Beer - All Comments

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Michael Mighetto Hoefling — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 19:24:30 GMT

Since this post, 3 newer Trappist breweries have been added to the list;

- Spencer of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Massachusetts, USA. (added in 2013)

- Zundert of De Kievit Trappist Brewery/Brouwerij Abdij Maria Toevlucht, Zundert, Netherlands (added in 2014)

- Tre Fontane of the Tre Fontane Abbey, Rome, Italy (added in 2014)

RE: A Sommelier's Essential Beer Knowledge

Joshua Orr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:09:58 GMT

Really excellent info. Can't wait to get up to st. Vincent's in SF and eventually to Hopleaf. Thank you to the both of you for putting this together

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Joshua Orr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:07:43 GMT

Really informative and easily digestible. Thank you to Drew for taking the time to write it

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Linda Adams — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:10:02 GMT

This is awesome. I am so glad you set me straight with Trappist beers and regulations, etc.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:11:19 GMT

Extra notes, and please correct if I am wrong:

-The designation of single, dubbel and triple were for house styles. Originally the monks had a house beer that was not distributed largely and to meet the demand of the village they created a second house style. Casks often marked with crosses to determine a single (one cross), dubbel (two crosses) etc. When on their side crosses look like an "x", hence many images of strong beers in history have three "x" on them.

-The tripel was an answer for the demand of a lighter beer. With the public shifting to a lighter lager style of beer being mass produced in Germany the Trapist houses (Westmalle, I believe being the first) decided to create a third style with a lighter malt. Although tripels are lighter in color they are still ales and have a much higher alcohol content then your typical lager.

-In regards to rule number 3, breweries will donate extra proceeds to charity... many of the breweries would take extra earnings and make bread and cheese for the village. To this day many of the trapist houses make cheese, and Chimay actually distributes a few different beer rind cheeses in America.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:15:45 GMT

Are Belgian quads a modern invention?

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Drew Larson — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:58:16 GMT

Molly,

If you are looking for another beer read this is an article I wrote back in March of last year with a beer guru out in California.

www.guildsomm.com/.../a-sommelier-39-s-essential-beer-knowledge.aspx

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Corey Ladouceur — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:26:29 GMT

Very enjoyable read. Thank you.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Drew Larson — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:37:04 GMT

We had a question via twitter that required a more lengthy answer than I could give via the medium. The question. 'Why was St.Bernardus allowed to brew Westy offsite? Koennigshoeven lost logo rights in `95 for less?'

The question, I believe, is asking why was St. Bernardus allowed to brew for Westvleteren when Koennigshoeven lost logo rights for not brewing their own beer. I think I can best answer this by explaining a bit more back ground on each situation.

Westvleteren has a long history of brewing and even brewed throughout WWI and WWII; the only Trappists to not loose their copper vessels to the Germans. In 1946 Westvleteren contracted a brewery to brew their recipes. This brewery was named St. Sixtus after the patron Saint of the Westvleteren Abbey. During this time, although brewing Westvleteren recipes, it was not a 'Trappist' beer. Finally, in 1992 Westvleteren decided to start brewing again and thus no longer wanted St. Sixtus to brew under that name. St. Sixtus had always been very fair in their dealings with the abbey in handing over large parts of the profit so Westvleteren granted them the right to continue using the recipes. They renamed their brewery St. Bernardus, the patron saint of the town that is its home. Thus, today, St. Bernardus beers are the closest thing to Westvleteren but when they were being contract brewed under the name St. Sixtus they were not official 'Trappist' beers.

What happened with La Trappe is a little bit different. In 1999 La Trappe lost its logo rights, or, was kicked out of the consortium, because they didn't feel they were living up to the requirements. Without the logo and right to the name they renamed the brewery (or line of beers) Koningshoeven. They couldn't use the name but they could certainly brew beer. Obviously this isn't the situation they wanted so they fought to get the logo and name back on their beer. During this fight they brought on an Abbot who became far more involved and won the fight for the name. In 2005 they earned back the right to use the logo and name and has been La Trappe since. As an interesting side note, La Trappe has so much extra capacity for brewing they allow Urthel to contract brew there. That is right, all Urthel beers are brewed at the La Trappe brewery; they are not, however, Trappist beers.

I do hope that answered the question as I understood it.

Cheers!

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

LGS — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 20:11:23 GMT

Thank you for this informative article!

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Drew Larson — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:50:56 GMT

Molly,

I left many beers out from each of the breweries. Most of them have at the very least a Patersbier, or Fathers Beer, that is brewed only for the monks. Sometimes they share with the public but only at their cafés, so between that and the little commercial data on them I didn't include descriptions. Several of the breweries then have another beer on top of that only available at the Abbey which I also didn't include. I aimed at the beers that we all have a shot at getting our hands on. If one should go on a pilgrimage then surprise awaits! Hopefully they will share their experiences with us. I lived in Germany from 2000 to 2003 but alas I didn't make it to any of the Trappist Abbeys in that time.

Cheers!

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Molly Brooks — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:34:05 GMT

Love this read, it's so refreshing to get some beer in the discussion every now and then! My husband and I own a Homebrewing supply store, and fine beer was my gateway beverage into fine wine! I went to Belgium for the second time last year with my husband and we took a trip out to Poperinge to visit Westvleteren and St. Bernardus and it is one of my fondest travel memories. On that note, I noticed you didn't include the other two beers Westvleteren brews, I know they are far less common but they are sold at the cafe next to the brewery for anyone who's on a pilgrimage for Trappist beers.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Drew Larson — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:39:11 GMT

Glad you enjoyed the article, it is an honor and a pleasure to contribute to this forum. If you ever have questions you think I can answer for you don't hesitate to ask. Aaron, I've been home brewing for 13 years and am working on the Associates of Brewing Technology from the World Brewing Academy through Siebel Institute; happy to answer questions if you have em.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Phillip Dunn — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:15:21 GMT

Good info. Thanks.

RE: What Would Jesus Brew? - The Trappist Beers

Aaron Piatt — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:20:45 GMT

Being a home brewer and beer enthusiast, I appreciate all the history. Thank you for this awesome post.