Trappist Westvleteren

My search for the perfect pint continues. Excerpted below is a section from a piece I am working on for my narrative journalism class on beer and brewing in Ithaca. Previous excerpts can be found at the bottom of this post.

...Around this time I take my search for the perfect pint online out of sheer desperation. The ones I’ve tried are good, even great, but not quite what I am searching for. Countless online resources claim to have found the holy grail of beers, and the search can be quite similar to a wine connoisseur searching for an elusive bottle. I stumble upon the website of what is arguable the world’s finest beer, Trappist Westvleteren, brewed in small batches by Belgian monks in a centuries-old tradition. I decide to forego this beer upon reading the instructions for buying a crate:

1. Fly to Belgium and rent a car. You will need the car’s license plate number to be allowed into the abbey.

2. Check online for the monthly calendar giving the date and times reservations may be made to purchase a 24-bottle crate. In April, that comes to seven hours total: between 9:00 and 12:00 local time on April 8 to purchase three crates of Trappist Westvleteren 12 and between 10:00 and 12:00 on April 13 and 14 to purchase two crates of Trappist Westvleteren Blond.

3. Call up the abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren to make said reservation (+32 (0)70/21.00.45). You will wait in a long phone queue, and your call might not even be answered. You will need to specify the time you come and the license plate number of the car you will be driving. One order per car per telephone number (they check!) per month.

4. Drive to Donkerstraat 12, B -8640 Westvleteren. Beer may be picked up at a specified time Monday through Wednesday, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

5. Pay 38 euros for a 24-bottle crate of Westvleteren 12 (28 for the Blond) plus a 12-euro deposit. (About $68 total or $2.83 a beer. Not so bad if you don’t count the flight, car rental, and accommodations in Belgium).

6. Enjoy, or age in a cool cellar to perfection. And no reselling. Not that you would buy a few cases and resell the bottles at over 1,200 percent markup. Nor would you send it to your buddies through the mail. That’s illegal. And God just might be keeping track of his divine suds.

Is it worth it? For some, no doubt. But is it perfect?

Previous Excerpts:
Beer, in a Barley Husk
Driving to the Ithaca Beer Company (Excised from the final draft)
Trivia at the Nameless Bar (Significantly cut down in the final draft)