La Trappe and Eindhoven

Good afternoon everyone!
The last few weeks, I refrained from continuing the European vacation blogs and instead spent all of my energy on Michigan's NCAA Tournament run.  As most of you know, my team couldn't put together a full 40 minutes in the title game, but it was a great three weeks of basketball nonetheless.  C and I (plus soon-to-be Baby Cattey) were all on the edge of our seats throughout the tournament.  We are very proud of the team.

Moving on with the Europe blog, we just left Bruges and headed back to Eindhoven for our last day with Megan and Todd.  In the afternoon, we had a brewery tour booked at La Trappe, which is located approximately 25 minutes from Eindhoven in the town of Berkel-Enschot near Tilburg.  Contrary to most breweries, La Trappe does much more than make beer.  First, it is one of only eight "trappist" breweries in the world.  In order to qualify as trappist, a brewery must meet the following criteria:

• The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
• The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
• The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
• Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers

The brewery is actually called De Koningshoeven, and it partnered with Bavaria, a large Dutch brewery, to help package and distribute their beer to a wider audience.  Therefore, La Trappe is one of the largest and most commercialized of the eight trappist breweries.  In return, the brewery is able to create a more vast line-up of beers than the other trappists.  In addition to the standard belgian styles, the brewery even creates a blond, a bock, and an organic beer.  It also creates some pretty kick ass glassware, which made it safely to the United States with us!

Despite the large scale production, the beer is still produced entirely within the walls of the abbey.  The monks oversee much of the brewing, and they create bread, cheese and other products right on the property.  Further, the brewery donates millions of dollars every year to charities around the world, specifically to help provide food to families in third world countries.  What a great reason to drink some beer! 

Both the grounds and the brewing facility are immaculate.  The monastery even has a small fire station and its own fire engine.  In the pictures below, you should be able to see the brewing equipment.  Also, different parts of the monastery even have solar panels on the roof that help power the brewery and the living quarters....pretty progressive for a bunch of monks.  The big guy talking to Todd and me was our tour guide.  He was awesome and very excited to share his knowledge with us. Wow, it did not disappoint.  Take a look at various photos from the brewery and grounds. 

We then headed to the bottling and packaging facility.  It probably goes without saying, but the packing area is extremely well maintained and high-tech.  Seeing the amount of bottles and kegs that are filled daily really gives you an appreciation for the scope of the brewing operation.  Our group even got to see some of the oak barrels that the brewery uses for aging its quadruple.  

After the tour, the group headed to the tasting room.  The tasting room has a very cool combination of modern and vintage designs.  There are plenty of wooden tables for communal drinking and dining.  We did not eat too much, but C and I were able to try bitterballen.  Bitterballen is a typical Dutch appetizer/snack that is basically fried dough with gravy in the middle.  Our hosts told us that basically the gravy has to be scalding hot, and it certainly was.  This bitterballen was served with mustard and mayo.  You can see one little ball on the plate below.  

After a few hours at La Trappe, we headed back to Megan and Todd's in Eindhoven for our last night with them.  They had reservations for us at a really great place in town named Cook's.  We had a great final meal and then wandered around Eindhoven one last time.  Our train for Amsterdam left relatively early the next morning, so we capped off a great few days in Eindhoven with a low-key night.  Here are the last couple of pictures from our night in Eindhoven.  

One last blog of our Europe trip will be coming shortly: Amsterdam.  C and I are expecting a new addition to our family any day now, so that will likely take precedent over another blog.  But, whenever I get the opportunity to post again, I will recap the amazing city of Amsterdam.  Until then....