Category Archives: Trappist Beer
#248 – Achel Blond 8
Size: 330 ml ABV: 8 % It wasn’t that long ago that I had first tried the Achel Bruin (#200), and up next was the highly rated Blond. The previous tale I spun was around the history of the brewery, … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Achel, Belgian Strong Ale, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Belgian beer, Jan Diederik van Tuyll, Rochefort, Westmalle
#200 – Achel Bruin 8
Size: 330 ml ABV: 8 % It has taken me 200 beers to finally try a beer from all seven official Trappist breweries. The final piece in this monastic jigsaw turned out to be also the smallest of the lot … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Achel, Belgian Strong Ale, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey, Achel, Auberge, beer, Belgian, Bruin, Chimay, copper, Limburg, Patersvaatje, Rochefort, St Benedict, Trappist, Westmalle, World War I
#198 – Westvleteren 8
Size: 330 ml ABV: 8 % This is currently the final beer on my Westvleteren journey (unless I’m fortunate enough to end up with a bottle of the long retired Westvleteren 6) and having already rambled about the phenomenon which … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Belgian Strong Ale, Trappist Beer, Westvleteren
Tagged as 8, Abbey, beer, Belgian, Catsberg, Cella Beborna, Chimay, Emperor, hermit, Jan-Baptist, Joseph II, monastery, nunnery, Poperinge, Scourmount, St Sixtus, Trappist, Victoor, Westvleteren, White, World War I
#165 – Chimay White
Size: 330 ml ABV: 8 % This is my fourth and final Chimay (Red #7, Doree #49, Blue #45). Unless the monks decide to suddenly launch a new brew then I need to sum up succinctly and clearly all there … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Abbey Tripel, Chimay, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey, Baileux, beer, Belgian, Blue, champagne, Chimay, Cinq Cents, Cistercian, Pius IX, Pope, Red, Scourmont, Sixtus, Theodore, Trappist, Westvleteren, White
#160 – La Trappe Dubbel
Size: 330 ml ABV: 7 % It has been mentioned before very early into the Odyssey that there are only seven Trappist breweries in the whole of the world (#7). Six of these are in Belgium, and the other one … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Abbey Dubbel, de Koningshoeven, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey, Abbot, beer, Belgian, Berkel, du Mont, Dubbel, Enschot, farm, Friar, Het Kapittel, King, Koningshoeven, La Trappe, Netherlands, Nivardus, Pater, Quadrupel, Romaldus, Royal, Saint Marie, Schweykart, Sebastianus, Tilburg, Willem II, Wyart
#154 – La Trappe Quadrupel
Size: 330 ml ABV: 10 % It was a fleeting visit to Bruges this weekend, and the drive back on the Sunday afternoon was made particularly difficult due to the debilitating hangover which surfaced as I did. As I grimacingly … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Abbey Beer, Abt/Quadrupel, de Koningshoeven, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abt, ABV, beer, Beer Advocate, Belgian, Bruges, Chimay, Dubbel, hangover, Koningshoeven, Quadrupel, ratebeer, Red, St. Bernardus, Staminee de Garre, Tilburg, Trappist, Tripel, Westvleteren
#149 – Westmalle Tripel
Size: 330 ml ABV: 9.5 % Just as Westmalle symbolises the ultimate Dubbel (#16), then look no further than Westmalle for the archetypal Tripel. I often get asked by new recruits who I drag to London’s best pubs for a … Continue reading →
Filed under 9, Abbey Beer, Abbey Tripel, Trappist Beer, Westmalle
Tagged as beer, Belgian, Drie Linden, Dubbel, gravity, Hendrik, Superbier, Three Lindens, Trappist, Tripel, Verlinden, Westmalle, Witkap Pater
#107 – Trappistes Rochefort 6
Size: 330 ml ABV: 7.5 % Sadly the Trappistes Rochefort with the red cap is the last of the famous triumvirate to pass my eager lips. Just over a hundred beers in and I need to conclude my notes on … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Abbey Beer, Abbey Dubbel, Rochefort, Trappist Beer
Tagged as 10, 6, 8, Abbey, beer, Belgian, degrees Plato, density, gravity, hydrometer, original, Relais, Rochefort, scale, specific, St Remy, Trappistes
#66 – Westvleteren 12
Size: 330 ml ABV: 10.2 % My last beer in Belgium on this trip was always going to be a bit special. In 2005 there was something of a media frenzy whipped up when the Westvleteren 12 was again voted … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Abbey Beer, Abt/Quadrupel, Trappist Beer, Westvleteren
Tagged as 10, 8, Abbey, beer, blonde, cafeteria, Chimay, In de Vrede, Poperinge, Rate Beer, Rochefort, St Sixtus, Trappist, Westvleteren
#52 – Petit-Orval
Size: 330 ml ABV: 3.5 % Petit-Orval can only supposedly be bought in the L’Auberge de L’Ange Gardien (The Guardian Angel Inn) – the tavern owned by the Orval Monastery, and so that was where I headed while I drove … Continue reading →
Filed under 8, Abbey Beer, Belgian Ale, Orval, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey Beer, Ange Gardien, Angel, beer, Belgian, brewery tap, cheese, green, Guardian, inn, Luxembourg, monastery, Orval, Petit, Trappist
#49 – Chimay Doree
Size: on cask ABV: 4.8 % There are some beers that you can’t just buy from your local off-licence, or if you are lucky to live in or near Belgium, go pick up from your nearest Drankencentrum. Some you can’t … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Abbey Beer, Belgian Ale, Chimay, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey Beer, Auberge, beer, Belgian, breakfast, brewery tap, cheese, Chimay, Dendermonde, Doree, Drankencentrum, golden, monks, Pater, Poteaupre, Scourmont, Tripel
#45 – Chimay Blue
Size: 330 ml ABV: 9 % Chimay print the year of bottling on their ‘Blue’ labels. Many other beers do, but not prominently on the front of the bottle. One of the unique selling points of good Belgian beer is … Continue reading →
Filed under 9, Abbey Beer, Belgian Strong Ale, Chimay, Trappist Beer
Tagged as aging, beer, Belgian, Bleue, Blue, bottle, cellar, cellaring, chill haze, Chimay, conditioned, floordrobe, Grand, Reserve, Rochefort, Trappistes, vintage
#37 – Orval
Size: 330 ml ABV: 6.3% Orval is the fourth of the six Trappist breweries we have come across thus far in Belgium, and it is almost certainly the most attractive, set in the grounds of the Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval in … Continue reading →
Filed under 9, Abbey Beer, Belgian Ale, Fish, Orval, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey Beer, beer, Belgian, Benedictine, French Revolution, legend, Luxembourg, Mathilda, monastery, Notre Dame, Orval, Queen of Trappists, spring, Trappist, trout, Tuscany, Val d'Or, Valley of Gold, van der Cruyssen, Virgin Mary, wedding ring
#31 – Trappistes Rochefort 8
Size: 330 ml ABV: 9.2 % I have already outlined the history of the Trappistes Rochefort Abbey in my coverage of the Rochefort 10 (#13). Perhaps what I didn’t mention was that the success of the Trappistes Rochefort beers of … Continue reading →
Filed under 9, Abbey Beer, Belgian Strong Ale, Rochefort, Trappist Beer
Tagged as 8, Abbey Beer, Achel, agreement, beer, Belgian, Chimay, distribution, green, monk, Rochefort, St Remy, Trappiste
#16 – Westmalle Dubbel
Size: 330 ml ABV: 7 % The third Trappist brewery of my adventure already, although the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle (or Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) was only founded in 1794, and not conferred Trappist status until 1836. In … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Abbey Beer, Abbey Dubbel, Trappist Beer, Westmalle
Tagged as Abbey Beer, dark, Dom, Dubbel, froth, Heart, Martinus, Sacred, strong, sweet, Trappist, Westmalle
#13 – Trappistes Rochefort 10
Size: 330 ml ABV: 11.3 % The story of the Trappistes Rochefort Beers starts on very much the same vein as that of the Grimbergen beers (#8, #9). Abbey makes beer – Abbey gets destroyed by plunderers – Abbey reforms … Continue reading →
Filed under 9, Abbey Beer, Abt/Quadrupel, Rochefort, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Belgian beer, Observance, Saint-Remy, Trappist, Trappistes Rochefort
#7 – Chimay Red
Size: 330 ml ABV: 7% Chimay is an authentic Trappist brewery, located at the Scourmont Abbey deep in the Hainaut countryside. The Abbey was formed in 1850 and beers have been brewed there since 1862. There are 171 Trappist monasteries … Continue reading →
Filed under 7, Abbey Beer, Abbey Dubbel, Chimay, Trappist Beer
Tagged as Abbey, Belgian beer, Chimay, Premiere, Scourmont, Trappist, Val Dieu
