Gone Going

This month I've been to many countries. Notice that I didn't say I had spent a lot of time in many countries, because that would be a false statement.

Last weekend Will asked if I wanted to ride along to Belgium to get beer, because he had made an appointment to pick up his two cases of 12 from the Trappist monastery in Westvleteren. It's a 5-hour drive from here and he didn't want to go alone, since Amy was out of town, so I got the experience without the hassle of trying to call and get through to make an appointment. We left early Saturday morning and ended up driving from Germany, about 30 minutes through France, and back into Belgium. We stopped at two large beer stores on the way there. Lucky for me (but only because of this trip), Amy and Will are leaving at the end of June to move back to Maryland, so I got to stock up on some beer using the roominess in his Land Rover.

The first store we stopped at was like a Toys R Us for adults. The first thing you see after you drop off your empty crates and bottles for the refund is a bar. A bar in a beer store!! Now THAT is heaven. There were so many rows of crates of beer, many of them I had never heard of, that it was overwhelming. I knew what I wanted to get, but I exceeded my expectations and could have gone for more if I didn't think it would have been rude to take up that much room.


5 crates of beer and 4 large bottles of special Christmas beer that was leftover from the season, plus 6 glasses, a bar towel, a tray, and some Belgian chocolate. Any guesses to the damage done? You might judge me.


After playing Tetris in the car, we headed to the monastery. You have to call on certain days (noted on thier website) for a chance to make an appointment to pick up a specified number (usually 2 and sometimes 3) of crates of a type of their beer (the blonde, 8, or 12). It has been voted the best beer in the world, the 12 that is, but I think it might only hold the vote because it's so difficult to come by. Two crates of the 12 is 30 euro each, plus a bottle and crate deposit, which came to 100 euro. However, one crate of the 12 in the U.S. can be sold for about $400. Now, that's technically against the waiver that you sign when you pick up your beer that says you will not resell your beer, blah, blah, blah. At the monastery is the only place you can buy or taste the beer, legally, but the last time I checked, a Trappist order of police didn't exist.

The cafe where you can have a glass of each of their beers, a coffee, or a light snack, as well as make a purchase of their cheese, or a sampler pack of their beer and glasses.

I tried the 12 a few weeks ago at Amy and Will's house and I had tried the blond at the Belgium beer festival last September, so on this trip I also go to experience the process as a tag-along. I'm glad I got to go and I might try for an appointment for the 12 sometime, but it's not high on my list of things to do. The St. Bernardus 12 tastes quite similar and it's much, much easier to find at a price that's easier on the purse strings too.

The point where the check your license plate to match the order and give you your beer.Empty cases and bottles customers returned.

We were going to stay in a small town near the monastery, but once we got there and saw the room, even the draw of the hotel bar with 100 Belgian beers couldn't get us to stay. So we drove home that evening, stopping for Belgian frites (fries) along the way, and somehow adding another country to our trip--the Netherlands.