sorry sauve, i must have missunderstood you...yes, they should be around the $8...i thought you were finding them much lower, which would have prompted me to move to your area!!!!

I tryed a bottle of the chimay red labled beer and definitly liked the blue lable better. of the three which ones do you like best??

Of the Chimay labels, which one is the Premier? Red or Blue, for some reason I'm thinking red?

The Chimay Premier is one I've really enjoyed, although obviously not in some time. It's been replaced in my book with Corsendonk. Any Corsendonk will do..pale..amber...it's all GOOD!

red and blue are similar, and blue is usually prefered (i think the blue is much better), red it technically a double and blue a strong ale(like roche 6-8)..the white is a differnet style and not really compared to red/blue.

blue might be my fav of the line, because there are other styles of white i prefer in other trappists. do yourself a favor and track down a magnum of blue, awesome experience. i think overall, i might prefer Tripels more than dubbels (as i reach for those more often)

I prefer westmalles Tripel to Chimay's white, but Westvletern is the pinnacle of Tripels, but expensive and hard to find.

Westmalle Dubbel (similar to red) is very nice, slightly more delicate than chimays...i switch between this and blue often...I'll pour a Westmalle Dubbel tonight and rethink its position.

bottom line is that we are splitting hairs as they are all awesome, so i hope no one is reading this and saying "Chimay Red sounds like it sucks" not at all, in the world of thousands of beers its maybe 15, whereas some of these other are top 5!!! just an example.

best way i learn about these beauties is to 1) learn about the sytles of the trappists, then go get the same styple for each Abbey's that offers them....then compare over a couple nights.

I think i need to do this again... so i'll be out at the store to night...i'll pick up Tripels first...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bombardier,

sorry forgot, Premier is the "Red" a Dubbel

compare a chimay red to Westmalle (or anyones) Dubbel
and Blue to rochefort's 6 and 8..(the 10 is a quadrupel)

agian, i'm not expert, so always check my facts...i did check that facts of this post. my other posts would be approximate, but don't have time to check dets. enjoy the beer!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bombardier,

Had a Rochfort 8 today. Very very nice. Strong but very smooth and tasty.

Had a rochefort 10. Liked the 8 much better. 10 seemed more bitter.
Had a Chimay Red label - seemed sweeter than the blue label.
So far of the 7 or 8 I've tried - the Chimay blue label is the best.

ditto for me too, blue lable far superior. Havent seen the white lable anywhere

I've got one in the frig. but am not all that excited about trying it. Would much rather go out and buy a bunch of the blue label.
Nothing like a 6 pack of beer for $34.00

im a firm believer in you get what you pay for. thats why im saving up for that half a million doller shotgun.

rochefort 10 bitter? i'd pick up another, possible a bad cap seal maybe let in some O2...should be sweet, but not as sweet as doubles (like a chimay red)...yes, blue is indeed a great beer and always in my fridge, i think a couple edge it out, but you can't go wrong with blue, awesome....

my one point with blue, and so far its the only beer if feel this way, is that i like it better with a tad bit of age on it, nothing crazy, a year or two, which some stores already have 'em that old. firms up the sweetness a little. whereas a freshie isn't as sweet...still love a freshie and won't pay more for an older bottle but if i have my choice its the slightly older one.

great thiing about Chimay is that you can find it in some bars, whereas you never find the other trappistes excepts in maybe a beer garden with a nice belgian section.

but yes, hit up some of the triples...like chimay white (well more of a tan)...westmalle makes a great tripel.

if you ever see Westvleteren, buy the store out...almost impossible to find and probably the pinnacle of trappiste beers, which imo is to say the pinnacle of ALL beers.

but all trappistes are great, and once you get acquanted with them you can check other other brewer who brew in strict blegian fashion, there are two or three here in the states. and as i said before Allagash makes a great showing.

is it wrong to be craving a trappiste ale at 8:30am?

oh yeah, look for those 750mls of chimay...perfect at about a pint and 1/2...plus its better tasting due to better in bottle second fermentation. nothing like popping the cork on those!

Had one of the tan label Chimays today. You may disgree, but to me, it was like a refined budweiser. I think I'll stick with the blue label. Much better.

I seem to have found a cult following of Trappist ale heads. I hope maybe then one of you will know the answer to my dellema. I know that there are six and I have had all except the ellusive one, Westvleteren, it is only avalible from the monks themselves, direct. I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to get it. Oh and I mean the Westvleteren abt 12 by the way. hope someone can give me a hand with it.

Puff, you speak of lies!!! far from bud, but i agree Chimay's triple is not the best representation of that style. most of the other trappistes are better, try a westmalle. but drink what you like. and you can't go wrong with blue!!

Cliff...westvleteren..ah the holy grail of beers....i myself had only had it once, the 12 that is....made me want to quit my job, become a monk and devote my life to the God that has handed down this recipe....unfortunately, a friend of mind smuggled back 3 bottles from the UK on a trip.

I have seen a couple EU sites that sell it, when available, which is rare. and one or two might ship to the US albeit at a huge shipping premium, but I'd pay $15/bottle for this...i just never get around to it...maybe i'll start looking for it and treat myself.

http://www.internetwines.com always teases me with showing the item but never having it in stock. maybe if enough of us get together we can put a mass order through internetwines.com and they might be able to procure some, but i doubt it. I don't think even belgian royalty has first dibs on this stuff.

I think I am going to splurge and buy a bunch of the bigger bottles of the blue label and put them away till next summer.
Is there any way to tell when they were bottled? Maybe they have been on the shelf for a year already or are fresh. Any hints?
Might buy some of that Rochefort 8. Pretty expensive stuff.
I'll look for your other suggestions too.

ok, just went to http://shop.belgianshop.com and they carry westvleteren, of coarse out of stock now...but if they did have it, it would be $7.7/bottle....and for a 12 pack it would be $50 shipping...so about $150 a 12 pack delivered to the states. $12.5/bottles....i've spend more on cigars, why not a beer!!

i'll have to keep watching this site.

go to the site and check out the Super Westvleteren Pack..I'm all over that if its ever available again.

sorry puff, i not aware how to tell the date w/o popping the cork...no to say you can't, just that i dont' know if its possible. if you find out let me know.

but if you are looking to age it...here is a site that tastes the Blue at each year up to 5 years so you can get an idea of how the flavor will evolve. if you can age it, you are a strong man than me!!

Bomb, thanks for the reply. I wish that we could put together something to get some of that here. That would complete my life and I would be happy to die after. (well maybe a pre-embargo Davidoff too.) But taht would be asking too much. I was also wondering what else you like to drink, beer wise, outside of Trappist holy beer.

The blue label says the year right on the upper part of the lable. The ones i have are from 2004.