There seven Trappist breweries in the world. I’ve managed to drink four prior to today: Chimay, Westmalle, Orval and La Trappe. Today I’m knocking #5 off the list with a Trappist Achel Extra.
#6 should be pretty easy -- Rochefort. Gary managed to drink this one and we’re not quite sure how I missed it. #7 will be more challenging as one can only purchase it at Brouwerij Westvleteren in Belgium. But it's only really challenging in the sense that I have to wait until next year‘s beer-cation when we hit the road - air? - and head to Belgium for a bicycle trip through the Flanders region…cycling from brewery to brewery and adventure to adventure. And now onto the Trappist Achel Extra. It poured a walnut brown liquid with a thin light tan head. The smell was sweet -- honey and figs. The taste was complex. Burnt sugar, a slightly grape-heavy wine flavor. A very strong presence of alcohol -- not surprising for a Belgian strong dark ale coming in at 9.5% ABV. It is also very malt dominant. Despite all that flavor happening, it drank surprisingly light. Achel is brewed at the Brouwerij der St. Benedictusabdij de Achelse. (Spellcheck just blew up!)
Cheers!
