The Road to Westmalle
So if you happen to find yourself in Belgium, possibly in Antwerp…and you are a beer person….and you are wondering if you could or should make the trip out to Westmalle for some Trappist beer then this is the post you have been looking for.
A bit of history
The Trappist Abbey of Westmalle is home to cloistered monastics of the Cistercians of Strict Observance. The community was founded in 1794 but when Westmalle was ‘elevated to the rank of Trappist abbey’ in 1836, the first abbot Martinus Dom decided the abbey would start brewing its own beer. That first beer was imbibed on 10 December 1836 and we have been thankful ever since.
Getting to Westmalle
The brewery the Westmalle Abbey in Belgium. It is about an hour by bus from Antwerp (tickets currently run about 5 Euro return) , the 410 will take you right there. You can probably hire a car if you want to make the trip to/from quicker, but the bus is a pretty cheap option and you get to see the suburbs of Antwerp
When you get there
Now when I say the bus will take you ‘right there’, you will be dropped off in front of a cafe across the street from the Abbey. The cafe is where you can sample the beer and cheese made in at the brewery. You wont get to meet any of the monks, the brewers, or get a tour of the brewery.
Cafe Trappisten
So no, you wont be greeted by a cellar door or tour. But you can have some lunch and of course have a few Tripels, Dubbels, or Extras at Café Trappisten, served of course, in a goblet. The food is pretty much what you would expect from a small town pub or cafe, but the staff are friendly, and thankfully for us they did have the menu in English. They do have a small gift shop where you can pick up those heavy goblets or a more easily packable bottle opener (like we did).
Walking around the Abbey
Just because you can’t go IN the abbey/brewery doesn’t mean you can’t have a great afternoon. Once you have filled up on beer and cheese at the cafe, there is a lovely walk around the abbey that takes about 45 minutes or so. Its a pretty easy stroll and if you’re lucky like we were on the day, the gates will be open to the brewery and you can get a glimpse inside.
There is one way you can actually get INTO part of the Westmalle abbey. The day we were there we saw a family riding their bikes towards the abbey and go in a big wooden door with a tiny sign and had they not been there, we would have missed it entirely. Turns they were going into the abbey gift shop to pick up some cheese. So, we followed this family into the shop and ended up having a conversation with one of the monks in very broken English conversation. We chatted about the weather and how we were there all the way from Australia.
Contrary to popular belief, the monks do not take a vow of silence, which made the whole transaction much easier for all of us.
Should you go?
Well, if you like Trappist beer and you have half a day in Antwerp you really should do it. This is bucket list stuff. Don’t be too disappointed that you can’t tour the brewery as the grounds are really beautiful and the smell the hops is in the air. You’ll probably see some ducks and some locals out walking their dogs and, from what I have seen, the place is glorious with a dusting of snow.
But if you can’t make it all the way out there, you should be able to find some dubbel for cheap at a local Antwerp supermarket. (Just as a comparison, $1,59EU converts to $2.65 AUD and Dubbel is currently $7.50 at the shops here).
