31% Trapped Trappist

I recently began exploring Trappist beers and in a previous post I mentioned that I home brewed a clone of Orval with my own recipe. I am determined to try at least one beer from each of the 7 Authentic Trappist breweries. It worked out nicely that I received some Trappist beers for Christmas. Here is the tally of how many I have tried of each brand(B=Belgium, NL=Netherlands).

• 3/3 - Chimay (B)
• 1/1 - Orval (B)
  
• 1/3 - Rochefort (B)
  
• 1/2 - Westmalle (B)
• 0/4 - Achel (B)
  
• 0/6 - La Trappe (NL)
  
• 0/3 - Westvleteren (B)
  

Unless I am wrong, and I am never wrong,¹ I am at less than 32% of optimum. This is too low but I have hope for the future. Some of these can only be obtained directly from the Abbey breweries which will necessitate a Belgian adventure. Check out the International Trappist Association for information on these beers (and other Trappist products). There are even tasting guides for some of them.

PSA: The monks at Westvleteren (pictured above) have made it clear that their beer should only be purchased directly from them but some unscrupulous beer profiteers send incognito buyers to the Abbey and resell at a huge profit. The Abbey doesn't have the resources to control its distribution so don't add to the problem. Do not buy gray market beer. If you do the Flying Spaghetti Monster will curse you with a barley allergy giving you hives and terrible diarrhea.<sup>2

1</sup> I am wrong most of the time.
² If this happens I can recommend a good allergist in the Seattle area.