Chimay, Belgium vacation (more of God's work)

Another family vacation/doing God's work, in Belgium, home of many of the Trappist Breweries, including Chimay.  For those that do not know, the Trappist monasteries that make beer (and other products), use the proceeds to fund their monastery, their charity work, and other associated causes, hence...God's work.

We started our vacation by driving straight to Orval, a Trappist monastery near the border of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.  We stopped for lunch, beer and pictures, on our way to Chimay.  Orval has a beautiful Monastery in a densely forested area.  The Monastery allowed for tours of the ruins of their original site (destroyed over time, and WWII), but we took a pass on that.  We were allowed access to the courtyard of the monastery, however, and took a few pictures:

And the lunch was excellent.  If you ever get there, absolutely get the croquettes made from the Orval produced cheeses.  And the BEER!  Excellent!  They featured a delicious hoppy ale on tap, only available at the restaurant.  And then the Petite Orval and the old Orval.  These are the same 2 beers, but the Petite is aged less than 6 months, the Orval is aged over 6 months and up to 3+ years.  Mine was aged over 3 years.  The beer is unique, it reminded me of a triple style, but more on the wheat beer side.  The petite was more of a complex hefewiezen, fruity and slightly hoppy, while the aged Orval was more bready and had complex sugars/malt character.  These are some of my all time favorites.

After the wonderful lunch, we drove up to Chimay, where we stayed in the Chimay B&B called Auberge du Poteaupre. We checked in and went straight to the restaurant for some Chimay. All beers were on both draft and bottle, so I did a flight of Chimay drafts, which included an exclusive light ale for the non-beer people and/or drivers.  We also got the croquettes made from the Chimay cheeses.  If you think the beer is good, try the cheeses, they make amazing cheese!  They are proud of the life cycle of their beer.  The beer is made, then the spent grains go to local farmers to feed the cows, then their milk is used for the cheese. The B&B was nice and modern, however, it did not have wifi (contrary to their claims).  The disappointing part of our stay here was the flies and bees that are drawn to the restaurant and patio.  I understand that if I were a fly, I would spend my day at the Chimay restaurant too, trying to get in everyone's drink for a sip, but as a human, I found it terribly annoying.   The savior of our stay here was the mini-bar in the room, which was stocked with the three beers, Dubbel (red label), Tripel (white label), and the Quad (blue label).  Umm, the Quad is amazing, to say the least.  And I tasted it over and over, just to make sure.  Malty and bready on the front a mid palate, balanced hops hidden in the background, smooth silky mouthfeel with a clean slightly fruity finish.

Fortunately, we found a nearby brewery and restaurant that made great Belgian style beer (especially the dubbel), had a big playground for Marissa to enjoy while we relaxed, and had great mussels too!  The waiter played basketball for St. John's in New York, so we bonded over talk of past basketball glory, and he made us feel right at home (he comp'd us dessert and several beers too)!  So when in Chimay, go to Brasserie des Fagnes.

Nearby to Brasserie des Fagnes was a cave with an underground river boat ride.  Marissa was very good and seemed to enjoy both the cave and the Brasserie's playground:

The actual town of Chimay, about 10 minutes from the brewery, was very nice.  I found a good restaurant called Casino Brasserie, with mussels and a variety of Belgian Beers:

 The Kwak brought me back to Monk's Cafe in Philly, where this beer was on tap.

Also in the town of Chimay is a Butterfly house, where hundreds of species of butterflies fly around, and even land on you.  And yes, that's Heather's butt:

And finally, while in the Chimay region, we had to visit Hitler's bunker.  From this camp, he oversaw the German advance into France, and eventually Paris.  You cannot visit Belgium without doing some homework ahead of time.  Belgium has a tragic history from both World War I and World War II.  To truly appreciate your visit here, you must understand the utter devastation that occurred, and the fortitude of the people to re-build.

On our way back to Dusseldorf, we stopped at a town called Rochefort, home to Rochefort Trappist Brewery.  Unfortunately, Rochefort does not have a tasting room, restaurant, or store associated with the Monastery, so we went into town for lunch and to try some fresh from the brewery beer.  Since Heather was driving, and it was the last day of vacation, I tried several beers:

I will interject here...I love the Rochefort 8, and the Westmalle triple was absolutely delightful.

For those who know the movie "Beerfest", I had to rotate the horn in order to drink the beer without spilling, just like Das Boot.

As a recap of our trip to Chimay, the area is beautiful, and full of history.  You can visit Orval, Chimay and  Rochefort all in one trip, and even drive up to St. Bernardus.  We found plenty of things to do with Marissa, and I did not even mention her favorite thing yet, a nearby waterpark called L'le Verte!  Staying at Chimay might be better during a different time of year, when the flies are fewer, but as an alternative, the town of Chimay is very nice.  For anyone looking to hike or bike, there seemed to be a few rustic B&B's nearby Orval that would provide a great entry to the forested landscape there.  St. Bernardus has been our favorite destination to date, so make sure to stay there if you can (see our earlier blog on that trip).  We love Belgium!