You may think it’s a myth that monks actually brew beer. Well they actually  do! The typical “Monk Beer” is usually brewed by Trappist monks, though are a few others out there.  Of the seven remaining Trappist breweries, six are located within Belgium. The Trappists are an off-shoot of the Benedictine order of priests who follow the rules for monastic life as laid down by St. Benedict. Among these rules is for the monks to live by the work of their own hands, so the typical Trappist monastery may operate a bakery or brewery and will often make artisan cheese. When buying a Trappist-made product, social-consciousness is built-in. The typical monastery uses over half of all profits to benefit the surrounding townspeople as well as being sensitive to the environment.

Most of these monasteries are challenged by the increasing demand for their high quality products while struggling to maintain their numbers within their priestly population. This has resulted in the use of lay-people to run the majority of the production operations, though they are closely supervised by the Brothers. I have talked to some employees at a Trappist brewery and they are well taken care of and wouldn’t consider leaving.

Now let’s talk about the beer! Rochefort beers are identified by number; Rochefort 6, 8 and 10, being in order of strength (and complexity). I consider Rochefort 10 to be one of the finest ales in the world. Weighing in at 11.3%abv, R-10 is strong and very complex, layered with rich flavors of chocolate and bananas, making this a fantastic beer to pair with dessert (though it’s a dessert in itself!).  Rochefort 8 comes in less strong at 9.2%, but it packs similar complexity along with more of a wine-like fruity flavor layered in. Rochefort 6 will not disappoint at 7.5%abv, it is a simpler beer with bready notes of toasted raisin bread and is great with pungent cheese or grilled meats.

Abbey Westmalle offers only two beers simply called Dubbel and Tripel. Westmalle serves as the standard of the style for both its Dubbel and Tripel. Westmalle Dubble contains 7%abv and it magically balances rich malty and even sweet flavors with a clean tart finish. This is an ideal beer to go up against bold red wines like Zins or even softer Pinot-Noirs. Westmalle Tripel is a big blonde beer delivering a spicy, phenolic (clove) kick and weighs in at 9.5%. This is an awesome beer to pair with creamy or cheesy dishes. The beer finishes with a palate cleansing dryness.  

Authentic Trappist beers bear the mark of “The Trappist Shield” and are not to be confused with the many beers that denote themselves as Abbey beers or lead you to believe they are monastically brewed by being named after a Saint, for instance. An abbey beer is a beer that has some sort of affiliation (sometimes just a license arrangement) with a non-brewing abbey to produce beers bearing the abbey’s name. The other beers that merely use a holy name to brand their beers are just that; brands. The quality of such beers is wide ranging, many being world-class themselves like the St. Bernardus beers brewed in Watou Belgium.

These beers should be served at cellar temperature (between 55 and 65 degrees) and ideally served in a chalice shaped glass big enough to contain the large foamy head. Be gentle with the bottles before serving as these beers are all “bottle-conditioned” meaning there is a slug of yeast on the bottom. You may not want to stir-it-up by rough handling. The last “shot” of yeasty beer should not be wasted though. It contains a large healthy dose of B-complex vitamins to help your liver metabolize the alcohol. Divine Providence? - I am sure of it…

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.