The deepest insights into the trappists

General Homebrew Discussion
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drinking a chimay blue, which as im sure everyone has had many times and yet it still has that allure. the expectation as you get ready to crack it. is it the branding, memories of past experiences, the simple rarity/price and resulting infrequency?

scrap board of your thoughts on the big T Trappists. Past-trappists like Achel count too IMHO.

chimay in general - needs the most time to open up after pouring, very minimal phenolics
red - crazy take - hit or miss, temperamental?, at its best extremely balanced, fruity, deep compared to alcohol%, while other occasions ive found it bland and incredibly basic.
white - pass not my style. harsh and disjointed
blue - the strangest possibly of all the trappists. often tainted with metallic taste, takes easily 30 mins to open up but then has very cohesive light-dried fig, fresh fig, low-chocolate, cake, beautiful yet somewhat thin body with a delicate head with complexity. reliably opens up but takes time. i believe its on average higher than 9%

rochefort - festive and easy, most directly palatable due to straightforward flavours and being POF-
6 - directly sweet and malty - not had often
8 - extremely flavourful, smooth, very bubbly. Toffee, chocolatebar of a beer. Coconut. Buttery caramel. more than sum of parts arguably the best rochefort
10 - been a while - not just copying and pasting my personal notes on it, but intense depth, wider dark fruitiness, almost too much sugar v. malt perception
tripel - nothing unique

orval - too infrequent - definitely enjoyable but not my personal style. i recall saving some i got for a few years and it had massive funk, not my style but without the funk it is somewhat boring.

la trappe - commercial grade products. each one is drinkable but not even relatable to belgian trappists.

westmalle - dubbel - go to top beer without thinking hard. the complexity and range it has is unmatched in my experience. ive drunk a lot of it, wish i had kept better notes on ones with different ages, but can range from bright citrus overtones and fresh yeast, to deep christmas cake.

tripel - best balanced true tripel that has intense yeast, phenols and almost-sub funk going on. collection of bubblegum/hay, citrus zest and a rainbow of more citrus oil

faves: westmalle dubbel, tripel and chimay blue

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You are so off the mark on La Trapoe

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I’m not a fan of La Trappe. My faves are Chimay Red (only), anything by Rochefort or Westmalle. Not a fan of Chimay Blue or White, or Orval, although it’s been a loooong time since I’ve had an Orval.

Clearly, though… any of these, even the ones I don’t prefer, are a hundred times better than a ton of other American beers that I buy and wonder why I got them.

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Curious what you don’t like about La Trappe.

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I wonder why too. I especially love La Trappe Bruin on draft. Absolutely delicious.

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Maybe I got an old bottle? However it was in Ghent BE. I have enjoyed it more in the past. Just was one of my least faves from the trip this summer. (I use the entire star rating scale and aint afraid of rating 5 stars when warranted.)

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FWIW, I just bought 2 cases of La Trappe quad and so far every bottle has been delicious. I guess we need to be more specific about which beers, as opposed to naming a brewery in general.

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I love the quad because it’s a bit lighter than something like Straffe Hendrik.

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Many people will have different opinions for sure. I have probably had a total of about ~4 litres of it in various sizes over the past 20 years.

Blonde - my notes just indicate it was bland. not bad in any way just kind of a bland golden ale but no faults
Tripel - “slightly-harsh cherry candy, bubblegum, rose water. unexpected, weak malt backbone. Flavourful but not refined. Massive carb”
Quad - (havent had this in a while) - several dark fruit flavours, “very good”, heavily carbed. again not bad but my impression from memory is that its perfectly drinkable and enjoyable just not transcendent or distinct.

the quad i would not turn down, but likely wouldnt buy the tripel or blonde again unless i have minimal options. also not always a huge fan of the 750ml bottles as thats a lot of one strong beer to handle, though when i was younger i loved 750s of belgians

oh and i forgot to say - westy of any type - never had it..

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These days, St. Bernard’s Abt.12 is closer to Westy than Westy! Same recipe but St. B uses the original yeast, while Westy gets yeast from Westmalle.

I found that you can’t appreciate Belgian beers properly unless you drink them in Belgium. Which I realize most will never get a chance to do.

ETA: I guess I’m really talking about my own experience. Didn’t mean to generalize. I’ve been a Belgian beer fan for many years, but it wasn’t until making some trips there and going to many breweries, pubs, and cafes, that I felt I was beginning to get a handle on what Belgian beer is. Only 11 more months til the next trip!

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I kinda thought the same about the blonde, then asked myself “what do I expect it to be?” I couldn’t answer that, so chalked it up to just not being my kinda beer. I seldom like blonde ales no matter who makes them.

BTW, La Trappe makes a NA beer that’s really good.

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st. bernardus abt is one of my favourite beers as well, i didnt include it as it isnt a trappist. i guess i just semi-arbitrarily decided to focus on trappist designation only as it narrows it down nicely.

lol, yes i listened to the various experimental brewing episodes about it. idk when or if ill ever get over there, will be at least a few years.

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