Chimay Goud 330mlChimay is one of those beer names with a reputation that precedes it. As one of only 14 abbey breweries worldwide making authentic Trappist beer, it is special by any standard, and its 170 years of brewing history is testament to this.As per most Trappist breweries, there are only a handful of Chimay beers to choose from, spanning relatively high and higher ABVs, but the Goud (or gold) that we are looking at today is under 5%. With the current trend for lagers and lower ABVs, I thought this “old world” approach to a lighter style of beer would make for...

It is 1934 and Father Ignatius van Ham is a happy monk. It has taken almost 100 years to get here but, under his supervision, the Westmalle Abbey and brewery is in the throes of finally adding a third beer to its repertoire. The process had been long and slow, requiring the addition of a new brewery with tanks for maturation and clarification, storage rooms for bottle conditioning and, of course, countless attempts at creating the perfect recipe. But, as he stares at the clear golden ale in his glass it all seems worth it. He slowly lifts the beer...

One man’s Yeti is another man’s Sasquatch is another man’s Bigfoot. We live in a world where subtlety and nuance is everything and nothing sums this up better than the world of beer… an industry that used to be relatively simple but becomes more and more complex each day. Ten years back, you would have been hard pushed to find more than 10 or 12 styles on the shelves of your local store. Now one struggles to choose from an absolute sea of beer that seemingly swells and swells.    Do you drink lager, or maybe you prefer a helles or...

I don’t know about you, but I am thoroughly in need of a getaway and with the borders still shut here, there’s only one way to travel. That’s right, you’ve guessed it - by beer! So what’s it going to be? A trip to the dirty back street pubs of south London with a bottle of Fullers? I can just see it now… the grey sky, grey buildings and well, yep, the greyish people (hey I’m allowed to, I’m from there). Or what about a quick trip to the canals of Bruges with a bottle of something dark and monkish,...

Wow! Sometimes it’s hard not to get excited when you stumble across something immensely cool. I plucked this beer off the shelf from our chiller thinking… “hmmm a crisp IPA would be nice to drink, I mean write about,” and low and behold, it’s made by a bunch of American monks! I guess I really should know these things, but so many beers, so little time etc etc…Until very recently, Trappist beer was exclusively made in Europe by a handful of monastic breweries. You know, the likes of Orval, La Trappe and Westmalle. In 1997, they set up the International...