Hunt for Westvleteren

 

Luggage	€27
Lockers @ Centraal	€11
Sandwiches	€14
Starbucks	€3
Newspaper & magazine	€9
Beer @ Kulminator	€142
Train tickets (for 3)	€124
Water & soda	€4
Hotel, 3 nights	€300
Taxi in Amsterdam	€21
Pizza in Amsterdam	€22

 

We bought a cheap hard luggage case so we'd have some way to transport the Westvleteren home. The wheels fell off about 5 blocks away from the store we bought it. Nice. I guess it's time to carry it.

We left our bags at Antwerpen-Centraal, where they had a big wall of lockers for exactly this purpose, and we returned our bikes. Had lunch again at the awesome sandwich shop. The guy recognized us, which was cool. He was super nice.

Back to Kulminator to meet Vincent and have the Westvleteren menu. We brought him some American beer; he brought us some Belgian beer. He brought a friend or two along, too, so we had a full table. We shared lots of beer: the Westvleteren flight; a comparison between De Cam, Girardin and Cantillon gueuze; some draft beers; and Vincent recommended some Flanders reds. I tried to write them all down but I know I missed some.

That day was heavenly and we were quite drunk coming out of the shop, five hours later (!!). Because of this: Neil left his wallet at the bar; he broke his foot walking back; Tim shattered one of our Westvleteren bottles on the floor of the train station; and that bottle sent a shard of glass into his foot. Whoops.

That was still the best night of the vacation.

So we were happy to get on the late train to Amsterdam, a taxi to our hotel, get pizza delivery and crash.

 

 

Chimay	Red	Of the three standard Chimays, I like this dubbel the most.
Chimay	White	An unexciting tripel.
Chimay	Blue	This strong dark ale is not quite as smooth as the Red. It's okay, but the Red is better.
Chimay	Dorée	Very well-balanced, dry, hoppy. Unique in Belgium.
Malheur	12	A really good strong dark ale. I like this a lot.
Westvleteren	12	Dark and rich, with a good afterburn. Lovely.
Orval	(2010)	Classic young Orval is missing a significant amount of Brettanomyces flavor.
Orval	(2005)	This year was bad; it had a strong cidery nose which was a turn-off.
Orval	(2004)	Very good, appropriate smell, but maybe I'm falling out of love with Orval because it just didn't excite me.
De Struise	Earthmonk	Lovely Flanders Red; I don't remember what it tasted like.
Palm	Aerts 1900 (1980)	The best Flanders Red I've ever had. I assume it was partially due to the age, but I'm not sure. I couldn't describe it beyond that.
Timmermans	Bourgogne de Flandres	Not very exciting.
Van Steenberge	Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne	Good. I don't remember it much.
Westvleteren	12 (2004)	The age smoothes out the character. Alcohol more noticeable, though.
Westvleteren	12 (1999)	Wow, this is smooth and it has a unique smell. Alcohol not as noticeable. Love it.
Westvleteren	12 (1997)	This year was not quite as good as the 1999. I couldn't describe the difference, though. Love it as well.
Abbaye des Rocs	Grand Cru	Very good, though others seemed to like it more than me.
Proef	Vicardin Tripel-Gueuze	Apparently a collaboration with Girardin. Quite tasty; the flavors go well.
Proef	Vicardis Tripel	A good, but unexciting tripel.
La Trappe	Quercus	Oak aged version of the Quadrupel, as I understand it. And damn if it isn't one of the best Quads I've had. Sweeter than Westvleteren, for sure.
De Dolle	Stille Nacht	Loved it, though I have no idea what it tasted like. I only had a sip.
Maredsous	8	Another one I only had a sip of, and don't remember.
De Cam	Oude Geuze	Good, but Cantillon is better.
Girardin	Gueuze 1882	Very good, but Cantillon is better...
Dogfish Head	Theobroma	This is one we brought from the US, and it's one of their limited releases -- you won't find it elsewhere. The bartender was excited to open it for us and share it with us and the table. It was creatively spiced, and it stood up fairly well among all the amazing beers we had that night.