Sitting in Spitalgarten drinking their dunkle beer. The biergarten overlooks the oldest bridge in Germany. The Bridge crosses The Danube and onto one of neatest “Altstadts” (old towns) in existence anywhere in Europe.

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Folks, we have made it. We are running on adrenalin and a couple of Rauchbiers  to climb the modest hill to Spezial Keller overlooking Bamberg. The breeze is wafting through the trees and the smell of cooked swine is in the air. What else can I say but “I wish you were here”!

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You may think it’s a myth that monks actually brew beer. Well they actually  do! The typical “Monk Beer” is usually brewed by Trappist monks, though are a few others out there.  Of the seven remaining Trappist breweries, six are located within Belgium. The Trappists are an off-shoot of the Benedictine order of priests who follow the rules for monastic life as laid down by St. Benedict. Among these rules is for the monks to live by the work of their own hands, so the typical Trappist monastery may operate a bakery or brewery and will often make artisan cheese. When buying a Trappist-made product, social-consciousness is built-in. The typical monastery uses over half of all profits to benefit the surrounding townspeople as well as being sensitive to the environment.

Most of these monasteries are challenged by the increasing demand for their high quality products while struggling to maintain their numbers within their priestly population. This has resulted in the use of lay-people to run the majority of the production operations, though they are closely supervised by the Brothers. I have talked to some employees at a Trappist brewery and they are well taken care of and wouldn’t consider leaving.

Now let’s talk about the beer! Rochefort beers are identified by number; Rochefort 6, 8 and 10, being in order of strength (and complexity). I consider Rochefort 10 to be one of the finest ales in the world. Weighing in at 11.3%abv, R-10 is strong and very complex, layered with rich flavors of chocolate and bananas, making this a fantastic beer to pair with dessert (though it’s a dessert in itself!).  Rochefort 8 comes in less strong at 9.2%, but it packs similar complexity along with more of a wine-like fruity flavor layered in. Rochefort 6 will not disappoint at 7.5%abv, it is a simpler beer with bready notes of toasted raisin bread and is great with pungent cheese or grilled meats.

Abbey Westmalle offers only two beers simply called Dubbel and Tripel. Westmalle serves as the standard of the style for both its Dubbel and Tripel. Westmalle Dubble contains 7%abv and it magically balances rich malty and even sweet flavors with a clean tart finish. This is an ideal beer to go up against bold red wines like Zins or even softer Pinot-Noirs. Westmalle Tripel is a big blonde beer delivering a spicy, phenolic (clove) kick and weighs in at 9.5%. This is an awesome beer to pair with creamy or cheesy dishes. The beer finishes with a palate cleansing dryness.  

Authentic Trappist beers bear the mark of “The Trappist Shield” and are not to be confused with the many beers that denote themselves as Abbey beers or lead you to believe they are monastically brewed by being named after a Saint, for instance. An abbey beer is a beer that has some sort of affiliation (sometimes just a license arrangement) with a non-brewing abbey to produce beers bearing the abbey’s name. The other beers that merely use a holy name to brand their beers are just that; brands. The quality of such beers is wide ranging, many being world-class themselves like the St. Bernardus beers brewed in Watou Belgium.

These beers should be served at cellar temperature (between 55 and 65 degrees) and ideally served in a chalice shaped glass big enough to contain the large foamy head. Be gentle with the bottles before serving as these beers are all “bottle-conditioned” meaning there is a slug of yeast on the bottom. You may not want to stir-it-up by rough handling. The last “shot” of yeasty beer should not be wasted though. It contains a large healthy dose of B-complex vitamins to help your liver metabolize the alcohol. Divine Providence? – I am sure of it…

During the last few weeks it seems my inbox and this blog have been alive with reports of new “bigger” beers arriving at local retailers almost daily. First we saw Harpoon with its Leviathan I-IPA and the Roque’s ceramic bottle offerings of Double Dead-Guy and a few from the “XS” series of beers.

I just received the weekly newsletter from Ted Armbrecht down at the Wine Shop at the Capitol Market and Facebook messages from Matt Myers at the Liquor Company at Patrick Street Plaza, announcing new beers.

I was particularly happy to see that a few excellent Trappist ales are among the beers newly-arrived.  Rochefort brews some of the finest Trappist ales in the world; in fact, remove the word Trappist, “Some of the finest ales in the world”. I particularly love Rochefort #10, even citing it in earlier blogs as a beer that all of the legislators should be required to taste before voting yea or nay on the craft beer bill.  I’ll also give a shout-out to Westmalle Dubbel, the epitome of the style.

Now for the real question; are West Virginia consumers ready to throw down the big bucks for these beers? I am not arguing the value proposition here because I regularly “throw down” and think these beers are worth every penny but alas, I am only one consumer. Are regular “beer-curious” folks going to take a look at that 750ml ceramic bottle of Rogue “Morimoto Imperial Pilsner” give the bottle a close look, read the cool label but then choke on the $16.00 price? I think only time will tell.  Fortunately, beers like Rochefort and Westmalle are packaged in a more economical 33cl brown bottle and sell for less than half of the Rogue’s 750ml price (and less than half of the beer inside).

Can we overcome what might be called “The Functional Price of Beer”?  Most folks don’t even think twice about plopping down twenty bucks for a decent bottle of wine and maybe even forty bucks at a restaurant, but will that ever happen for beer? I was at Lola’s pizzeria last week and commented to Mike the bar manager about his price for the Rogue Imperial Pilsner which was only a couple of bucks higher than at Kroger’s. He said that he felt that was the highest he could sell it for and still move the product. This leads me to be concerned that these craft beers will be thought of by retailers and restaurants as low-margin items and then stop selling them altogether.

I am sure many of you have your own insight on this subject and as always the floor is open for commentary…