Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Chimay Tripel

Brewery: Chimay
Where: Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont, Belgium
Beer: Tripel
Style: Tripel
IBU: N/A
ABV: 8%

My recent completion of Stan Hieronymus' book "Brew Like a Monk" has me even more interested in the Belgian brews that are available to me.  This Chimay Ale Tripel is going to be my first dive into what are called the Trappist beers.  To get a better understanding of what Trappist means, I'll take the following quote from Stan's book on page two:

"Trappist monks and Trappistine nuns belong to the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, with about a hundred houses of monks and seventy of nuns worldwide.  Trappists make their name from a reform movement that started in the seventeenth century at a French monastery, La Trappe."

So what we have here are beers brewed by monks.  However, in order for a beer (or any other Trappist product) to receive the authentic Trappist product label and logo, the following conditions must be met (also from page two of "Brew Like a Monk"):

• The product must be made within the walls of a Trappist abbey.
• The product must be made by or under the supervision of the monastery comunity.
• The largest part of the profit must be spent on social work.

This being the case, you can quickly see that a Trappist ale has a bit of uniqueness about it simply in the nostalgia of its process, not to mention that these are some of the best beers in the world.  There are only six Trappist breweries in the world, and they all exist in Belgium.

Today's sampling, Chimay Tripel, is a product of Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont.  This beer pours with a nice golden color and rich foamy head.  There is a citrus note in the nose immediately.  Belgian Tripels are generally a little sweet and dry to the taste, and this one is no different.  It does, however, have a nice tart aftertaste  with little or no bitterness at all.  At 8%, this one should be consumed in moderation, and also it seems to find a nice home at about 50° F in a nice clean glass.

Gail's Hops and Grapes happens to have beers from four of the only six Trappist breweries, so I picked up examples from each that will be coming up in the tasting queue shortly...