Loving Chimay Ale brewed by Trappist monks in Belgium. This is one of only seven beers that are allowed to carry the Authentic Trappist Product logo which adheres to the following standards: 1) The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist abbey, by or under control of Trappist monks. 2) The brewery, the choices of brewing, and the commercial orientations must obviously depend on the monastic community. 3) The economic purpose of the brewery must be directed toward assistance and not toward financial profit.

A beautiful bottle, a fantastic tasting beer, and a good cause! I’ll drink to that….

For more on Chimay, visit their (English translated) website.

Check out the next page for more of my (slightly obsessed) photos.

Got this Nescafé instant coffee direct mail piece in the mail the other day. I like the packaging and that they gave me free samples! Who doesn’t love free?! I think that their overall look is very playful and appealing… Nice packaging and typography. However I can’t say that I’m head over heels for the actual product. Every time I’ve made it thus far, it’s tasted too weak or too strong, which makes me think that it’s my own fault and not fully understanding how much water to use. I never did like to follow directions…

Also, who are these people that buy instant coffee? Making it the normal way takes too long? Are these people serious coffee fiends just looking for their next quick fix? Or just really crunched for time? I have personally spent way more time attempting to perfect the exact formula on this instant coffee thing than it would have taken me to just brew a whole pot… and by that time I would have had 6 great tasting cups instead of 3 sort of weird tasting cups… Ok, just had to rant about that…

Anyhow, check out some more shots on the next page. And if you’re an instant coffee lover, I’d like to hear from you…

See the next page for an up close and personal look at each…