Tag: Belgium Beer

Belgian Nuns [Centuries later] Join Monks in Beer Production

Maredret Abbey in Belgium is a 20-strong Benedictine community, founded in 1893. The Abbey’s nuns, struggling to scrape together the funds for much-needed renovation work, turned to brewing beer.

The Abbey teamed up with a brewer five years ago, in the hopes of producing beer infused with some of their history and values, in order to fix their leaky roofs and cracked walls.

Abbey beers, where a brewer pays royalties to use the Abbey name, are common in Belgium. But until now only monks have been associated with these brews.

The Belgian nuns, in association with brewer and importer John Martin, launched two beers this summer. Maredret Altus is a 6.8% amber beer using cloves and juniper berries, and Maredret Triplus is an 8% blond incorporating coriander and sage.

“It’s good for one’s health. It aids digestion. All the sisters like the beer, we are in Belgium after all,” said Sister Gertrude. Each nun is permitted to enjoy one bottle of beer every Sunday.

“We wanted a beer made from spelt, for which we have great esteem because of its virtues, as well as medicinal plants, since our aim was to make a beer that could improve the health of people. Our project was about respect for human nature, which consists of not eating and drinking just anything. A herbal beer met our goals of helping people with their health very well” says Sister Gertrude.

Spelt is a grain mentioned in texts by Saint Hildegard, a German Benedictine abbess from the 11th century who has inspired the Belgian order. Plants commonly grown in the nuns’ garden are also used.

Production is close to 300,000 bottles per year, according to head distiller and great-grandson of the brewer’s founder, Edward Martin. He predicts that this will rise to around 3 million in a couple of years. The beer has already launched outside of Belgium in Spain and Italy.

Maredret Abbey is just a kilometre from male counterpart Maredsous Abbey, whose beer, made by Duvel, is widely available.

‘All the sisters like the beer, we are in Belgium after all’, said Sister Gertrude

 

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Rochefort Trappist Brewery Resurrects It’s 100-Year-Old Beer Recipe

Belgium’s Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy, also known as Brasserie Rochefort, or Rochefort Brewery, has been brewing Trappist ales since 1797. For the first time in more than half a century, the historic brewery is releasing a new beer.

Monks at the abbey started producing a blonde Trappist in 1920 but discontinued production after just three years. One hundred years on, that recipe is being revived in Rochefort’s new “Triple Extra.”

“We had been considering making a new blonde beer for a long time, but now the time was right,” the brewery states.

François Mathy, production manager at Rochefort, said the new 8.1-percent ABV blonde beer was inspired by the monk’s original recipe, but “adapted to modern times.”

Those hoping to get their hands on the blonde Trappist may have to wait sometime. As of publishing, it’s unclear where Triple Extra will be sold and how much has been made. Thankfully, it seems like this one is set to stick around for more than three years.

“We have made the first brew and are surprised by the quality of the beer, which is close to the optimum,” Mathy told local Belgian news. “But we will remain attentive to consumers and make possible adjustments in order to further improve it.”