You will have heard the news. The Monks of Westmalle have sold St Benedict’s Abbey in Achel (Limburg) that now loses all right to call any beers brewed at the abbey brewery Trappist beer. Earlier, when the last two monks moved out from St Benedict’s, the brewery lost the right to label its beers ATP, Authentic Trappist Product. Many people are devastated but says Flemish beer expert Sofie Vanrafelghem: “This is no disaster. Even with the loss of Achel Trappist Belgium still boasts a prestigious Trappist landscape”.
“It’s always a shame when a Trappist beer disappears” says Sofie. Despite the loss of the ATP label Trappist at Achel was still being brewed under supervision by the monks of Westmalle Abbey and beer lovers hadn’t noticed too many big changes to the taste. The Trappist was still brewed using Westmalle yeast and according to the traditional recipe.
What will happen now is unclear. Trappist beers need to comply with written and unwritten rules. An unwritten rule is the fact that brewers must try to attain the highest quality. “At Westmalle Abbey Trappist is brewed using pure hop cones” explains Sofie. “In Westvleteren the brewery was modernised but the main aim was sustainability not efficiency! There have been no efforts to speed up brewing.”
Trappist beers originated in our regions and today Belgium still boasts five different Trappists.
“Belgian Trappist beers are really the Originals. Under Benedictine rules monks were allowed to live on the produce of their manual work and they were also permitted to drink the beverage of the region. In Belgium, in addition to butter milk and water, this was beer. The monks also sold their produce in a time when Trappist wasn’t yet trendy. It’s only in recent years that Belgian Trappists became in great demand abroad” explains Sofie.
The International Trappist Association makes sure the ATP logo is only used when strict criteria are met. “This is necessary” says Sofie “because in the past there was frequent abuse of the name”.
Trappist beers must be brewed within the confines of a monastery under supervision of the monks. The revenue from the Trappist beer must be invested in the abbey or the abbey community or must be donated to charity. For the monks brewing Trappists is a means to an end, a way to survive and pay for their upkeep. The most important element in a Benedictine community is to devote life to God and observance of Benedictine rules. The next priority is the quality of the beer. Sofie likes to compare the process to that or craft breweries where profit isn’t the main aim: it’s the experience!