The beer brewed at St. Sixtus Abbey was selling for $85 per six pack. Watch video
The line for Westvleteren 12 outside Provisions in Northampton at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, December 12, 2012. The beer was selling for $85 a six pack, which included some specialty glassware.
NORTHAMPTON – Plenty of people like to grab a cold beer, but not as many are willing to catch a cold for one.
But that’s exactly what two dozen or so people were risking as they stood outside Provisions at 30 Crafts Ave. this morning. Braving 25-degree weather, the crowd started gathering around 8 a.m. and waited until the store opened at 10 a.m. to be able to buy an $85 six pack of Westvleteren 12, a hard-to-get beer from Belgium.
“Westie 12,” as it’s called in the beer community, is often rated as one of the best beers in the world, and has never been legally available outside of its country of origin. This is because it’s made by monks at the Westvleteren Abbey – also known as the St. Sixtus Abbey – and the only way to get it legally until this year was to travel there and buy it from the monks directly. But last year the Shelton Brothers, a beer importing company, struck a deal to import it to United States. The abbey is in need of repair and the monks decided that the best way to raise funds would be to sell a limited amount of it outside of their country.
Part of its appeal, of course, is that the beer is hard to get, which is why it’s selling briskly even at $85 per six pack. The package, called a “brick” because it’s helping repair brickwork at the abbey, also includes glassware. And since it is being sold two weeks before Christmas, it clearly is well-timed as a perfect holiday gift for craft beer aficionados.
Kathryn Lord of Greenfield was the first person to arrive, at 8 a.m. But she wasn’t the first person in line. Because of the cold, she waited in her car until several other people arrived. Then she decided that was probably best finally get in line. Lord is not a beer drinker herself, but was there to buy a surprise holiday gift for her husband. When she was told that being interviewed for this story might ruin the surprise, she said that was fine.
One person in line who is definitely a beer lover was Chris Starke of Chicopee. He has had Westie 12 before and said it was definitely worth coming out in the cold to get it.
“I thought it was amazing,” he said. “It’s one of the best beers I’ve had.”
Another beer fan, Jeff Dalton of Northampton had never tasted Westie 12 before, so standing in the cold weather and paying $85 was not too steep a price.
Provisions formally announced via e-mail and Facebook on Tuesday that it would have the beer for sale, but had been fielding calls about rumors since last week. Once the announcement went out, the reservation list was filled in about 15 minutes. They put aside 25 for sale today to people who weren’t able to reserve a brick. The beer was only available at three other Massachusetts stores: Julio’s Liquors in Westborough, Redstone Liquors in Stoneham and the Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont.
Mike Marois, a manager at Provisions, said the store received 72 bricks, all of which are sold or are now spoken for via reservation.
“Once we announced it, the phone kept ringing,” he said. “We fielded at least 100 calls from 11 (a.m.) when the email hit ‘til at least six o’clock when I left.”