I opened a couple of bottles of Westy 8 last night, from my stash lovingly schlepped all the way home from Belgium.  And the first thing I noticed was that one of them had the expected creamy white head, while the other one was decidedly tan.  Possibly even beige.  But I went ahead with them anyway, giving Wind the better glass.

Turns out I was right to be suspicious.  Her glass was just the same as we had it back in Belgium.  Malty, rich, earthy, and spicy.  But my glass was still malty, but all the spiciness was gone and replaced by a kind of smooth creaminess.  It wasn’t terrible (I’ve had truly spoiled beers, like some Rochefort 10 that was a drainpour).  But it definitely wasn’t the same beer, by a long shot.

When I came back to the kitchen, I noticed the little ring of brown under the seal in my bottle’s cap.  So I guess there was some spoilage along the way.  All of the beer has had the same life — in my trunk on the way home, in our cellar in the Netherlands, in our baggage on the flight back to the US, in our winebeer fridge since we’ve been home.  So I don’t think we did anything to one bottle that we didn’t do to the other.  So it’s probably just the vagaries of living beer.