Trappist Month

I haven’t written a beer blog for a month – reasons vary from I’ve been busy with a new job and finding a new house (true facts), I’ve been lazy (the most accurate real reason) and I’ve been waiting patiently, collecting a many relevant beers as I could find.

And now the time is right. I’ve got as many as I can get my hands on. And with the final few on their way in the post, Trappist Month begins now! (We’ll…soon…)

The story of my Trappist journey up until this point is the story of how I fell in love with beer. The first time I bought an alcoholic drink from a supermarket after my 18th birthday, I perused Morrisons beer isle for a good 10 minutes, before concluding that the weird beers I’d never seen before were a much more interesting idea that the quantity over quality lager which, by then, I was already used to, unexcited by and bored of.

One bottle in particular caught my eye – a large, ceramic-looking stubby thing with a cork and a cage. It looked like something which had been parachuted in from medieval Europe, the sort of thing you’d see a knight cradling in a banquet hall. So I bought two of them.

Credit: Leszek.Leszczynski

I threw myself in at the deep end with beer, going straight for the good stuff. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d picked a beer from a very special club. I would find out just hours later, but it’s the beer which led me to discover the magnificent Trappist beers. From breweries in Belgium (La Trappe being the exception, from the Netherlands), these beers are legendary.

Funny I should pick La Trappe – the monastery which started it all. The Cistercians at the abbey were getting too liberal for the abbot’s liking, so he imposed strict new rules, including one aimed at self sufficiency. The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance was born, and they became known as the Trappists, after their abbey. The order expanded across Europe, and self-sufficiency was of prime importance, kept even as the rest of the rules were relaxed. Beer was brewed, as it had been in monasteries before the Order was founded, to serve the community with a vital foodstuff. That is why the breweries are still around today – any profit from the sale of their beers is given to charity.

The practice of brewing beer was especially significant to the monks of the order in Belgium. The country’s brewing history made it the perfect place for Trappist beers to find a second home, and now six of the eight Trappist breweries can be found there. The Trappist Order has spread across the globe, with many of the monasteries producing foodstuffs to fund their subsistence and to raise money for charity, such as the Caldey Island abbey, right here in Wales, which produces chocolate. Belgium, though, was obviously drawn to the beer, and as a result it’s brewing history opened a whole new chapter.

There is something about Trappist beers – the thought of monks, who have dedicated their lives to God, creating their version of a drink which was first seen as a gift from the gods. There is something positively divine about a group of pious men producing this beer, and knowing that they would do so without cutting corners. This is the very best of what they can create with what they have. There is a holy mystery to them, which is only increased by the fact that they are widely regarded as some of the best beers in the world.

In the several years since my first sip of La Trappe, I’ve tried most of it’s Trappist siblings. But now I’ve decided to go the whole hog. To amass a congregation with as many as I can possibly find.

I am going to spend the next few weeks religiously imbibing. I’ll be here to tell you all about them as usual. But first we’ve got to wait until the bloody parcel arrives…

So, here are the beers I’ll be drinking:

Westvleteren 12

Achel Blonde

Achel Bruin

Orval

La Trappe Witte

La Trappe Blonde

La Trappe Dubbel

La Trappe Tripel

La Trappe Quadrupel

La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged

Chimay Red

Chimay Blue

Chimay White

Chimay Spéciale Cent Cinquante

Westmalle Dubbel

Westmalle Tripel

Rochefort 6

Rochefort 8

Rochefort 10

Holy Lord, what a beautiful few weeks lie ahead…There will be an update when the rest have arrived!

Related articles

• La Trappiste (2001asausageodyssey.wordpress.com)
• What Would Jesus Brew? Wall Street Journal spotlights unique Allendale church ministry (mlive.com)
• Two Beers I Don’t Get (stevemilner.org)
• Ten Beers That I Would Save From a Fire (beeric.wordpress.com)