Text 7064, 62 rader
Skriven 2013-03-01 15:59:17 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
   Kommentar till text 7061 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: Re: Coming to America
=============================
BF> Oh, I almost forgot:
 
BF>WD> Westvleteren 12
 
BF> http://tinyurl.com/bm5efyn
 
BF> As you can see(?), it's at SEK125 per 33cl bottle, ...
 
That is a ridiculous price for such a product ...
 
Then again, I think the offer is a hoax because the "Ga till bokning" button to
order/reserve is "out". So the product is not commercially available. Because
that is what you carefully left-out of my message where it was stated that
 
       There's no way that you can get the "Westvleteren 12" commercially in
       Sweden, not even by special import.                   """"""""""""
 
The keyword is "commercially" as the monks drastically control their trade.
 
One needs to phone the abbey and reserve a case, you will eventually be
notified when that case is available. They only sell 2 cases of 24 bottles a
day of the 12-variety and the buyer needs to come by car to the abbey ... one
case maximum per car. After that the car with that license plate is outlawed
for 6 months to pick-up another case. Same with the passport number of the
buyer and the plastic card that it was paid with as well as the number of the
phone that called for the order ... phones without caller-ID are rejected.
 
You'd need an awfully large logistic and complicated operation to stock a large
enough quantity of this beer to get a commercial viable thing going, and under
those circumstances even SKr 125 would not cover the cost.
 
It is not to be excluded that a single case, or maybe even two, make it to
Sweden on a private initiative, but there's nothing "commercial" about that.
 
The monks have only on 2 occasions made the beer commercially available when
they needed the finances to rebuild and restore their abbey. First time was
last year when they sold 96.000 bricks (cardboard boxes with 6 bottles and 2
matching glasses) via a selected supermarket chain. They sold-out in less than
half an hour. Then beginning of the year they did the same in the USA, people
queued in NYC for blocks and it also sold-out in no time at all.
 
After that they announced they had the necessary finances to complete their
restoration and would never enter in such a commercial venture again. They lead
a life of contemplation, not a commercial brewery and they just brew enough to
support their way of life ... which does not include volumetric alcohol
consumption. There are 39 monks right now.
 
BF> But don't think for a moment that Sweden should in any way be
BF> some kind of backward country when it comes to beer, just because we have
BF> crazy alcohol laws and taxes.
 
I think I never laid that claim though I do not see anything Swedish at first
sight on the list of 50 world best brews (composed by 4.500.000 drinkers), a
list that features 3 brews from the St.Sixtus abbey and other (Belgian)
trappist abbeys as well.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.9
 * Origin: Many Glacier / Protect - Preserve - Conserve (2:292/854)