Belgian beer is certainly special, with many of their traditional brands and styles being truly unique in terms of their flavor, ingredients and production methods. Most Belgians will argue that they have the best beer in the world and while I won’t be supporting that argument in this post I will agree that they have some amazing beers that simply must be on everyone’s list of beers to try. At the mention of Trappist beer one may conjure images of old, grey, balding monks in robes, stirring wooden paddles in cauldrons and happily downing hefty glasses of ale like Friar Tuck. In this post I would like to give an introduction to Trappist beer in terms of its history, rules, brands, and how they are different from other “abbey ales”.