I was surprised to see this yesterday on the shelf at my favorite store in Kentucky. I live in wv at the moment and have to go to Ky for my craft beer runs. No big deal.. 20 minute drive. Anyway, I love Het Anker and I was stoked to see this, but once I got it home it says it's a vintage 2011. 11/07/11 or something like that. The guy who does the ordering at the location says he just got it in from the dist. I went back and every 4 pack is 2011. Are the distributors really sending us leftover stuff to make room for the new? I'm sure the new 2012 vintage should have released recently. I'm sure this will be fine aged, bu still.. Do I really have to put up with the distributors bs bc I'm in a small area? The same distributor told this particular store they haven't had anything at all from FFf in a month? I mean what are some of these distributing places trying to pull? Then again, I may be wrong about the vintages with cuvée van kaizer. Has anyone else had these type of problems with the stores you shop?
Not only will this be fine aged, but it is possibly the best beer in the world to age. Additionally, with a year of age on it, there aren't many beers I would rather drink. Absolute perfection. Honestly, you are complaining about finding a $100 bill in your wallet when you were hoping to find a $20.
Too much Grape Nehi quality when it's young, imo- like Chewbacca said, you are most likely better off with the older stuff anyway. At least, for this particular beer.
I've seen plenty of stores that charged extra for aged bottles of this beer. I don't know that I've ever seen a current year bottle of this beer in all my travels.
By the time a lot of these Belgian beers sit at the brewery, go to the distributor's warehouse, ship across the Atlantic, sit in the distributor's American warehouse, get sipped to the regional distributor, and finally make it to the bottle shop, it can take at least a year. Even Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen, which are in super high demand and don't sit on any shelves, it's rare to see a bottle less than eight months old. it's another reason why I refuse to drink imported lagers or hoppy beers out of the bottle.
Time to start shopping for Belgian beer in Kentucky. Now that's a sentence I never thought I would type.
Dude-if you don't want It send it my way. I have one 2009 left and will wait for a special occasion to drink it. 1 of the best beers to age in the world.
Found the same thing at my Wegmans. Only one 2011, and plenty of 2012. I think they were $11 a pop. Grabbed one of each. I was pretty excited about it.
A bunch of 2008 bottles showed up recently at my local grocery store - snagged a bunch. This one is damn good with a few years on it. Drink it, and get more.
I had the 2008 vintage on draft back in 2010. With nearly 600 reviews logged, Blauw still has my second highest rating. Now, aging this particular beer is practically a requirement for me. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1534/6947/?ba=FeDUBBELFIST
I had an 09, 10, and 11 vertical going and then saw an 08 on shelves in KY while driving through. Unfortunately I had already spent $90 on other beers, so didn't pull the trigger. After doing the vertical, though, I wish I had. This beer is great with age, and changes surprisingly little with 2 years. I'd like to get some bottles to keep for 5+ years to see how they do. It's probably my favorite quad next to Westy 12, and is much cheaper and easily obtained.
My experience with this beer was abysmal. I'm surprised of the ratings, it makes me think mine was infected. It wasnt aged but It drank like straight syrup, no diversity just rich sugar and me and a friend drainpoured it after 2 sips. I'm not the hggest fan of Belgians but theyre never near this sugary. I wonder if it was something wrong with the batch.
Most of us would be thrilled with this problem. An amazing aged beer at a not-aged price, without having to devote cellar space for a year? This one, WWS, 120 min, 3 Philosophers are some of my favorites to find old vintages in out-of-the-way places. Related "problem" - stores in Portland ME recently got in "old" cases of Weyerbacher Riserva 2011. Even better, the distributor was trying to clear out the old stock, so they're on the shelf for $12.99 vs $17.99 normally. Life is tough!
Yeah the older the better. I've had some nice ones from the last several years. Opened a 2010 a few months back it was very nice but not as good as a 2008 that i had sometime last year. Well, no notes but i remember thinking the 2008 was better. But it is grapey and tannic when newer. So buy them and keep em around for a while.
My local beer store had several bottles of Cuvee De Kaiser Rood from 2010 for $5 a throw. Enjoyed the hell out of those and hoping the 2011 Blauws hit clearance sometime soon.
You know, when I went to Chicago I bought a 2009 Cuvee to share with my friends at a New Year's Eve party, partly because I've heard so much about it. Best beer of the night (though I only brought two; the other being a Labyrinth). Looking at all the people here claiming it's a different beer fresh, I'm kinda glad I didn't bite the bullet and buy the 2012s waiting for me when I got back to Tampa, because I suck at aging beer (I drink or give away most of what I try to save).
Relevant to this thread I got a 2012 bottle recently and when I looked at the expire day I was so surprised to see it was a good ten years from now! The price being relatively cheap, 6.30 euros for a 750 ml bottle, should I buy a couple more and cellar them? Or should I cellar this for 3-4 years let's say and then buy the 2016 version and taste them along? Does it age so well then?
Sorry business has been busy and i havent been on. Okay I wasn't so much complaining as I may have came off. I was somewhat concerned on the selection we've been having recently in Kentucky not with the beers we've been getting but rather the dating on the beers we've been getting. I know Blauw is top shelf and maybe the best beer in the world to age. I was just a bit disappointed I didnt get to enjoy it fresh as I've had it a year old at a friends sampling. Trust me, I busted this open and it was pure class. I'm going to let 2 of the 3 I have left sit a good while. But this topic was written for the simple fact that stuff like Robert the Bruce, Dreadnaught, Arctic Panzer Wolf type stuff have been available to me all year around then a month ago Zombie Dust arrived here and now the store owner tells me his distributor says he hasn't gotten anything from floyds in nearly a month. The Cuvée Blauw being 2011 and considered a new release talked up by the distributor was just kind of the last straw. I'm not questioning or complaining about the het anker stuff, but I'm complaining that the distributor has employees at this store believing its a brand new brew straight from Belgium a month ago lol. I'm sure someone gets where I'm coming from.
