"It's a very
put-together Belgian beer." That was the assessment of Chris Pierce, assistant beer manager at Julio's Liquors in Westborough. He was talking about Spencer Trappist Ale, brewed at the Spencer Brewery at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer.
The ale went on sale for the first time in January at Julio's outlets in Massachusetts.
Until now, Trappist ale was brewed only in Europe.
"We had a very good sale," Pierce said.
The store sold 55 cases, each containing six four-packs.
That's 1,320 bottles.
They were gone in two hours.
Since then, he said, the store has gotten nonstop calls asking when more of the ale would be available.
At Spencer Country Spirits, owner Alan Letendre said there has been such a demand that, after he sold out his 50 cases, he started a list for people who come in to buy the ale.
He said the day the delivery truck came to his store, he took a picture of the delivery men wheeling in the cases and posted the picture on Facebook.
The beer arrived at noon.
All 50 cases -- 1,200 bottles -- were gone by 9 p.m.
"I haven't had a chance to try some myself," he told The Catholic Free Press, Worcester's diocesan newspaper. "This was a response like I've never seen before, and I've been in the business since 1990."