Saturday Nov 5 2011 I have been visiting the only Trappist brewery/monastry in The Netherlands. I went there with one of my housemates of House Patmos. De Koningshoeven Brewery is a Dutch Trappist brewery founded in 1884 within the walls of the abbey Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven in Berkel-Enschot (near Tilburg). The beers, named La Trappe, are traditionally the house beer of Catholic Students' House Patmos. The brewery is operated by Cistercian monks. As with all other Trappist breweries, the brewery only exists in order to finance the monastery, not for profit or any other commercial reason. Also monasteries in Uganda and Indonesia are supported.
First we made a walk through the quiet gardens of the monastery. These were beautiful coloured in warm orange and red because of autumn. After a short prayer at the Mary chapel we went drinking a La Trappe bock beer. The beer was dark ruby coloured and had an full smell of malt. It tasted nicely, was not to sweet as other bock beers often are, and had a gentle bitter aftertaste. As a side dish we chose to eat some very tasteful trappist bread which had a nice aroma and structure. We had a nice talk which we usually never have at our busy times in our students' house. After our drink we walked through the gardens back to the bus stop agreeing that we have had a nice and inspiring day.
Saturday Nov 5 2011 I have been visiting the only Trappist brewery/monastry in The Netherlands. I went there with one of my housemates of House Patmos. De Koningshoeven Brewery is a Dutch Trappist brewery founded in 1884 within the walls of the abbey Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven in Berkel-Enschot (near Tilburg). The beers, named La Trappe, are traditionally the house beer of Catholic Students' House Patmos. The brewery is operated by Cistercian monks. As with all other Trappist breweries, the brewery only exists in order to finance the monastery, not for profit or any other commercial reason. Also monasteries in Uganda and Indonesia are supported.
