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Beer, Wine & Spirits

2003-04-01 11:38:00

What is Trappist Beer?

:  What is a Trappist Beer? Is it really made by monks?

ANSWER:  The term Trappist Beer is properly applied only to a brewery in a monastery of the Trappists, one of the most severe orders of monks. This order, established at La Trappe, in Normandy, is a stricter observance of the Cistercian rule, itself a breakaway from the Benedictines.  Among the dozen or so surviving abbey breweries in Europe, seven are Trappist, six in Belgium and one just across the Dutch border. The Trappists, who left France after the turbulence of the Napoleonic period, established all the breweries in their present form. The Trappists have the only monastic breweries in Belgium, all making strong ales with a re-fermentation in the bottle. Some gain a distinctly rummy character from the use of candy-sugar in the brew-kettle. They do not represent a style, but they are very much a family of beers. The three in the French-speaking part of the country are all in the forest country of the Ardennes, where hermitages burned charcoal to fuel early craft industries. It is not usually possible to visit the abbeys without prior arrangement by letter, and can be difficult even then. Most offer their beers in a nearby cafe' or auberge (inn).The breweries:Orval: The most singular of the Trappist brewing abbeys, in both its architecture and its beer. The name derives from Vallee d'Or (Golden Valley). Legend has it that Countess Matilda of Tuscany (c1046-1115) lost a gold ring in the lake. When it was brought to the surface by a trout, she thanked God by endowing a monastery. The monastery, originally Benedictine, later Cistercian, was certainly brewing before the French Revolution. After the revolution, it was rebuilt sometime between 1929 and 1936; it sits on the French frontier, at Villers-devant-Orval in the Belgian province of Luxembourg, not far from Florenville. The present abbey, officially called Notre Dame d'Orval, stands alongside the ruins of the old. Bread and cheese are made for sale, as well as a startlingly dry, hoppy, orange colored ale of approximately 6.2 % (alcohol by volume).Chimay: The best known of the Trappist brewing monasteries. This abbey, also called Notre Dame, stands on a small hill called Scourmont, near the hamlet of Forges, not far from the town of Chimay, also on the French border, but in the province of Hainaut. The abbey, in the Romanesque style, was built in 1850. While the early abbeys brewed for their own communities, Chimay was the first to sell its beer commercially. Between the two World Wars, it coined the appellation "Trappist Beer." The yeasts, working at a very high temperature, impart a character reminiscent of Zinfandel or Port wine, especially to Chimay's 7.0% and 9.0% alcohol by volume beers. Between the two is a drier, paler, hoppier version at 8.0 % (abv). In ascending order of strength are Premiere, Cinq Cents and Grande Reserve. The strongest will mature in the bottle for at least five years.Rochefort: The least well-known of the established Trappist breweries. Notre Dame de St Remy is near the small town of Rochefort, in the province of Namur, where the valley of the river Meuse rises into the Ardennes. The settlement dates from at least 1230, when it was a convent, and brewed at least as early as 1595. The beers, tawny to brown in color, have an earthy honesty, perhaps deriving from a quite simple formulation, in which dark candy-sugar is a significant ingredient. They have flavors reminiscent of figs, bananas and chocolate. The range is divided, according to an old Belgian measure of density, into beers of 6.0, 8.0 and 10.0 degrees. These have 7.5, 9.2, and 11.3 % alcohol by volume. The brewery has always quietly gone about its business, but in recent years its 10-degree beer has won a growing appreciation.Westvleteren: The smallest of the Trappist breweries. The abbey of St Sixtus, at West Vleteren, near Leper and Poperinge, dates from the 1830's. Its beers are not filtered or centrifuged at any stage of production, and emerge with firm, long, big, fresh, malty flavors and suggestions of plum brandy. The Belgian degree system is again used to identify these beers with the strongest being close to 11.5% (abv), but has on occasion been rated the most potent beer in Belgium. The beers are available next door at the Cafe In De Vrede. Otherwise, trade and public alike have to go to a serving hatch at the abbey. A recorded phone message tells callers which beer will be available, and when. If the 11.5% is on sale, cars will begin queuing, long before the 10 a.m. opening time. Each car is rationed to ten cases. The monks are inflexible on this point, even toward a card owner who makes a 1,500-mile round-trip from Odense, on the Danish island of Fynen. "We make as much beer as we need to support the abbey and no more," say the monks.Westmalle: Famous for one beer in particular, a world classic, though it makes three. The abbey of Our Lady of Sacred Heart is in flat countryside at West Malle, between the city of Antwerp and the Dutch border. The monastery was established in 1794 and has brewed since 1836. It is thus the oldest of Belgium's post-Napoleonic Trappist breweries. Its renown, though, derives from the introduction of golden Trappist ales to meet competition from fashionable Pilsners after World War II. Its beers include a marvelously subtle, golden "Single" (curiously called Extra), brewed at 4.0% (abv) for the monks' own consumption. Sometimes also found outside the abbey, is a dark-brown, fruity Dubbel (the French spelling), at 6.5% (abv), and its most famous beer, its golden-to-bronze, aromatic, orangey-tasting, complex Tripel, at 9.0% (abv). These Trappist classics have popularized the notion that an "abbey-style Double" should be strong and dark and a "Triple" yet more potent but pale.Achel: Brewing is being revived, on a small scale, at this sixth Trappist abbey - in Belgium, but close to the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The abbey had a brewery before World War II. In 1998, it opened a small pub initially selling Westmalle prior to making its own beer. This positive step came at a time of less happy news from across the border, where the Koningshoeven abbey was considering consigning its Schaapskooi brewery, producer of the La Trappe ales, to a joint venture with a large, commercial lager-maker.