Paul Hayden of The Wine & Cheese Place based in St. Louis has done a little research on Westvleteren 12 coming to the state. The plot thickens.
Since I had not seen the Westvleteren registered in Missouri, I started emailing to find out the story for Missouri. I talked to Shelton Brothers and found out that they were told that the were not the distributor for Missouri. The country was split in half down the Mississippi with the exception of Illinois was added to this side of the country — the distributor for Missouri for Westvleteren is our Chimay Importer — Manneken-Brussel Imports. They have not responded to my email, but I talked our distributor for Chimay and they were told that they are not sending any Westvleteren to Missouri??? They are sending it all to the West Coast???
[TWCP]
Note: In case you don’t know the back story- Westvleteren 12 or “Westie 12” is considered one of the best beers on planet earth. Until now, the beer was only available to buy at the monastery. The monks brew only what is needed to sustain themselves, no more. Repairs are needed at the abbey, so they are producing more -for sale publicly. For one time only. It will no doubt be highly sought after.
UPDATE: 3/21 – I just talked to Lisa at Manneken Imports and she said they have every intention of coming to Missouri. They are still waiting to complete the deal with Westvleteren before the can confirm anything. So at this point things look good (or at least better).
