I hope you had a Joyous Christmas and A Happy New Year. Actually (!), it is still a new year and it is still Christmastide, so I hope it is still good 🙂

Now I will leave the "still", and move to brewery! 😀

In recent years I became interested in beers. I do not drink often, but I do try different ones.

First, I have to explain something about the ethanol situation in The Kingdom of Sweden. Systembolaget is the govt run liquor store in Sweden. There are private importers, but no private stores. Systembolaget have monopoly on retail stores, although you can order by mail, too. Even from abroad. I have not tried that, I am not that anxious about getting ethanol. They have a quite good assortment. The bigger stores have shelves for temporary stuff, for beer and wine, and harder liqour, too. Systembolaget is one of the biggest buyers of alcohol, so some things can be decently priced, especially considering the alcohol taxes here. They are not supposed to make a profit. Although, of course, the taxes are how the govt make profit. 😛

When I visit Systembolaget, which is not very often, I always check the shelf with temporary stuff. E.g. before the holidays, there might be quite a few seasonal beers and other drinkables. I usually only buy from that, if I happen to see something interesting. Or something I enjoyed before. Consequently, some beers I buy once a year. Tho I do buy a few, since it will be long before I see them again.

Some years ago I started to enjoy Belgian beer. First I tried Leffe Blonde, which someone mentioned. I really liked that one, and discovered that the few people near me who enjoy beer (in moderate amounts) do not like that type of beer, not even Blonde.

I learnt Leffe is originally an abbey beer, and is called that, tho it is owned and run by one of the big corps, on license from an abbey. Often one sees "Trappist" beer, but that is reserved for Trappist monastery breweries, and other religious orders brew beer, too. So I started to try real abbey beers whenever I came across them. By chance. On the temporary shelf. In the govt store.

I have an old friend in Zundert in the Netherlands, who told me there was an abbey brewery there. Real Trappist brewery. By sheer luck, my local Systembolaget had some Zundert next time I visited. I did come across it about once a year, and stored up. It came in 8 (Triple) and also 10. They also made a 4 that was only sold locally, afaik. Most people do not like abbey beers, especially the non-Blonde, but if you get into them, they are rich in taste, some are even a bit vaguely sweet, and to be enjoyed slooowly. Even the 10 does not taste alcohol, so one can certainly get quite affected without warning :p I tried 4s and 6s of other abbey beers, and they can be very nice, too. But I guess Systembolaget thinks Swedes loves the strong stuff, so it is often they have the stronger varieties only.

As a contrast, really strong beers of not this type, of a lighter variety, really taste alcohol, and it can be disgusting. Only strong liqours should taste alcohol. And hopefully something else...

They stopped importing Zundert 2-3 years ago, and could not be found on Systembolagets web site either. So I saved my last bottles of Zundert for a long time. The strong abbey beers have a long lasting time. I did have two 8s until now. The expiry date was jan 2026, tho I probably could have kept them longer.

Just before Christmas I learnt that the brewery had recently been closed, due to too few monks remaining there.

Which made me really sad. I hope they find a solution. Not only because it so far is my favourite beer, abbey beer brewing is part of European culture and tradition and history. Beer making is not only culture (in both senses of the word), it is art and production/crafts/technology/engineering. For an abbey, it is also a source of income.

Yesterday evening I had my last Zundert. Excellent, but also a bit sad. I hope I'll be able to enjoy one again some day. Until then, others remain. I will write about some others i tried. When I have the energy. And no, I am not using an app for keeping track or reviewing. I avoid phone apps as much as I can, and I drink too little for it to even be a point using it :p

Addendum: I just now found some in store online. But expensive. Not that desperate.

I've never been to Zundert. It has a famous flower festival.

Addendum 2: I am puzzled, because what I assume is an official Trappist site, the Zundert Brewery still has its label and is not noted as closed.