The Beer Tourist

It is Christmas Day and time to celebrate! What better way than with De Drie Wijzen - the Three Wise Men beer- the Christmas beer from the trappist brewers at Achelse Kluis.

As far as I know this is the one and only Christmas trappist beer available, please bring me wisdom if I am wrong. A wise decision, if you ask me, from the youngest trappist brewer, and the sort of inventiveness you might only have expected from the brothers at Koningshoeven, who introduced the first trappist witbier.

But then again celebration may be a somewhat alien concept for the trappist order, following faithfully Saint Benedict's prescription for a life filled with "Ora et Labora"- prayer and work. So alien in fact that it seemed to have escaped the attention even of the Essen Christmas Beer Festival organizers, who aim to offer all Belgian Christmas beer available.

The beer is certainly one that the wise men would have enjoyed on the cold desert nights. It is a heavily spiced version of the Bruin Extra; aroma and flavour cries out orange scent, but underneath hides a well-balanced quadruppel. It hides the 10 percent alcohol well, and the finish is also refreshingly dry.

So a merry Christmas to all of you and not least to Achel and all the craft brewers that are our leading stars!