Achelse Kluis is set in forest in the very north of Belgium, 100m from the Dutch border.
It's the smallest of Belgium's Trappist breweries but there is nothing small about the taste of its six beers.
Its 5 per cent beers, Achel Blond and Achel Bruin (brown), are available only on tap at the monastery. Four others, all top-fermented and with a mind-fogging alcohol content of 8 or 9.5 per cent, are sold in the monastery and occasionally in Belgian supermarkets.
If, like cousin Eric and I, you're coming from the Netherlands, the scenic two-hour bicycle ride from Eindhoven to Achelse Kluis is a superb way to work up a thirst.
When we arrived the monastery car park was crammed with bikes and the courtyard packed with lycra-clad cyclists babbling in Dutch, Flemish and German. Most were grey-haired, all were glowing with good health — and possibly also with beer.
Unlike other Belgian drinking establishments, Achelse Kluis has just two beers on tap, no table service — you have to queue inside at a functional stainless steel counter — and a 5pm closing time. Eric ordered a Blond and I went for the fuller, darker Bruin, both served in bowl-shaped stemmed glasses. Cycling makes you hungry so we also ordered a "potje kaas", a pot of monk-made cheese cubes served with a splash of mustard.
Between mouthfuls Eric told me he visited Achelse Kluis every few months, mostly for the beer but also for a taste of the Belgian way of life.
"It's not like Holland. The atmosphere, the people are different. The Dutch are loud and rowdy, they're very direct. The Belgians are more reserved. The food is better, too, and of course the beer.
"It's probably the best in the world."
In all the times he'd visited, however, he had never seen the monks who make the beer, although he had been sorely tempted to scale the wall for a peek.
Emboldened by a few drinks, I set off to explore the monastery and found a small museum, a busy off-licence and a vast souvenir shop peddling religious paraphernalia.
What I really wanted to see was the monks working their magic in the brewery but my way was barred by wrought-iron gates and high brick walls. It turns out that life in the Trappist order — or, to give its full name, the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance — is based on quiet contemplation, prayer and manual work, not showing tourists around or answering inane questions.
I asked the lady behind the bar if she could let me in to the brewery to see the monks at work. "Pffft! Even we can't get inside," she said, then pointed to a glass wall with a view of a row of lagering tanks.
In the distance I could just make out a hooded figure clad in a long brown habit shuffling among the tanks and pipes. One of the world's great beer makers was at work.
Checklist
GETTING THERE
Emirates flies to Brussels, via Dubai, with return Economy Class fares from $1819.
