English
Nederlands
2006-06-05
Trappist Beer
Today was "castle day" so Julia and I went out to visit a castle. We went to "De Strijdhoef" in Udenhout. And to be honest, we were quite disappointed. It wasn't even a real castle, it was more like a stately home. After an hour we had seen enough and we decided to go to Tilburg to find a nice little restaurant.
But on the way there we found a sign pointing the way to the abbey "Onze Lieve Vrouwe van Prinsenhoeven". An abbey may not be a castle, but it sounded interesting anyway.
And it was interesting indeed! After following this road for a few miles, we saw the tips of towers over the treetops. We had found the abbey!
We first looked in the shop and then we went to the tasting hall. They don't just serve beer, you can also have a simple meal there. We chose abbey bread with beer ham and a glass of triple from La Trappe.
By the way, the brand La Trappe was everywhere around us. It was almost like we were at the brewery. And indeed we were:
'La Trappe', the name of the beer brewed in Koningshoeven, is the only Trappist beer in The Netherlands. Only beer brewed in a Trappist monastery under the supervision and responsibility of the monks may be called 'Trappist beer'. La Trappe is brewed according to traditional methods, from a recipe developed by the Trappist monks of Koningshoeven, using only natural ingredients, such as hops, barley malt and yeast. The brewery uses water drawn from its own well in the beer. The fermentation process characteristic of the type of yeast which is used, is most active between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius (or 66 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and is known as 'top fermentation'. The beer is bottled with yeast and sugar, which allows the fermentation process to continue in the bottle, giving La Trappe a unique aroma.
When we had finished our sandwiches, a large group of people entered the tasting hall, the lights were dimmed and we got to see an elaborate documentary about the history of the abbey and brewing La Trappe beers.
And after that we were shown around in the brewery. Nobody was working because it was Whitmonday, so we could see everything without getting in the way of the workers.
Both the abbey and the brewery have been built in neo-gothic style, one can even see that from the windows in the storage room.
Many people think you should neatly sort all the bottles before taking them back to the shop, you shouldn't get the brands mixed up, but we learned that mixing the brands is not a problem at all: Look at this conveyer belt where used bottles are taken in to the washing machine. All bottles have the same standard measurements and the labels will be rinsed off anyway...
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But on the way there we found a sign pointing the way to the abbey "Onze Lieve Vrouwe van Prinsenhoeven". An abbey may not be a castle, but it sounded interesting anyway.And it was interesting indeed! After following this road for a few miles, we saw the tips of towers over the treetops. We had found the abbey!We first looked in the shop and then we went to the tasting hall. They don't just serve beer, you can also have a simple meal there. We chose abbey bread with beer ham and a glass of triple from La Trappe.
By the way, the brand La Trappe was everywhere around us. It was almost like we were at the brewery. And indeed we were:'La Trappe', the name of the beer brewed in Koningshoeven, is the only Trappist beer in The Netherlands. Only beer brewed in a Trappist monastery under the supervision and responsibility of the monks may be called 'Trappist beer'. La Trappe is brewed according to traditional methods, from a recipe developed by the Trappist monks of Koningshoeven, using only natural ingredients, such as hops, barley malt and yeast. The brewery uses water drawn from its own well in the beer. The fermentation process characteristic of the type of yeast which is used, is most active between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius (or 66 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and is known as 'top fermentation'. The beer is bottled with yeast and sugar, which allows the fermentation process to continue in the bottle, giving La Trappe a unique aroma.
When we had finished our sandwiches, a large group of people entered the tasting hall, the lights were dimmed and we got to see an elaborate documentary about the history of the abbey and brewing La Trappe beers.
And after that we were shown around in the brewery. Nobody was working because it was Whitmonday, so we could see everything without getting in the way of the workers.Both the abbey and the brewery have been built in neo-gothic style, one can even see that from the windows in the storage room.
Many people think you should neatly sort all the bottles before taking them back to the shop, you shouldn't get the brands mixed up, but we learned that mixing the brands is not a problem at all: Look at this conveyer belt where used bottles are taken in to the washing machine. All bottles have the same standard measurements and the labels will be rinsed off anyway...
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