The Bar Towel

esprit wrote:At the little known Quadrupel tasting at Volo, we supplied 4 of the Belgian offerrings including Westy 12. The winner in the blind tasting before a group of about 40 odd knowledgeable beer drinkers was ACHEL EXTRA...Westy finshed 2nd.

That's the one that I was thinking about - wasn't there of course, but heard about it.

boney wrote:Based purely on my own subjective enjoyment and nothing else. Fresh Rochefort>Westy, not even close. Aged Westy>Rochefort, not even close.

I've got a couple of Rochefortes from last year - they drink better less age?

JeffPorter wrote:

boney wrote:Based purely on my own subjective enjoyment and nothing else. Fresh Rochefort>Westy, not even close. Aged Westy>Rochefort, not even close.

I've got a couple of Rochefortes from last year - they drink better less age?

Rocheforts age excellently too. I think Rocheforts drink amazing at any age, whereas Westy is underwhelming fresh but turns into something unparalled with a few years on it.

Someone on BT mentioned a while back, might have been Belgian, that you need to aggitate old Rocheforts then let them settle out for a few weeks if you put significant age on them. This is very true. Last year I popped open a 2006 Rochefort that had been motionless for the better part of 5 years and it was bland city. Then I read that recommendation, inverted a 2007 Rochefort 10 a couple of times to mix the yeast back in, let it settle for a week or so, popped it and it was a cimpletely different story. Amazing. Thanks for the tip!

Never tried that trick with a Westy, but my experience is more limited. Only ever had one fresh (still ptetty good, but not mind blowing) and 2 3-4 yr old Westy's (brains on walls good).

Personally Achel Extra then Westy at fresh stages. Westy 12 tho aged is phenomenal. I haven't had Achel ages yet though. Next for me is St Bernardus Abt 12. Chimay Blue then Rochefort.

What's everyone's plans for this release? Show up tomorrow 11am? Or waiting to hear something about it ?

TheBeeraholic wrote:Personally Achel Extra then Westy at fresh stages. Westy 12 tho aged is phenomenal. I haven't had Achel ages yet though. Next for me is St Bernardus Abt 12. Chimay Blue then Rochefort.

What's everyone's plans for this release? Show up tomorrow 11am? Or waiting to hear something about it ?

I was told at one of the stores today that if it comes in Monday it could take a day or two to get it ready for purchase....

zaireeka wrote:

TheBeeraholic wrote:Personally Achel Extra then Westy at fresh stages. Westy 12 tho aged is phenomenal. I haven't had Achel ages yet though. Next for me is St Bernardus Abt 12. Chimay Blue then Rochefort.

What's everyone's plans for this release? Show up tomorrow 11am? Or waiting to hear something about it ?

I was told at one of the stores today that if it comes in Monday it could take a day or two to get it ready for purchase....

It's different from store to store, depending on the manager's quirks. What else is new? In many of the stores, once they receive it and have it in the back, you can usually pry it off of them with some persistence and by appealing to the right person who is patient and customer oriented enough, to look for them and fetch it for you. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the back with an employee and hunt for something that was listed but was MIA on the shelf.

boney wrote:Someone on BT mentioned a while back, might have been Belgian, that you need to aggitate old Rocheforts then let them settle out for a few weeks if you put significant age on them. This is very true. Last year I popped open a 2006 Rochefort that had been motionless for the better part of 5 years and it was bland city. Then I read that recommendation, inverted a 2007 Rochefort 10 a couple of times to mix the yeast back in, let it settle for a week or so, popped it and it was a cimpletely different story. Amazing. Thanks for the tip!

Ur welcome. It seems like common sense, because otherwise ALL the color and much of the aroma/flavor/fullness was missing without pre-shaking & re-settling (just a dry thin alcohol bomb.)

Try one with and one without, there is a LOT of intense dark stuff that settles out on top of the dead yeast and that's all the guts of the beer. You're washing that goodness down the drain when you riinse out the bottle, and that's a shame.

Belgian wrote:

ErkLR wrote:The Wine Trials book used blinded taste testings to show pretty clearly that there is no connection between price and quality when people don't know what they're drinking.

This is sort of true. But "no" connection? There is also a specificity of what people are drinking, which may or may not relate to cost or scarcity. If something is just very hard or expensive to make, that is a legitmate connection between cost / rarity and the actual taste.

OK, fair enough, almost no connection . And yes I was generalizing too much from wine which IMO suffers more from the disconnect between price and quality. I certainly don't fault Muskoka for TAMD being more costly.

TheBeeraholic wrote: What's everyone's plans for this release? Show up tomorrow 11am? Or waiting to hear something about it ?

I may have shopping to do tomorrow anyways, so whenever that happens, I'll stop in at the closest LCBO that's on the release list. Otherwise, I think I'll wait to hear something from here or Drinkvine. Though I remember that first shipment of Red Racer selling out in a few hours.

On the website now, but no stores yet. $76.85 per box set.

http://lcbo.ca/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/se ... anguage=EN

Soods wrote:On the website now, but no stores yet. $76.85 per box set.

http://lcbo.ca/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/se ... anguage=EN

When I was calling around last week, one store manager seemed to think that since they didn't get shipments on Sunday night, Tuesday would be the day, so it makes sense it's in the system today (?)

I camped out overnight at my local LCBO. They didn't have any Westvleteren 12, but they were able to sell me a Wii U for $500.

Has anyone started calling the LCBOs yet to determine if any have stock? I'd call myself, but can't really get away with that from work.

The store I called said they were expecting it this week but said he did not know when exactly. We shall see!

dutchcanuck wrote:Has anyone started calling the LCBOs yet to determine if any have stock? I'd call myself, but can't really get away with that from work.

I'm getting Tuesday the earliest from pretty much all the LCBO's on the list.