Lost Abbey Inferno weclomes Karl and his gift of the world's highest rated beer

Our good friend and frequent drinking collaborator has brought back the Holy Grail of beers from his European trip, The Westvleteren 12 (and his two brothers). It is quite simply the highest rated beer on any beer review site Beer Advocate. Why is this such a HUGE deal? Why does we love Karl so much right now (as always)? Because it's virtually impossible to buy this beer in the United States.

I'm not yanking your chain. The abbey monks only brew a finite amount of beer per year (a number that hasn't changed since the 1946) and the demand is so high, they don't allow wide distribution of the beer. Karl had to rent a French car and drive out to the abbey in order to buy a case of the stuff.  Sales are limited to one order a month per person per license plate and phone number and they only distribute a few days a month. They only make 60,000 cases a year. From Wikipedia:

"Buyers of the beer receive a receipt with Niet verder verkopen ("Do not resell") printed on it. The abbey is very much against resale of their beer, and it is their wish that the beer is only commercially available at the two official sale points. To this end, any Westvleteren beer which is sold anywhere else in the world is grey market beer, as no wholesalers or pubs are supplied with the beer... In an interview with The Independent, monk Mark Bode explained that the abbey had no intention of increasing its production, despite demand: "We make the beer to live but we do not live for beer."

Can you imagine how sad we would be if Karl wasn't able to return with this rarity? Well, there was a close call during Karl's flight back. The windows were frosting up and Karl was worried there would might be catastrophe occurring in his luggage below. The luggage he received was soaked through. SHIT. Please be a Blonde, don't be a #12, please be a blonde, please be a blonde (not the first time you've said that, eh Karl?). Unfortunately, a beer had exploded. Fortunately, it was a blonde. Hip hip hooray! God was smiling upon Karl that day.

We're still contemplating whether we'll taste this next week or at the end of the year in celebration. In the meantime, how does the highest rated beer in the world taste to Karl? He describes it not as a mind-blowing/reality shattering beer, but it is the perfect execution of a belgian quad. As always, Karl is very eloquent and dead-on in his critique, and it serves as a very good reality check for something so highly revered and rated. Without knowing this, I would drink the beer with exorbitant expectations and I'm glad Karl steered my away from the mindset.

While Karl regaled us with stories of his travels to Paris, Bruges, and London, we thought it fitting to open a bottle of Belgian Strong Ale we bought during out San Diego trip, the Lost Abbey Inferno.

So many Belgians, so little time...

Karl's stories included drinking a Westvleteren 8 for breakfast, a Westmalle Trappist for lunch and a Rochefort 10 for dinner -  some of the world's greatest beers, all for under 4 Euro. Ridiculous. He spoke of the picturesque scene in Bruges, wine festivals in Bordeaux, crepes in Paris and schwag parties in London. Thanks Karl, for proving how awesome you are, can we drink some beer yet?

Lost Abbey was a brewery David and I weren't in love with before our San Diego trip, but we returned enthusiastic supporters. The Inferno smells and tastes like spicy yeast, bread and apples. The flavor is a strong golden ale with spicy notes and a bitter aftertaste. David compares it to Duvel but with an imperfect finish. The Inferno is a beer with character and I'd love for my daughter to marry him, but I'm not going to invite my the guy to poker night. TRANSFORMERS rating.

The Bruery, Provisions Series: Premiére

Spent most of the day at home cleaning, laundering, dishwashing, etc. Still haven't shaken this cold, which has really gotten on my nerves.

Walker and I got this on a big trip down to Bootlegger's and The Bruery a couple weeks ago. They had two bottles for sale at the tasting room and this is one of them. I don't think I am a huge fan of the bourbon-aged trend/fad that's going around right now. And I particularly don't think it's works too well for a golden, better suited to a stout or red. Again, I'm going on a few days of not being able to smell anything, but I can immediately detect the bourbon casks, in both the first smell and the first sip. It's just too much, sweet maple more than anything. The way the bourbon flavor sticks to the back of my tongue just doesn't make for a pleasant and smooth drinking experience. I almost need to wait for it to leave my tongue before taking another sip.

This is Stephan Lang. Strong foundational character, with great potential, but when you throw him in an environment that he's not used to (like Cameron's Avatar), the performance can be a little over-the-top. It's still good, maybe even great, but not my favorite from The Bruery.