, so I’m not sure why I should go to so much trouble to pay extortionate prices. Third, Wind has this pesky thing called work that won’t let her drop everything and spend the day buying beer three counties away. If I go by myself, I only get to buy one six-pack. I did the math, and when I drove to Belgium to buy two cases, I was driving about 8 miles per bottle (which is totally reasonable, right? Right?). But driving 85 miles (each way) to buy a six-pack comes out to more than 28 miles per bottle. And that’s completely ridiculous…
So what am I doing instead? Brewing my own, of course. I’ll be stopping by the homebrew shop pick up some supplies for bottling the Westy 12 clone we’ve got in tertiary fermentation, and to make some cider and mead.
I’m enjoying the ‘miles per bottle’ concept.
Good luck with the homebrew – may it be perfect. (And duplicatable!)