I recently reviewed my posts from my Trappist Thanksgiving trip.  One of the things I covered was the number of Trappist Beers available–I wanted to re-visit this topic.

As a reminder, there are seven (7) Trappist breweries.  I visited 6 of them: Orval, Westvleteren, Westmalle, Achel, Rochefort, and Chimay.

I had a list of the beers they make, but I didn’t give enough detail.  Here they are again (with better detail):

Orval (1) – they make one beer.  It is my favorite beer of all time.  An interesting thing about this beer is that the “wild yeast” used occurs naturally in the “Valley of Gold.”  It’s just a great location!

Westvleteren (3) – They make 3 beers: Westvleteren 12, 8, and the Blond.  I was able to purchase all three of these beers the second time I went to the Brewery (to pick up my two cases of Westvleteren 12).  You can purchase them in the cafe “In de Vrede.”

Westmalle (2 to buy, 1 “Extra”) [see previous post] – They are the Dubbel, the Trippel, and the “Extra.”  The cafe across from the brewery is very nice: Cafe Trappisten.  In my mind, this was the most “modern” of the locations we visited.

Achel (5) – There were only two beers available to purchase from Achel at the time … the Blond 8 and the Bruin 8.   Apparently there are three others, two on tap at the Brewery (the Blond 5 and the Bruin 5) and an Extra.  This was the place that had the most extensive store on-site–the best selection of Belgian beer you will find anywhere (I think).

Rochefort (3) – Rochefort had 3 beers available — the 6, the 8, and the 10.  I enjoyed all of these beers … the were very crunchy! <smile>

Chimay (3 to buy, 1 to drink at Auberge) – the three from Chimay to drink/buy are the Blue, the Red, and the White.  The one at the Auberge is actually a “Witbier.”  It is very nice…

Konigshoeven (La Trappe) (7 to buy) – I wish we had been able to add this place on our travels…but we just couldn’t get it done.  We bought six of the seven beers available though.  They are: Blond, Dubbel, Tripel, Quadrupel, Witte, and Isid’Or.  The only one I couldn’t pick up at the time was the Bockbier.

So, the total number of Trappist beers (I think) is 26: 22 to buy and 4 to “drink on location.”  You can see in the picture I have 19 beers.  I had one more on location and then picked up 2 more from Westvleteren — So I’ve had a total of 22 of the 26 Trappist beers.  I need 3 more from Achel and 1 from Konigshoeven–I guess this calls for another trip!

Beer Mentor!

Woooo Hooooo!

I made the finals for the 2011 Beer Drinker of the Year competition sponsored by Wynkoop Brewery.  I will be heading to Denver in February to compete “head-to-head” to see who takes home the prize.  This is the announcement I received (I took the other names out … I wasn’t sure if I should post them or not):

“Hello 2011 Beerdrinker of the Year entrants,

Our panel of experts has counted up the votes for the 2011 Finals.

The ten semifinalists are —- —–, James Clark, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —–, —– —– and —– —–.

Congratulations! Seven of you will receive a lovely 2011 Beerdrinker of the Year Semifinalist shirt.   It’s a very fashionable piece of garb and an ultimate beer conversation starter.

Three of you will receive a Finalist shirt and be flown to Denver to compete in the Finals. Those three esteemed folks are James Clark, —– —– and —– —–.

Congrats to you three. We’ll see you in Denver soon.

Thank you all for entering this year’s search, and thanks for doing your mighty part for spreading the wonders of great beer in your communities.

We’ll have full details on the finalists soon at www.wynkoop.com.

Marty Jones

Wynkoop Brewing Co.

Denver, CO”

This is exciting!  I’m looking forward to the trip… not to mention that Wynkoop’s is on the “125 Places to Drink Beer” list … Yeah!

Beer Mentor