Drink of the Week: La Trappe Quadrupel

When you think of Trappist beer, chances are Belgium is the first place that comes to mind. But today’s Drink of the Week—the La Trappe Quadrupel ale—is brewed by Netherlands-based Koningshoeven, one of only seven abbeys permitted to produce Trappist ales, and the only outside Belgium. And though the abbey’s been brewing since 1884, in 2001 they began bottling their beer for U.S. export under the Koningshoeven label to appease the North American Monastic Business Association, but just this past month they reached an agreement allowing them to again bottle under the La Trappe name for the U.S. market. Their quadrupel is the same ale we’ve come to love under the Koningshoeven label with yeasty, tangy fruit aromas, flavors of tart cherry and apple cider and a subtle hop bitterness on the finish. This big beer—it comes in at 10 percent ABV—goes down easy on its own, but it’s just as delicious sipped alongside roasted meats and cheeses.
$7/11.2 oz., monastarygreetings.com