Brewed By: De Koningshoeven (Bavaria - Netherlands) in Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands
Purchased: 11.2 oz bottle from a 4-pack set bought at Binny's in IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Belgian Strong Golden Ale, 7.5%
It's been a while since I've had an Abbey ale, and even longer since I've had a Trappist Ale. There are only seven Trappist breweries in the world, and six of them reside in Belgium. The seventh brewery is in the Netherlands, and happens to be La Trappe (Koningshoeven).
La Trappe has a lonnnng history. The B.V.M. Koningshoeven Abbey was founded in 1880 by the abbot Dominicus Lacaes of the Trappist monastery Sainte-Marie-du-Mont on the Mont Des Cats. At the time, there was anti-church legislation in France, and the monasteries were being threatened. The monks of the Mont des Cats were prepared to leave the country, and Sebastianus Wyart was sent to find a place to stay if they had to leave. Wyart found "the Koningshoeven" or the Royal Farms, near Tilburg, in the village of Berkel-Enschot, in the Netherlands. While the French government never cracked down, the monks still moved to Koningshoeven. In 1884, the leading abbot, Nivardus Schweykart, decided to start a small brewery to sustain the monastery. After World War I, production of beer at the brewery increased rapidly. In 1968, the brewery expanded into a mid-sized brewery, and in 1985 the brewery started exporting beer. In 1991, La Trappe Quadrupel is produced for the very first time. With that said, you should check out the official history page on the website, or even skim through the Wikipedia article on the brewery.
Tonight's beer, the Isid'or, was brewed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the brewery, and is named after friar Isidorus Laaber, the first brewing master at La Trappe. This beer is described as being a lightly sweet, amber beer, with a hint of caramel. At 7.5% ABV, this falls around Belgian Golden Strong Ale territory. But we will see when we get this into a glass.
The beer pours somewhere between a golden color and a plum color. In low light, the beer takes on a darker red/orange/amber color, and pours with 3 fingers of thick, slightly amber-tinted, head. Head retention is great, with a centimeter of head just hanging around. When held to bright light, the body of this beer takes on a juicy, orange color. This beer is bottle conditioned, and unfiltered, making it impossible to see through. What you can see, however, is quite a bit of carbonation. My guess is this will be quite effervescent, as is typical with the style. It's not the sexiest beer in the world, but then, many Trappist beers aren't. Many bottle conditioned beers aren't either. I digress.
The aroma on this is yeast and fruity, with giant yeast esters flying off the glass. I smell big clove, apples, pears, berries, straw, bananas, spicy yeast (big clove on this, maybe a hint of cinnamon), and even some hints of darker fruits. This flirts with a raisin/cherry aroma. The nose is very sweet, sugary, and you get some of that candied/perfume as well, and there's a hint of toffee.
This is lovely stuff, and this is incredibly smooth. The taste is velvety smooth, with big perfume sugars, apples, pears, spicy clove, and a kick of pils malt. You get that slight sour/astringent pils malt note on the finish, and then it cleans up with lingering fruit esters. For a 7.5% ABV beer, this masks the alcohol incredibly well, with just a hint of heat popping up front-to-mid palate, reminiscent of a hot Tripel. I taste clove, apples, pears, subtle hints of grapes, spicy yeast, white sugar, candied fruitiness, hints of banana, toffee.
This is incredibly smooth, with just a hint of a powdery and oily in the mouthfeel. The alcohol pretty much vanishes, and at 7.5% this drinks like a light Pilsner. This is a medium to medium-full bodied beer, has good palate depth, but has relatively low complexity. If we are calling this a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, then this has a lot of competition. Overall, though, not bad. Up front is some creamy head, apples, pears, fruits; this rolls into some spice, toffee, more fruits; the back end is lingering spice, fruits. Alcohol warming in my tummy, but nothing detectable in the beer.
Rating: Average
This is really good, but it's really good standard stuff. So, I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. It's a very refined beer, and something I would purchase in bulk if I was looking for a Belgian Golden Strong. My only concern is the price, and I'm pretty sure this beer is not cheap. Otherwise, this is tasty, despite not being overly complex. I would pair this beer with a myriad of cheeses, pizza, a burger with blue cheese, or even something like con queso dip and football. It's good enough that it is worth checking out, but I wouldn't exchange my kidney for this beer.
Random Thought: Belgian beer is my true love. This is the stuff that really got me interested in craft beer, and I look forward to warming up during the cold winter with some Quads and Dubbels.
It's been a while since I've had an Abbey ale, and even longer since I've had a Trappist Ale. There are only seven Trappist breweries in the world, and six of them reside in Belgium. The seventh brewery is in the Netherlands, and happens to be La Trappe (Koningshoeven).
La Trappe has a lonnnng history. The B.V.M. Koningshoeven Abbey was founded in 1880 by the abbot Dominicus Lacaes of the Trappist monastery Sainte-Marie-du-Mont on the Mont Des Cats. At the time, there was anti-church legislation in France, and the monasteries were being threatened. The monks of the Mont des Cats were prepared to leave the country, and Sebastianus Wyart was sent to find a place to stay if they had to leave. Wyart found "the Koningshoeven" or the Royal Farms, near Tilburg, in the village of Berkel-Enschot, in the Netherlands. While the French government never cracked down, the monks still moved to Koningshoeven. In 1884, the leading abbot, Nivardus Schweykart, decided to start a small brewery to sustain the monastery. After World War I, production of beer at the brewery increased rapidly. In 1968, the brewery expanded into a mid-sized brewery, and in 1985 the brewery started exporting beer. In 1991, La Trappe Quadrupel is produced for the very first time. With that said, you should check out the official history page on the website, or even skim through the Wikipedia article on the brewery.
Tonight's beer, the Isid'or, was brewed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the brewery, and is named after friar Isidorus Laaber, the first brewing master at La Trappe. This beer is described as being a lightly sweet, amber beer, with a hint of caramel. At 7.5% ABV, this falls around Belgian Golden Strong Ale territory. But we will see when we get this into a glass.
 |
| La Trappe Isid’or |
The beer pours somewhere between a golden color and a plum color. In low light, the beer takes on a darker red/orange/amber color, and pours with 3 fingers of thick, slightly amber-tinted, head. Head retention is great, with a centimeter of head just hanging around. When held to bright light, the body of this beer takes on a juicy, orange color. This beer is bottle conditioned, and unfiltered, making it impossible to see through. What you can see, however, is quite a bit of carbonation. My guess is this will be quite effervescent, as is typical with the style. It's not the sexiest beer in the world, but then, many Trappist beers aren't. Many bottle conditioned beers aren't either. I digress.
The aroma on this is yeast and fruity, with giant yeast esters flying off the glass. I smell big clove, apples, pears, berries, straw, bananas, spicy yeast (big clove on this, maybe a hint of cinnamon), and even some hints of darker fruits. This flirts with a raisin/cherry aroma. The nose is very sweet, sugary, and you get some of that candied/perfume as well, and there's a hint of toffee.
This is lovely stuff, and this is incredibly smooth. The taste is velvety smooth, with big perfume sugars, apples, pears, spicy clove, and a kick of pils malt. You get that slight sour/astringent pils malt note on the finish, and then it cleans up with lingering fruit esters. For a 7.5% ABV beer, this masks the alcohol incredibly well, with just a hint of heat popping up front-to-mid palate, reminiscent of a hot Tripel. I taste clove, apples, pears, subtle hints of grapes, spicy yeast, white sugar, candied fruitiness, hints of banana, toffee.
This is incredibly smooth, with just a hint of a powdery and oily in the mouthfeel. The alcohol pretty much vanishes, and at 7.5% this drinks like a light Pilsner. This is a medium to medium-full bodied beer, has good palate depth, but has relatively low complexity. If we are calling this a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, then this has a lot of competition. Overall, though, not bad. Up front is some creamy head, apples, pears, fruits; this rolls into some spice, toffee, more fruits; the back end is lingering spice, fruits. Alcohol warming in my tummy, but nothing detectable in the beer.
Rating: Average
This is really good, but it's really good standard stuff. So, I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. It's a very refined beer, and something I would purchase in bulk if I was looking for a Belgian Golden Strong. My only concern is the price, and I'm pretty sure this beer is not cheap. Otherwise, this is tasty, despite not being overly complex. I would pair this beer with a myriad of cheeses, pizza, a burger with blue cheese, or even something like con queso dip and football. It's good enough that it is worth checking out, but I wouldn't exchange my kidney for this beer.
Random Thought: Belgian beer is my true love. This is the stuff that really got me interested in craft beer, and I look forward to warming up during the cold winter with some Quads and Dubbels.
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