The monks' gift to Belgium and mankind

What's the best thing about Belgium? Not the multitude of tourist attractions for sure, or the endless shopping opportunities. Definitely not the ever so friendly customer service.

The best thing about Belgium is the beer. Everybody will find a favourite in the 800 varieties, and besides, bars are practically the only place open after you leave the office. Apart from that, it has the potential to make the customer service seem (slightly) less coarse, and it does add to the variety of tourist attractions.

That's what a group of 50 stagiaires got to prove on their recent trip to the Orval brewery in Florenville, south-east Belgium. And we're not talking about just any old brewery, but a Trappist monastery that produces beer, one of only seven in the world.

Do a good deed: drink a beer!

Guide presenting a model of the monastery

A Trappist beer is produced in a monastery, under the direct guidance of the monastic community, and part of the profits are devoted to the monastery's social work. At Orval, another portion of the profits goes to the restoration of the monastery. From the beauty of the surroundings and housing for 10 monks, you can tell that a lot of their beer has been drunk around the world.

The story behind Trappist beers is the reason why Italian Jacopo Marcomeni of the Beer and Wine Sub-Committee decided to organise a trip to Orval.

"In Italy beers are good, but they're mainly pils or lager. When I came to Belgium, my friends took me to bars where you could taste hundreds of different beers. That's when I got interested in them."

Some wished to concentrate on the essential

Jacopo Marcomeni

After a guided tour of the monastery, Jacopo and the 50 newfound beer tasting experts sat down to sip on glasses of the copper coloured treat. They were in luck, since the standard bottled Orval beer was accompanied by another lighter version, released only the day before. This new green-labeled Orval was not greeted with such enthusiasm, though.

"It was a bad copy of the old one. They probably just want to attract more public, like ladies, who don't like such strong beer", figured Jacopo.

Apart from that, the trip to Orval was a success. People found it fascinating to tour around the ruins of the destroyed old part of the monastery as well as hearing the story behind the monks' "liquid bread". Some, however, wished more emphasis could have been put on "what counts".

"In Stella Artois you pay €5 and get one hour of free drinks, and in Heineken they show you Champions League. That's amazing!", exclaimed André Salgado Paula Santos from the Stage Committee. 

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Taru Itäniemi,

DG EAC