Beer Run

On the appointed day and time to make phone calls to the Beer Hotline (seriously, that's what it's called) and after hitting redial 165 times, we finally got through to Sintsixtus Abbey to order the allotted 2 cases of Westvleteren 12 beer.

On the list!

We went on our designated day and time to pick it up with the few and the proud who also made the list (these monks are very organized). As you drive up, there are crates and crates of empty bottles that have been returned for full ones.

I took a picture of this sign so I could translate it later. As Jim noted, it seemed odd there were so many words we didn't know :-\

It reads something like this:

Schuif aan in de rij, laat uw leeggoed in de auto tot het uw beurt is.

Slide to the queue, let your empties in the car until it is your turn.

Zo vereenvoudigt u voor ons het werk.

So simplify our work.

dank u

thank you

Here's our stash! Two prized cases.

We also bought this gift set with special glasses and bottles. These sets are being sold as an additional fundraiser for the construction of the new abbey. You gotta hand it to these Catholic monks. Why have a bake sale when you can sell beer?

Naturally we went to the onsite pub for a taste of the good stuff.

The area around the abbey is rural and many fields are used for growing hops. In case you've never seen how hops are grown - it looks like this. These are empty at the moment, but when they are ready for harvest . . .

they look something like this. Hops are used for giving beer a bitter, tangy flavor.

Cheers!