Category Archives: Trappist

Beer made by Trappist Monks

La Trappe Trappist Oak Aged – Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven

by Mike

From Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven inside the walls of the Koningshoeven Abbey in the Netherlands comes the Official Trappist Ale “La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged” from batch #21.  The beer pours a brown colour with a very light brown head.  The aroma consists of dark fruits, plums caramel, and bananas.  The flavour is of dark fruits, plums, banana, caramel, yeast, bubblegum, caramel, oak, vanilla, sweetness and some mild alcohol.  The alcohol content comes in at 11% with an IBU of 16.  This is a great fully flavoured quad and I am glad that I came into possession of a bottle.

Commercial Description:  This unique Trappist ale owes its balanced flavour and woody aroma to the aging on wooden barrels. The taste varies from batch to batch and depends on the type of barrel in which the ale has been matured.  This beer can be stored for many years, continues to ferment after bottling and is a real treat for the true beer lover.  Several different types of barriques are used for the oak-aging process, both new and used ones. New barrels impart the tannins that give the beer a flavour that is reminiscent of vanilla and almond. The use of different kinds of barrels leads to surprisingly interesting flavour combinations. These flavours depend on what drink these barriques contained before, such as port, whiskey, wine, cognac, or bourbon. And the type of oak also comes into it. This beer’s final taste therefore varies from one batch to another.

BATCH 21 (blended on 24 september 2015) was distributed as follows:

Cognac 80%
New Oak High Toast 10%
New Oak Medium Toast 5%
Acacia wood 5%

The Oak Aged Batch 21 has a dark brown mahogany colour and a beige brown head. The soft aroma immediately reminds you of walnuts. Accompanied by a slightly smoky aroma, you can detect oak, caramel malt, alcohol, vanilla and, of course, French brandy. The flavour, although balanced, is not particularly mellow. The brandy barrels have clearly left a lot of wood influences, which manifest themselves in vanilla and almond. Additionally, the Quadrupel has a caramel-like, slightly sweet flavour with a good, full body. The flavour ends with a slightly burnt tone and a hint of wood tannin. Due to the light tingling of the carbonic acid, combined with the wood flavour and sweetness of the beer, the sensation in the mouth is full and pleasant.

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Spencer Trappist Ale – The Spencer Brewery

by Mike

North America has its first Official Trappist Brewery in Spencer Massachusetts.  “Spencer Trappist Ale” was brewed by The Spencer Brewery at the St Joseph’s Abbey.  The beer pours a cloudy orange with a white head and some sediment.  The aroma consists of fruit, yeast, sweetness and some malts notes.  The flavour is of yeast, pepper, fruit and some good caramel notes.  The alcohol content comes in at 6.5%.  While not one of the most exciting Trappist ales it is still quite tasty and supports a great cause.

Commercial Description:  Our recipe was inspired by the traditional refectory ales known as patersbier (“fathers’ beer” in Flemish). These sessionable beers are brewed by the monks for their dinner table and are typically only available at the monastery. Spencer is a full-bodied, golden-hued ale with fruity accents, a dry finish and light hop bitterness. The beer is unfiltered and unpasteurized, preserving live yeast that naturally carbonates the beer in the bottle and keg, and contributes to the beer flavor and aroma.

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Westvleteren XII – Brouwerij Westvleteren

by Mike

The “Westvleteren XII” trappist beer is brewed at the Brouwerij Westvleteren brewery in the The abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren in Belgium.  This beer is often rated as one of the best beer in the world including a perfect 100 score on both ratebeer.com and beeradvocate.com.  As a rule this beer is only available at the Monestary in Belgium and is sold under strict guidelines including that you may not resell the beer or buy more than a certain amount per month.  Due to a very expensive renovation though people from around the world have been able to get their hands on this very special limited edition 6 pack box set that includes 2 gold-rimmed branded glasses.  This is a very limited release that cost anywhere from $67 to $90 in both Canada and the United States.  The beer pours a brown colour with an off white head.  The aroma of this beer is full off all kinds of fruit including apples and figs among all types as well as a distinctly Belgian yeast strain.  The flavour of this trappist brew is not as full as the aroma but consists of lots of dark fruits as well as apple, Belgian yeast and some alcohol.  This beer is both sweet and tart at the same time which is quite interesting.  I would not say this is at the top of the list for beers I like to drink but it is very nice.  The scarcity of this beer does make it that much more interesting to drink though.  I will cellar some of the bottles of this set for sure and see how it ages.  The alcohol content of this brew is 10.2%.  These Monks sure know how to brew beer!

Trappistes Rochefort 6 – Brasserie de Rochefort

by Mike

Located in the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy is the Brasserie de Rochefort brewery near Rochefort in Belgian.  This is a Trapist monastery and as such makes Trapist beer such as this “Trappistes Rochefort 6″.  This authentic Trapist beer pours a deep coppery brown with a tan head.  There was some noticeable sediment present in the beer although it did not affect the flavor of the beer.  The aroma of this ale was of apples, fruit and yeast.  The flavor of the beer was of apple juice, fruit, yeast and a touch of alcohol.  The beer is quite sweet but nothing like a berry lambic or anything.  The beer comes in at an alcohol content of 7.5%.  This is another great beer made by the Monks at Brasserie de Rochefort!

 

La Trappe Tripel – Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven

by Mike

From the Brewery Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven located at the O.L.V. Koningshoeven Abby in the Netherlands comes the “La Trappe Tripel” a Belgian Tripel.  This is the only Trappist brewery located outside of Belgium and only 1 or 7 in the world.  These Monks know their beer and laws have been passed to make sure only they can call their beer Trappist beer.  This beer pours a cloudy unfiltered amber colour with an off white head.  To the nose you will get a sweet yeasty aroma with apple, pear, candied sugar.  The flavor is complex with some apple, pear, banana, grapes with a strong yeasty character.  This beer is fairly sweet overall but not overpowering with no alcohol flavor what so ever.  This is one of my favorite Trappist Beers to date.  The beer comes in at an alcohol content of 8%.