hop fields on the way to the abbey

The blonde and the 12, both were excellent

12's with the hop tart

Poperinge bar

Poperinge bar

Poperinge bar

Brugge bar

Ghent bar

We had a lot of fun. Going to the abbey to get the Westvleteren 12 was probably the highlight of our 10 day trip. The weather was perfect in august, 60-70f. We woke up early in the morning and walked to a bicycle rental shop in Poperinge. It is a nice 15-20 minute bike ride through the Belgian countryside. There is nothing but farms and hop fields on the way to the abbey and you can pull over on the side of the road and get walk up and smell the hops growing on the vines. We had about 7 or 8 rounds and left there feeling really good. It was awesome.
I would recommend this trip to any beer lover. I was worried my wife would not enjoy herself because she wanted to see museums and churches and other artsy stuff and she is not a big drinker. The town near the abbey, Poperinge, is very small and only has a few "tourist" type attractions. She kept asking me, "Are we really staying there for two days!". She liked it so much that she suggested we do a "proper" trappist tour and visit all 7! That part of our trip was very relaxing.