Eat, Drink, and Worship: Trappist Monks, and Trappist Beers

Many people will be familiar with the name `Trappist', and may even have a notion that Trappist beers are made by monks, but few probably have a clear idea of what exactly a Trappist beer is. In order to be called `Trappist' the beers must be made in a brewery controlled and occupied by monks of the strictest Benedictine order - the Trappists. These days, however, the monks themselves tend not to have much to do with the actual brewing, and even less to do with the business side!

So `trappist' is not so much a style as an appellation of origin. There are many good `Abbey' beers which, although brewed like Trappist beers, cannot be called `Trappist' as they are not made under monasic supervision. This appelation is vigorously defended by the only six `Trappist' abbeys (or breweries) and is in fact now law in Belgium.

Abbeys have always brewed beer, both for the residents and for travellers staying. Before the Reformation, abbeys were also centres of learning, especially brewing! Unfortunately, in France during the Revolution, the abbeys were stripped of their wealth, and brewing ceased almost entirely. Westmalle restarted properly in 1836, but it was not until after the First World War that any of the abbeys started producing on a commercial scale. But even now there are only five Trappist abbeys which produce beer in Belgium, and one in the Netherlands.

The breweries and their products are as follows:


La Trappe
Konigshoeven, the Netherlands
Westmalle Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle, near Antwerp, Belgium
Westvleteren Abdij Sint Sixtus, Westvleteren, West Flanders
Chimay Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Scourmont, near Vhimay, Belgium
Orval Abbaye de Notre-Dame d'Orval, Belgium
Rochefort Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy, Rochefort, Belgium

Be sure to check the names carefully, as there is also an abbaye range of beers called St Sixtus, which do not come from Westvleteren: the Westvleteren beers don't usually have a label.

The one brewing monastery in the Netherlands is in the Catholic south of the country, near the city of Tilburg, not far from the Belgian border. It uses the simple name La Trappe under which it markets a ruby-coloured, pruny, sherry-ish double and a paler, drier, more herbal-tasting triple.

All the Trappist brews contain residual sugars and living yeast and -- unlike conventional beers -- will improve with age. They need to be stored at a cellar temperature (on their side if they are in corked bottles) and should not be refrigerated.

The double type may round out for a month or two, but the strongest ones develop for several years, gradually gaining port-like characteristics.

The strongest, at 11-11.5 per cent, is the rich, creamy beer simply called Abbot, from the monastery of Westvlereten, near the hop-growing town of Poperinge, not far from Ypres.

Like all of the brewing monasteries, Orval was revived after the secularization of the Napoleonic period, but it originated in 1070. The magnificent Romanesque-Burgundian monastery of the late Twenties stands alongside ruins of earlier incarnations.

Some of the monasteries own nearby inns, but casual visitors are not readily admitted to the cloisters or breweries. The Trappists are a silent order and may speak only in the course of prayer, study or work.

[Ron Buchet, in Continental Beer Styles, and Michael Jackson, The Beer Hunter]

Grilled Burgers with Hoisin-Stout Beer Sauce

# 1 pound ground beef
# 4 Tablespoons hoisin sauce, divided
# 3 cloves garlic, minced, divided
# 1/2 teaspoon salt
# 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
# 2 teaspoons sesame oil
# 2 Tablespoons onion, minced
# 1/2 cup Stout Beer
# 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
# 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
# 2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
# 4 hamburger rolls, toasted or lightly grilled
# 12 cucumber slices, thinly sliced
# 4 leaves lettuce

Make burgers by gently kneading together ground beef, 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce, 1 clove minced garlic, salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties.

Prepare grill, or preheat broiler.

While grill or oven is heating, make sauce. In small saucepan, warm sesame oil over low heat. Stir in 2 cloves minced garlic and onion pieces; cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce, soy sauce and Stout Beer. In small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in rice wine vinegar; stir into Beer sauce. Increase heat to medium; bring sauce to a simmer. Let bubble for about 2 minutes until well thickened. Set aside until ready to serve.

Grill burgers to desired doneness. Place burgers on rolls; brush with sauce. Top with cucumbers and lettuce leaves. Serve remaining sauce on the side, if desired.

Serves 4.

Recipe courtesy of the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Monk on my back Trappist Ale

Source: Gene Kane / Jeramy Simonian
Recipe added: 05/06/97
Email: gkane@nayzak.com

This is a really good recipe I got from my local homebrew dude, and it's the last partial mash I'm doing. Going up to all grain from here, and going to work on this sucker until I get an authentic Chimay Red Label. I wish I'd cultured from Chimay, but it's still good with the Wyeast. Let this stuff age! I've buried some in the backyard, and ain't gonna touch it until July.

Specifics
Recipe type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.074
Finishing Gravity: 1.014
Time in Boil: 60 min
Primary Fermentation: 7 days
Secondary Fermentation: 14 days

Ingredients:

* 6 lbs. LDME
* 2 lbs. Munich malt
* 1 lbs. Carapils
* 1/2 lb. Wheat
* 2 oz. Black patent
* 4 oz. Hallertauer
* 1/2 oz. Fuggles
* 1 lb. Belgian dark candi sugar
* 1/2 oz. Crushed coriander

Procedure:
Protein rest for 30 minutes @ 122 deg. Bring up to 150 deg for 90 minutes. Out at 168 deg for 10 minutes. Sparge with 160 deg water. pot should have approx. 3 gallons of sweet wort. Add LDME, Candi sugar and boil for 60 min. Hop schedule is 1/2 oz each Hallertauer @ 35 minutes, 25 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes. Coriander for 30 minutes. Dry hop Fuggles...Pitch Wyeast 3787.

Hi all @ the homebrewers team

Congrats to FredB on taking over the captaincy from Bill. Nice new thread for you guys. I just thought I'd wish you all the best, keep on crunching and brewing ( in that order please guys, for the good of everyone LOL ) from the WWO Team, as Bill was the first to wish us well the other day on our new team thread.

Oh and WWO stands for the World Wide Ownage team the team for Online Gamers, so dont worry about that Monk on yer back FredB I'll FRAG him for ya mate.

If you want to you can feel free to come over to our thread and share some banter, some jokes, some new beer recipies or even just to have a friendly chat ( I must stress slander and general bitchiness will also be wholeheartedly accepted and returned with the spirit it was sent, HUMOUR ).

Cheers guys and keep up the good drinking, sorry crunching, you know what I mean

Hey now, hey there, haven't seen you around a brewing thread in a while. Where's you been hiding out?

Cheers
FB