La Trappe Trappist Brewery

I just got back to the states after spending a week in The Netherlands. Besides drinking as much European beers as possible, including Heineken (IMO tastes much better than H export) I also got to visit the only Trappist brewery outside of Belgium - La Trappe in Tilburg. I also went on a brewery tour (which was in Dutch).

There is nothing better than drinking these Trappist beers fresh off the tap. I was lucky enough to sample both from kegs and bottle conditioned side by side. The legged beers offered more aroma, malt and spicy complexity than the bottle. The bottle condition had more yeast profile. When the brewery bottles their beer they add a little glucose and some fresh yeast. This fresh yeast definitely is noticeable and does mask some of the complexity of the Trappist beers. My favorite was there Quad, Pur and the special Isi'dor.

I'll post the pics as soon as I can get them off my phone.

I was also fortunate enough to get my hands on a few bottles of Westvleteren Trappist beers. I had both the 8 and the 12. This beer is extremely limited. The brewery only sells their beer at the abbey, you also have to make an appointment before you can buy a crate. They will only allow one order per telephone number every 2 months, the same goes for the licence plate number of the vehicle picking up the order. The rule with their brew is that it may not be resold. However, they have allowed these rules to be relaxed this year as they increased production to help pay for damaged to an abbey building caused by a recent fire. Once the damage has been repaired they with reduce production again to levels that will help them sustain their simple monk lifestyle. They don't operate to make a profit.

Anyhow, as I was saying, I was lucky enough to get my hands on 5 bottles (I brought one home). I have never tasted such a complex beer in my life! I tasted doughy bread, lots of raisins, spices, liquorice, raspberry and malt. The mouth feel was superb, thick but very silky. The carbonation was very light, just enough to help form the creamy tan head.

For me, this beer, both the 8 and 12 has now set the bar according to which I will compare all future Trappist brews.

If you ever want to taste this beer you could buy it on line, the Belgiumshop.com I think it sells for $40 a 12oz bottle or $200 for a mixed six pack, or you could visit the brewery. Or find a pub in Europe that carries it (there are just a hand full). I was lucky to find one of these pubs and made good friends with the barman, head brewer and waiter. The brew pub only gets one crate of each type every 2 months and will only sell one per customer. I got 5
Fortunately I didn't have to pay $40 per bottle but it did cost €10 each, still not cheap!