Tap 5
La Trappe Blonde
Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven
Authentic Trappist ale, golden, fruity, brewed within monastery walls.
Taste profile
Legend has it
The Trappists take their name from La Trappe abbey in Normandy, and the legend of how it began is a dark one. Its abbot, de Rancé, lived as a man of the world, with the Duchess of Montbazon as his mistress. When she died in 1657, he is said to have arrived to find her coffin, her bloodied head beside it, cut off so the body would fit. He gave everything up and made La Trappe one of the strictest abbeys in Europe. No one has proved the story, and no one has disproved it.
Beer stories travel from brewery to bar to guest, and rarely shrink on the way.
Interesting facts
- The abbey
- Koningshoeven, at Berkel-Enschot in the Netherlands, was founded in 1881 by monks from Mont-des-Cats in northern France who feared being driven into exile.
- The brewery
- The abbey opened its brewery in 1884 to support the monastery and give to charity. The Blond followed in 1992.
- The lost label
- When an outside company took over day-to-day running, the beers lost the Authentic Trappist Product label on 1 December 1999. It was restored on 9 September 2005.
- Outside Belgium
- Koningshoeven is one of only five Trappist breweries outside Belgium.
Especially good with
Butter-tossed garlic mussels, salmon.