Other females?

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Chimay is one of the beers originating from abbeys of the Trappist order. Beer and cheese are the traditional produce that the friars of these abbeys sold to the surrounding townsfolk to create some income. Chimay (along with six other brands) is still actually produced at an abbey, a lot of the other similar beers come from a brewery and are more or less imitations. Although the breweries in the abbeys are also pretty industrial - I visited the Orval brewery a number of years ago and it is completely comparable to, say, the brewery of Palm or De Koninck. Really not a kitchen table operation. This is one of the major advantages of living in Belgium, you're really at the source...

I've heard that the monks that make Chimay do so to fund their charities.  Once they've met their financial obligations for the year, they shut down.  True?  It doesn't seem true because there's never a shortage of it.  You can get it year round.

 

[hannaugh]

I have been to southern Belgium and had a few too many Chimay brews. It is very, very good, but quite a bit stronger than the standard US beers. It sneaks up on you. Faced before you know you are even buzzed.

Sounds like the first time I had Old Rasputin.  It is a stout, so I assumed it wasn't overly alcoholic.  Empty stomach + large steins of Old Rasputin = sitting in the car with my friend listening to Ween for two hours while we try to sober up enough to drive home.  At least we laughed a lot.  Ween is even more hilarious when you're smashed.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I've heard that the monks that make Chimay do so to fund their charities.  Once they've met their financial obligations for the year, they shut down.  True?  It doesn't seem true because there's never a shortage of it.  You can get it year round.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist_beer
One of the criteria for being a 'trappist' beer is that the income must be used for charity 'to a significant degree'. That doesn't neccessarily mean a small output, there's a lot of opportunity for giving to charity. Chimay, Westmalle and Rochefort are very big, Orval a bit less, and Westvletere is quite small. That one comes nowhere close to keeping up with demand.