Trappist beer in Westmalle

Sunday 19 April

Rode the 7 kilometres to the nearby town of Westmalle where they brew a famous beer at the Abbey.

From their website:

“Westmalle Abbey, called Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van het Heilig Hart, belongs to the Cistercian Order, which was founded in the eleventh century. This order is commonly referred to as ‘the Trappists’, after the Normandy abbey of La Trappe.

Reform of the Cistercian Order spread from there in the seventeenth century. Westmalle Abbey, founded in 1794, belongs to the ‘Cistercians of Strict Observance’, but is generally known as the ‘Trappist Abbey of Westmalle’.” 

The entrance to the Abbey grounds

An avenue leading to a small chapel.

The Abbey in the distance.

The 'Welcome' sign.

Abbey entrance in the distance.

 

The Abbey does have a guest retreat but other than this is not accessible to the general public (although we did notice a small sign at the front door stating that the abbey’s products were available for sale on certain days of the week. There is however a very good (and popular by the number of people coming and going) Café Trappisten which served the Westmalle beers, a Double (blond @ 7.5%) and a Tripel (dark @ 9%) – I preferred the former and Lynn the latter. These washed down a generous portion of excellent tagliatelle carbonara.

A most enjoyable day concluded with a soup for dinner and to a glorious sunset backdrop, a glass of wine and a sampling of an excellent Belgian dark chocolate.