Here is where I get to enjoy a lot of my favorites without the 8+ travel
hours:

http://www.internetwines.com/randalls/beer-belgium.html


"FujiGirl" > wrote in message
...
> my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
> [and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
> south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
> they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
> favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?
>
>

Addi' Fri, 10 Sep 2004 22:33:55 +0200, FujiGirl scrisse:

>my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
>[and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
>south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
>they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
>favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?

a few months ago, dining with a couple of friends, we had both Westy 12
and Roch 10 - the drinks that night included also my friend's
barleywine, maybe some other beers, a good local Nebbiolo wine (BTW we
are in Italy) and a selection of aged single malts whiskies... a good
way to get prepared to a HB judging the day after ;-))
Well back to the trappists: my friend was for the W12, his wife
preferred the R10, I was in between; but the interesting thing was that
we all 3 agreed that anyway R10 is *bigger". Yes, despite whay I read
and what I remembered, Rochfort 10 is *more*: in aroma, flavour,
intensity, complexity... a challenge to your palate! W12 was also rich,
big, complex etc, but subtler and more drinkable. That evening, having
drunk so much and so "big", if I wanted another bottle it would have
been Westy and not Rochefort.

In other tastings, in other evenings, Rochefort 10 was just heavenly
perfect, the right beer for me.

If you have the chance, I do suggest a parallel tasting of these 2 great
trappist ales.

BTW, Rochefort 10 is stronger (though just slightly) than Westvleteren
12. R10 is 11.3% abv, W12 lately oscillates between 10.2% and 10.8%. A
friend measured the final gravity of a W12 and we calculated an OG of
about 1095.

ciao from Italy
max

--
Please reply he rosamax (at ISP fastwebnet.it
"A Quart of Ale is a Dish for a King" - Shakespeare (A Winter's Tale)
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In article >,
"FujiGirl" > wrote:

> my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
> [and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
> south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
> they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
> favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?

Lovely beers all, though Gouden Carolus is brewed by Het Anker in
Mechelen and is in no way a Trappist beer.

No one has yet mentioned beers from de Achelse Kluis, the "newest"
Trappist (their brewing was interrupted by WWI and only resumed in the
late 1990s). Although their first beers were "works in progress", they
have lately been brewing some lovely beers. Last winter, they made a
beer called "de Drie Wijzen" that quite successfully put them on a par
with some of the other Trappists. From what I have read, the monastary
hired the retired head monk/brewer from Westmalle, which is practically
down the road from Achel, who then hired/consulted with his counterpart
from the abbey in Rochefort.

Lately, here in Amsterdam, several beer places have begun offering a
more varied selections of German beers. While not the same style as the
Belgian Trappists, some of the more complex beers from Andechs and
Ettaler -- both German monastaries -- are absolutely delicious in their
own right, and though a different style are no less enjoyable.

If you like the rich, full tastes of the Belgian Trappists, you might
also enjoy the Christmas/Winter beer festival in Essen, Belgium this
December. You can read about this special tenth-anniversary festival at
http://www.ober.be/

--M.

Here is where I get to enjoy a lot of my favorites without the 8+ travel
hours:

http://www.internetwines.com/randalls/beer-belgium.html


"FujiGirl" > wrote in message
...
> my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
> [and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
> south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
> they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
> favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?
>
>

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 22:33:55 +0200, "FujiGirl"
> wrote:

>my fellow beer lovers swear this is the best trappist ever made. since i
>[and my partner] love trappist it's inevitable we must make that trip down
>south [210km] and get a few of these from the monastery one of these days.
>they no longer sell it to the shops, you see. my current trappist
>favourites are Rochefort 8 and Gouden Carolus. yours?
>

Westvleteren only sell direct, at the door of the monastery. You can
have a mximum of two cases, and that's it (unless things have changed
recently).

Plenty of pubs in Belgium (and distributors too, it seems) make the
trip on a regular basis, so the beer is reasonably widely available.
I've certainly never had any problem finding it in Antwerp, for
instance.


--

Regards

Mike

mikedotroebuckatgmxdotnet