Westmalle
Monasteries might be thought of as places of austerity in all things—including beer and food. This might be the case for the everyday life of the monks, but the six Trappist monasteries in Belgium that brew beers for sale to the public have a history of having their rich, flavorful ales paired with fine food at the best restaurants. One of these is in the rural village of Westmalle, about 20 miles east and north of Antwerp.
“We were pairing beer with food many years ago,” said Marleen Hurdak of Brouwerij der Trappisten Van Westmalle in the village of Westmalle. “Starred restaurants have been treating our beer like fine wine for a long time.”
The brewery at the monastery—brewing since 1836—was the first to use the terms doubel and tripel for its beers (un-trademarked terms, Hurdak lamented), and continues to brew these beers. Fifteen years ago, when the number of monks declined to 23, they stopped working at the brewery but still make cheese that they sell to the villages of Malle and Westmalle. The monks and other workers also tend to the farm, which consists of 200 chickens, 120 milk cows and 150 calves. The monks might reopen a bakery at the monastery.
Besides double (7.0 percent ABV) and tripel (9.5 percent), the Westmalle brewery twice a year makes Extra (4.8 percent), a blond ale that is a softer and smaller beer and that is sometimes enjoyed by the monks at festive occasions. Extra and the other beers can be tasted up the street from the Abbey at the Café Trappisten with menu items such as fried cheese croquettes and a croquette of gray shrimps. Guests can also order a Half and Half of Doubel and Tripel, which is a wonderful blend of the darker, malt-rich doubel and the spicy, blond tripel.
Cooking Time
No trip to Belgium is complete without a visit to the country’s capitol, Brussels, about 45 miles south of Westmalle.
There are many great beer cafés and restaurants in Brussels, both in the historic city center and outlying neighborhoods. There’s also a place for serious beer lovers to learn how to pair food.
“I’m obsessed by flavor,” said Chef Bert de Coster of Cooking Time, a cooking school in Brussels. “I look for balance when cooking with beer, and at the table I like to compare more than one beer with the same dish. A perfect match is difficult.”
Chef De Coster said he’s only had four “culinary orgasms” in his life, and one of them involved beer—white asparagus with a hard-boiled egg, crushed parsley, melted butter and Westmalle Tripel.
