Thanks for the memory... I’ve visited most of the Trappist breweries and/or met with the brew masters.
My favorite all time beer is the Westmalle Triple. (third from the left.)
LaTrappe is in Holland and I have not been there... but their beer is excellent.
Many times I have gone to the Beer Festival in the Brussels Grande Place that is held the first weekend in September... 300+ Belgian beers for three days... Every other year there is a Bruxellensis a week later that is for Belgian sours and farmhouse ales. Me I like a good stiff lambic like La Cantillon..
Sadly I didn’t know anything about Belgian Ale until 2009, when my unit did a staff ride through the North Shoulder of the Battle of The Bulge site.
The first night I went down stairs for some quality time with the younger officers and Senior NCOs of the unit. One of the Lieutenants called me over and asked if I had ever had an ale. “No LT, I haven’t.” “Sit down Sir, let me teach you about this.”
Man, I was blown away. I had been drinking German beer for years, but I was not prepared for how good this nectar was. Over the next couple of days I tried several different labels.
Fast forward a couple of years, I gave a simple bottle of Chimay to my two top NCO’s for Christmas with instructions to put the bottles in the fridge about an hour before they were going to drink them, and not to plan on going anywhere afterwards.
A week later one of them came into my office and told me that he did like I instructed and started to drink the first glass. As he was sipping away, he thought “The Colonel doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about.” He poured the second glass and the next thing he knew he his wife was shaking him awake. He had an empty glass in his hand, resting on his chest, and it was dark out. He never felt a hang over in spite of the fact he had passed out 3 hours earlier.
The other NCO told me a similar story.
Great stuff.