Brian and i made a trip specifically to Belgium for
Chimay.
explanation: Chimay is Belgian beer brewed by Trappist Monks. trappist monks choose to brew beer with an alcohol content of 9% or higher. Chimay is a city in Belgium. we were not informed that the Abbey (home of the monks) or the bottling company is not actually in Chimay, but is 7 km away.
But let's backtrack here. we arrived in Brussels on Tuesday February 5, which is also a great city. not as picturesque as some European cities, but with just as much character.
30 minutes after arriving by train, we found a small brewery that brews Lambic beer. it still brews its beer traditionally, and we were able to taste authentic Gueuze and Kriek.
Day Two in Brussels:
we get up early to take a train to Charleroi, to take a bus to Chimay. the train ride is about an hour. we arrive in Charleroi and discover that we need to pull cash. i think it's safe to say that there may only be one ATM in that city, and we did not find it quickly. go back to the station to purchase bus tickets. note that there is definitely a language barrier, so everything i do is a half guess. we watched numerous buses pass, but ours shows up 45 minutes later.
then there's a 45 minute commute to Chimay. so we arrive there, and we start seeing signs for Chimay. it is a pretty exciting moment. we walk into a bar that has it on tap, of course. sit down to drink a beer. not much in our stomachs, and the high alcohol content gives you a slight buzz, even with one beer. we ask the men in the bar where the brewery is. they explain that it is not open to visitors, and that it is 7 km away.
we don't care because we just had a Chimay, and apparently that was enough to fuel our 7 km walk. so we decide it will be our pilgrimage, and take off walking. we are equipped with obscure directions that were written on the back of a coaster, but the coaster was not given to us. once again, the language barrier does not help. we basically just followed signs that sounded familiar. so we're walking, and the sidewalk ends and the road turns into a 2 lane highway.
it's OK though, because we were going to Chimay. we continue on the side of the road for 5 km, and decide to turn down a road so we can pee. in a ditch. the roads are lined with Jupiler beer cans (a not so delightful Belgian beer) and for a part of it, dirty diapers. we enter civilization, which is an overstatement, and ask some people where the Chimay brasserie (brewery) is and we are pointed in some direction. throughout this whole trip, we did not know that the monastery and bottling company were nowhere near each other. and that there were multiple names for both.
so we go back towards the main road, after taking this ridiculous detour, and find the bottling company. we run towards it, only to find out it does not offer tours. the beer is brewed at the Abbey, our original plan. but we purchased two large bottles of Chimay for 5 euros, put them in our backpacks, and took off walking. AGAIN.
we decided to head towards the Abbey because it was sort of on the way back to actual Chimay where we had to catch the bus, or get left. we still had not eaten, and there was only one option (a small market). so we went pass the fruit, and grabbed Pringles, candy, and petit biscuits for our journey home. we go towards what we believe is the Abbey, that is not the case. so we stop at a house and ask where the Abbey may be. turns out it is 5 km further down. it is now getting dark and starting to rain, so we abandoned our mission, and head towards the city. we arrive. more than 14 km later, we ended up back at the bar to have a Chimay. and catch the last bus, after trying to jump onto the wrong one. we get to the train station, look at some paper schedule, run up onto the wrong platform, check the screen and find out that our train is leaving in 2 minutes. so we SPRINT up the correct platform and the doors to the train close on us. we see one open and manage to get on the train right before it departs.
all of this. for beer.
