La Trappe - taste the silence

In the last couple of months of 2013 the exclusive family of Trappist breweries increased from eight to ten when The Spencer Brewery in Massacusetts, USA, and Zundert in the Netherlands joined. I've earlier written a post about Orval, so in this one I'll summarize my impressions after the three visits I've made to one of the oldest and most visitor-friendly beer brewing Trappist abbeys: Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven, outside the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands, the famous home of the La Trappe beers.

Our Lady of Koningshoeven Trappist Abbey

Our Lady of Koningshoeven
Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven or Our Lady of Koningshoeven in English was founded on March 5, 1881, by Trappist monk Sebastian Wyart. He had been sent out from Abbaye du Mont des Cats, in northern France, to find a safe refuge during a phase of strong anti religious sentiments in France. While it turned out that the brothers at Mont des Cats didn't have to abandon their lofty mountain abbey, the new monastery at Koningshoeven grew rapidly and would eventually eclipse its mother house both in size and fame.

The first important steps were taken in 1884, when the monks had a brewery built at Koningshoeven and sent the monk Isidorus Laaber to Munich to learn beer brewing from the very best of that era. The first beer that Brother Isidorus brewed at Koningshoeven he called "La Trappe", referring to the French abbey of Notre Dame de la Grande Trappe from which the order and the name "Trappist" hails. The brewery would continue to use the name "La Trappe" for all its subsequent beers.

A good indication of the rapid growth of the Koningshoeven abbey is the fact that in the year 1900, less than 20 years after its founding, the abbey could spare a group of monks who were sent out to found a daughter house in the village of Zundert, near the Belgian border. This became the second Trappist abbey in the Netherlands and 113 years later, at the end of 2013, the country's second Trappist brewery!

Like other Trappist abbeys, Koningshoeven experienced a decrease in the number of monks after World War II, so in order to preserve the monastic life they had to take certain measures. One of these was the creation of a limited liability company, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven B.V., as an independent subsidiary of the large Dutch commercial brewery Bavaria. Since 1997, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven has rented the brewery buildings from the abbey for brewing La Trappe beers, under the authority and supervision of the monks. The monks also set up a monastery store where handmade products are sold, including bread and chocolate.

The income from the store and the brewing activities has become the most important source of money for the abbey and its 16 monks, aged between 24 and 81. They use the income to maintain the buildings and for sustaining the daily life. The abbey also supports poor people at home as well as daughter houses in Uganda and Indonesia.

A field at Koningshoeven where the monks farm vegetables

Getting there
The Koningshoeven abbey is located near the village of Berkel-Enschot on the eastern outskirts of Tilburg, about 4 km from the railway station in Tilburg and about the same distance north of the border with Belgium. Many local visitors come by bike but as far as I know there's not much in the way of public transportation to rely on so you either have to take a cab from Tilburg, which I did once, or come in your own car (if you have a designated driver).

The first thing visitors to Koningshoeven will see, whether they come by bike or by car, are the three tall towers of the abbey, visible from far away in the flat landscape. The towers are also printed on the La Trappe logo, as a symbol of the abbey. The car parking is on the right side of the main gate, it's not a large parking space so it can be full if you arrive at popular times, but it's probably possible to park for a short while along the country road passing by the abbey (but don't quote me on it).

Entrance is not through the closed main gate but through a smaller gate by the parking, which takes you across a small ditch - resembling a miniature moat - up a tree lined path towards the monastery store, where you can buy the local products as well as religious artifacts, and from there on to the Proeflokaal which is a far as most guests will come. Beyond the Proeflookal you need to be in a tour group, if you want to visit the brewery and parts of the abbey. I did just that back in 2011, and it's well worth the money.

The outdoor seating area at Koningshoeven Proeflokaal

Proeflokaal
The Proeflokaal, which is Dutch for "tasting room / hall", is a large building located between the abbey and the car parking, partly surrounded by shading trees. It's a fairly recent construction built in brick stones, like the abbey, but with a charming medieval-style thatched roof hanging down on two sides. It functions both as a tasting room and a simple restaurant, and seems very popular with families from the area - who often cycle out to the abbey during weekends, with children in tow, to have lunch together.

There is a large seating area inside the Proeflokaal, with the bar along the wall next to the entrance, but I prefer to sit outside at one of the many wooden tables - if weather permits. Nothing beats enjoying a La Trappe beer, fresh from tap, while taking in the view of the imposing red brick stone buildings of the abbey and, sometimes, smelling the sweet wort from the brewery.

The bar at Proeflokaal usually offers all eight La Trappe beers on draught, at least that has been the situation on my three visits in 2011-2013. Normally they also offer bottled La Trappe beers, such as a couple of oak aged versions of Quadrupel and Isid'Or. If you're seated outside, simply flag down a waiter or waitress (no, the monks do not wait on their guests, the waiters are all civilian) to place your order - they prefer that on busy days, to avoid lines at the bar. Tasting the bottled beers, in particular different batches of the oak aged, is very useful if you consider buying a few bottles at the shop to bring home.

The food served at Proeflokaal is simple but filling, I've tried their burger and the tasty mushroom soup. Even if the food is simple it is usually locally sourced, well made and fairly reasonable.

One of the 4-tap beer towers at the Proeflokaal

Brouwerij de Koningshoeven
If you plan to visit Koningshoeven you should consider joining a tour of the brewery, but beware that it's recommended to book ahead (for updated information see their www.latrappetrappist.com website). The tour lasts about 45 minutes and will take you through both the old and new brewery and through the abbey yard to inspect their vegetable garden and an old firetruck.

A funny story we were told during the tour was that because the monks were living under a strict vow of silence only a few decades ago, if a fire broke out the monk who discovered the flames was to call an internal emergency number but instead of speaking he would knock the handset against the phone three times to indicate fire. The monks would then send out the firetruck they've got parked inside the abbey yard.

The old "Trappist firetruck" at Koningshoeven

Though a brewery has been in operation here since 1884, Brouwerij de Koningshoeven is a very modern brewery plant thanks to the cooperation with Bavaria who modernized the brewery in the late 1980s, adding a new brewing hall and a new fermentation and lagering cellar. All the La Trappe beers are brewed according to traditional methods, using top fermenting yeast, only natural ingredients and water still drawn from a well at the abbey. After the primary fermentation the beer is bottled, with extra yeast and sugar added, allowing it to undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle and thus create natural carbonation.

In 1991, the brewery introduced its flagship beer, La Trappe Quadrupel, a massive 10% abv malt-driven ale. This was the first beer in the world that was termed a "quadrupel", so La Trappe Quadrupel effectively created a new style when it was launched 23 years ago. Today this category is usually termed Abt/Quad to include the strong Abbot ales from St Bernardus, Westvleteren and Rochefort.

The final beer in the La Trappe line-up was launched in 2009, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the brewery, it was named La Trappe Isid'Or after the first brewer monk, Brother Isidorus. Including this one, but excluding the various Oak Aged releases, Brouwerij de Koningshoven now brews 8 different beers, all under the La Trappe brand, which is more than any other Trappist brewery. Contrast this with the three types of Rochefort and single type of Orval.

Stainless steel brewing vessels at Koningshoeven

The La Trappe beers
The modern Brouwerij de Koningshoeven is one of the largest Trappist breweries. According to Wikipedia the brewery produced 145,000 hectolitre (hl) beer in 2004, compare this to less than 5,000 hl by Westvleteren and 18,000 hl by Rochefort.

As of March 2014, the eight beers in the La Trappe line-up are:

- La Trappe Blond (6.5%)
- La Trappe Dubbel (6.5%)
- La Trappe Tripel (8%)
- La Trappe Quadrupel (10%)
- La Trappe Bockbier (7%)
- La Trappe Witte Trappist (5.5%)
- La Trappe Isid'Or (7.5%)
- La Trappe PUUR (4.7%)

It's worth mentioning that La Trappe Witte is the only wheat beer made by a Trappist brewery and that La Trappe PUUR is the only certified organic Trappist beer. The brewers may follow traditions but it's obvious they also enjoy experimenting with new beer styles!

In addition to these "base" beers, the monks make special oak aged blends of La Trappe Quadrupel a few times every year. The first blend, Batch #1, was released in June 2011 and as of this moment they've made 15 different blends or batches - using a range of different oak barrels for aging the beer, from former Port wine and French red and white wine barrels to Whisky and Bourbon. The results are always different and often surprising.

At the end of your visit, on your way out, you should stop at the monastery shop to pick up some chocolate truffles and a few bottles of La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged while exchanging a few words with the robe clad monk manning the counter - yes, despite the famous Trappist vow of silence the monks do speak with their customers.

A bottle of La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged
- enjoyed at Koningshoeven Proeflokaal

Click here for photos from my visits to Koningshoeven in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

At Borefts Bier Festival 2012

This post may seem a bit late, since Borefts 2012 was held back in September, but this has been a busy winter and I had to get the German road trip out of my system first. Anyhow, here is my personal recollection of the most recent craft beer festival hosted by Brouwerij De Molen in Bodegraven, Netherlands, September 28 and 29, 2012.

The old windmill of Brouwerij De Molen.

History of De Molen and Borefts
Menno Oliver started out as homebrewer and then picked up experience as a professional brewer at several Dutch breweries before founding his own brewery in 2004. He chose the name Brouwerij De Molen, Dutch for "The Mill Brewery", after the 17th century windmill De Arkduif in Bodegraven in which his small 500 liter brewery was constructed.

In control of his own brewery and with years of brewing experience, Menno Oliver started brewing more experimental beers and in the span of a few years he had created some amazing beers that got him attention far outside the Netherlands. His massive imperial stouts, in particular, were quickly picked up by word of mouth through online communities such as RateBeer and BeerAdvocate. In early 2009, De Molen was rated the 55th best brewery in the world by the users of RateBeer, a year later it had climbed to #10! De Molen is now one of the leading craft breweries in Europe with a number of world class beers, in particular their high abv imperial stouts - Hel & Verdoemenis, Tsarina Esra and Hemel & Aarde.

De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis 666
- world class imperial stout.

Along with the growing popularity and international fame of De Molen, Menno Oliver realized that his home country was in the backwater compared to neighboring Belgium, with regards to good beer festivals. He decided one was needed in the Netherlands and why not place it in his hometown, Bodegraven, which is located almost dead center between Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

Thus, in September 2009 the Borefts Bier Festival was born, hosted by De Molen at the windmill-turned-brewery. This was a small festival, by international standards, but the quality of the attending breweries - which saw international craft beer superstars De Struise Brouwers, Mikkeller and Närke Kulturbryggeri appear - and of the arrangement in general made it a success. Word of it to spread around the beer world. This global word of mouth advertisement ensured that more people would show up for the festival next year, and even more the year after that.

Summer 2011 saw the opening of a new and larger De Molen brewery, in a warehouse complex a hundred meters down the the road from the windmill. The new brewery gave Menno Oliver much more capacity to brew beer but also extra floor space for hosting the beer festival, so for Borefts 2011 the festival was split in two - with some breweries at the old windmill and the rest at the new brewery. By 2012, Borefts had grown into a mid-sized beer festival, where I hope it will stay.

Närke founder Håge Wiktorsson on stand at Borefts 2010.

Where to stay?
On my first two visits to Borefts I stayed in Amsterdam because the few places in or near Bodegraven sold out the moment the festival dates were published, but also because I thought it would be a lot easier to stay in Amsterdam as it was close to Schiphol airport. However, staying in Amsterdam also meant almost an hour travel time to and from Bodegraven, including a tight change of trains in Utrecht - running for a connecting train is not something you really enjoy after a long day of beer drinking!

Thus, for the 2012 festival I took the logical step and found myself a hotel in Utrecht, which slashed the travel time to Bodegraven to just 19 minutes and discarded the troublesome change of trains. Utrecht may not be as big as Amsterdam, but it's a central stop on the Dutch railways and easy accessible from Schiphol airport. It has a good selection of reasonable hotels and even sports a couple of great beer pubs. Who can wish for more? I'll return to the beer pubs at the end of this post.

So, getting to Bodegraven is all a question of taking the train, whether you come from Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Utrecht. Don't even consider driving, as there are very few places to park. And taxis are a waste of money. Trains are cheap, reliable and run all day long.

When reaching Bodegraven, get off the train and either follow the flow of visitors (you'll recognize the beer geeks, besides few other tourists ever come to Bodegraven) or find your way the roughly 600 meters west to the new brewery (just down the road from the windmill) where you have to purchase a tasting glass, with tokens and a program, for €15. Later you can purchase more tokens at several locations.

 A big, empty beer tent before the opening of Borefts 2012.

Borefts Bier Festival 2012
Like in 2011, the 2012 festival was held at two separate locations. Most of the breweries and visitors could be found in the warehouse connected with the new De Molen brewery or in the big tents outside. The other location was at the windmill, a hundred meters up the road.

Up at the windmill you could visit the stands of Dutch breweries Emelisse and Mommeriete, as well as The Kernel from England, Evil Twin Brewing from Denmark and Jester King Craft Brewing from Texas. De Molen, like in previous years, had their stand in their pub inside the windmill. This is also where the restaurant is located, where you can order light snack early in the day and hot meals after 4 pm.

A glass of Emelisse DIPA Hopserie at Borefts 2012
- it was dry-hopped on the spot with Apollo!

The majority of breweries were found at the new brewery: De Struise Brouwers and Alvinne from Belgium shared stand with HaandBryggeriet from Norway, serving beer from the überkool Taptrailer - first used for Copenhagen Beer Celebration in May 2012. Inside the large brewery warehouse you could visit the stands of Mikkeller from Denmark, Birrificia del Ducato from Italy, Gänstaller-Bräu from Germany, Buxton Brewery from England and Närke Kulturbryggeri from Sweden. Inside the brewery itself, you found Thornbridge from England side by side with Brasserie du Mont Salève from France.

All in all there must have been around a hundred beers on keg or cask, simply too many to get through in two days - even for a professional beer drinker like myself :) So the first thing to do when you've picked up your tasting glass, tokens and festival program, is to scan the program for highlights and go for the most rare or exclusive beers first - you never know when a given beer runs out. This year, Närke Konjaks! Stormaktsporter and Buxton Tsar Bomba were two such beers.

Buxton Tsar Bomba, inoculated with brett from 1978
- served from cask at Borefts 2012.

Borefts is usually less crowded on the opening day, which is always a Friday, and especially before 4 pm, because a lot of people will come after work. So I always make sure to be at Borefts before the festival opens at noon. It also makes sense to start early because you can then catch an earlier train home and so be able to start the second day better rested and more sober than if you stayed at the festival until closing time (10 pm).

Early in the day, finding a chair or bench to sit at is no problem, but later in the evening it makes sense to team up with some friends to reserve a section of a table so that you can rotate seating - while some are up to get more beer, others can sit down and get some rest. This wasn't really an issue the first few years, but with the growing popularity even Borefts may run out of seats. But this is mostly a problem on Saturday, when most of the visitors come.

Highlights from Borefts 2012
There were a number highlights at Borefts 2012 and I'm sure I've forgotten a few of them in the months that have passed. But these are the things I still remember:

- Närke Kulturbryggeri: Had an amazing stand with a large number of draft beers, cool slogans and the weirdest tap handle I've ever seen - a beer served from a Urinal! And when they served a world class beer like Konjaks! Stormaktsporter along with spruce and spice beers such as Gransus, Äljäjl and Bäver you could really spend a lot of time at their stand.

- Struise Taptrailer: First unveiled for the Copenhagen Beer Celebration a few months earlier, the 30 tap Taptrailer is a winner at any beer festival since it both refrigerates the beer kegs and offers the beer through taps along the side. At Borefts, Struise shared their Taptrailer with Alvinne and HaandBryggeriet - so brewers from all three served visitors to the Taptrailer stand. At times a bit chaotic, but the more fun for that reason. And who can complain when a stand offers 30 high quality draft beers?!

The amazing 30 tap Struise "Taptrailer" at Borefts 2012
- shared by Struise, Alvinne and HaandBryggeriet.

- Struise Pannepot Wild: One of the many great beers served from the Taptrailer was the Struise Pannepot Wild, which is the regular Struise Pannepot aged with wild yeasts. The result was heavenly, one of the most amazing beers at the festival - combining the sweetness of the original with a wonderful funky sourness.

- Buxton Tsar Bomba: When I first read about this beer, I knew I had to try it quickly before it ran out. This 9.5% abv imperial stout was inoculated with brettanomyces yeast from a 1978 bottle of Courage Russian Imperial Stout! Yes, it had that funky brett flavor - rich and flavorful. A unique imperial stout and a once in a lifetime tasting experience.

- De Molen Bommen on Cascade: Usually I like their imperial stouts the best, finding the regular Bommen & Granaten barley wine a tad sweet, but this 15.2% abv version was dry-hopped with Cascade making it an explosion of hop flavors and bitterness which perfectly matched the sweetness of the barley wine; a fresh imperial IPA on steroids!

- The atmosphere: Like previous years, what really struck me to the core was the great atmosphere. The beer geek factor may be high (I've got nothing against that, by the way), but everyone seemed so relaxed, there were no shouting or overly drunken people. People were there for the beer experience. I've shared tables with countless people I don't know at the start of the day but that I've gotten to know well over the afternoon. People from all parts of the world. People I look forward to meet again at future festivals.

- The arrangement: Borefts keep impressing me for being so well arranged. They have thought about everything, from cheap water bottles sold everywhere, finger food that goes well with beer, hot food when you get hungry, rinsing stations where you can clean your glass between tastings, toilets and urinals. And by spreading the brewery stands over two locations they spread people and reduce queues. And there's plenty of chairs and benches to sit down at, with tables for taking notes. Nothing is left to chance! Compare this to my critical remarks of the Copenhagen Beer Celebration.

Saturday was a bit more crowded, but still manageable.

In summary
Despite its growing popularity, with more visitors showing up every year, the arrangement is flawless and the festival still feels like a small and cozy craft beer festival. It is certainly small enough to allow direct communication between brewers and visitors, which I value highly. And the quality of the attending breweries is staggering, few other festivals - possibly with the exception of Copenhagen Beer Celebration - have such a high standard and such a breadth of beer styles.

There's no doubt in my mind, if there's one festival I have to attend in 2013 it will be the 5th Borefts Bier Festival which will most likely ("99% sure" according to the De Molen website) be held on September 27 and 28. So, mark those dates and make plans for a Dutch holiday this fall. UPDATE: These dates have just been confirmed on the De Molen Facebook page.

Jester King Das Überkind at Borefts 2012

Utrecht beer pubs
I promised a few words about the beer scene in Utrecht and we're basically talking about two pubs, both of a very good standard though world class may be pushing it a bit far.

Kafé België is located along a canal on Oudegracht 196 in old town Utrecht, at the time of my visit it was the highest rated pub in Utrecht (on RateBeer). I had been there once before, back in 2007, and remembered it as a nice place with a fairly good selection of Belgian beers on tap. This time, the pub turned out a lot more crowded than I seem to remember. Granted, it was Friday night - probably the busiest night of the week. Still, in the end I managed to find standing place on the side of the bar. It wasn't ideal and the noisy atmosphere made it difficult to ask about or even order beer. On a regular weekday, this may still be a great beer pub - but on a Friday you'll be better off trying the next one.

Café Derat is a small and cozy "neighborhood pub" on the corner of Springweg and Lange Smeestraat. From the outside you could be forgiven for thinking it's an ordinary café, but inside you're met with a view of old woodworks - from the solid furnitures to the bar. The walls are plastered with beer signs and on one wall hangs what looks like a huge, mummified rat in a glass encasing. And it is. It's the rat which was found dead during renovations in 1978 and thus gave name to the café, which is now run by a smiling and friendly fellow, named Eric, and his two cats, Josephine and Spot. Eric may not have the largest number of taps, but there are always something interesting on draft. And he knows his beers, often suggesting new ones to try. As the pub is fairly small it may feel crowded, but unlike Kafé België it didn't feel cramped and never so noisy you couldn't talk. Even on a Friday night. Since my visit, Café Derat has climbed the ratings and is now considered the best beer pub in Utrecht. Needless to say, I highly recommend it.

Owner of Café Derat, Eric, and one of his two cats.

More photos can be found at these Flickr sets: Borefts 2012 and Café Derat.

Borefts 2012

On Friday and Saturday September 28-29, 2012, Brouwerij de Molen will be hosting the Borefts craft beer festival at their brewery in Bodegraven, Netherlands.

This will be the fourth year running that Menno Olivier and his de Molen crew arrange this festival which has become one of the most cherished and highly rated beer festivals in the world, thanks to its easy atmosphere, excellent execution and because of the strictly enforced limit on the number of visitors. Only a limited number of people are let in each day, to ensure that the venue is never too crowded and that beer and food lines are always manageable.

I attended both the 2010 and the 2011 Boreft festivals and can vouch for the high quality of both the venue and the attending breweries, which has included Närke Kulturbryggeri from Sweden, Amager, Midtfyns and Mikkeller from Denmark, Nøgne Ø and HaandBryggeriet from Norway, Loverbeer and Revelation Cat from Italy, Marble Arch, The Kernel and Thornbridge from England, Bierbrouwerij Emelisse from the Netherlands and the Belgian craft brewing superstars De Struise Brouwers.

The brewery list for 2012 has yet to be published, but I have no doubts about its exellence. In the meantime you better book a place to stay, near Bodegraven, for the last weekend of September.

It will be awesome and I will be there.