Westvleteren 8 is uniquely dubbel

David is headed to Carlsbad tomorrow for the night so we're doing our first midnight beer in a long time. Beer 363. Wow. Never would've thunk that our last 12:01am/next day beer would be the sought after Westvleteren. The real irony can be found in Davids 'beer a day' calender, announcing today's beer as the Ballast Point Calico Amber. I not only dislike ambers, but this particular one is...blerg. The Westvleteren 8 is basically the highest rated Dubbel in the world, so it should be a billion times better than any amber. Phew

As this is our return to the Westvleteren series, here is the original post discussing the brewery's history: http://www.beereveryday.com/2011/05/lost-abbey-inferno-weclomes-karl-and.html

There is a frothy, thick head that introduces a crisp body that's cleaner than most dubbels. It's richer too, with a bready center that numbs the sweet caramels down. What's really interesting and unusual, is the 8 has a grainy characteristic, probably from the use of a flaked malt. Imagine walking up a museum's modern, polished marble steps and then seeing the Rosetta Stone. Later, you probably don't remember the marble walking into the museum, but you remember the Rosetta Stone, its face marked and scratched up. It has history and character. For me, the grainy quality of this dubbel and the subtle construction of malts make this a truly unique brew. It's something to behold, not quite meeting my lofty expectations, rather, surprising them instead. BAD BOYS rating.