Yes, it really tasted like beer, hops mostly. I got it at the Maredsous Abbey, which brews beer and has a big welcome center/cafeteria/gift shop/religious articles store/ice cream parlor where the monks hawk all their wares: beer, bread, cheese, sausage (very tasty!), patés, crucifixes, rosaries, medals, saint statues, CDs, books, etc. Oh, and they're monks, too. They used the 8% brown beer for the ice cream. They also have a speculoos-flavored ice cream that should interest anyone who's ever had coffee in Belgium. The brewery is commercially run but supervised by the monks and run for the benefit of the abbey and its works. It produces the standard three varieties that most Belgian beermakers brew: a blond, a brown, and a you'll-never-make-it-to-mass-on-time triple, weighing in at 10% alcohol.
The church had a little exhibit on Father Damien, a Belgian missionary who served lepers in Hawaii. Even many of us non-Catholics have heard of him. His connection to the abbey is that he stopped there to worship on his way to Bremen, whence he left for Hawaii. So they're just like us: we have "George Washington slept here"; Belgian monks have "Father Damien prayed here."
1 comment:
You and Paul Harvey -- the rest of the story. Interesting account of the adventure!
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