Throughout my stay in the Netherlands, I had the incredible opportunity to try a large number of European beers. Of all of these, one of my favorites has always been the Abbaye des Rocs Bruin from Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs.
Abbaye des Rocs is a relatively new brewery, with roots going back only as far as 1979. Over the years they have had a number of offerings, with their normal lineup including the Abbaye des Rocs Bruin, Abbaye des Rocs La Montagnarde, and Abbaye des Rocs Blanche des Honnelles. While all three of these are wonderful examples of Belgian Dubbel Brown Ale, Belgian Amber Ale and Belgian Witbier respectively, the Bruin Dubbel is amongst my top 10 beers of my entire time living in the Netherlands.
The Bruin is a pure malt beer, double fermented, with no added sugar. Seven different malts and three types of hops (Belgian, German and Czech) are combined to make this beautiful amber colered ale. The beer has some wine-like tendencies, and has a great mouthfeel, and a wonderful, woody flavor, without the over-sweet taste of many dubbel ales.
The Abbaye des Rocs brewery is rather out of the way to get to, requiring a lengthy drive through the beautiful Belgian Countryside, close to the French border, between Chimay and Westvleteren. I made one attempt to visit the brewery in June, 2005, and did manage to finally find the brewery, but it did not appear to be open at the time! I did a little trespassing and saw a little of the grounds where they did appear to be working, but never did find any form of cafe or shop open at the time. Something to keep on my wishlist for next time!
In the meantime, great news came a few weeks ago when I noticed that all three of these amazing beers are now available at our local City Super supermarket in Tienmu, Taipei, where I stop (almost) every Monday for our weekly fix of Din Tai Fung dumplings! More recent visits have found only the Blanche des Honnelles and La Montagnarde on the shelf, but I do have a few bottles left here at home, and hope to see the Bruin back on the shelf soon!
Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs
37, Chaussée Brunehault
7387 Montignies-sur-Roc
Belgium
Tel: +32 65 75 59 99
Fax: +32 65 75 59 98
E-mail: [email protected]
https://en.abbayedesrocs.com/welcome
2 comments
Beautiful looking brewery. There are many bars in the UK that specialise in Belgian beers – we used to frequent them a lot! 🙂
Julia
I’m still bummed that I wasn’t able to find the way to tour or taste at the brewery… But at least I still have a couple bottles left to tide me over.