It’s Thanksgiving in the United States today so most of the regular 12MC readers won’t be seeing this article. They can hang out with Big Tom the Turkey. We have more important things to talk about.
I did consider taking the day off. Instead I decided to post an article that would likely be more interesting to readers beyond U.S. borders, particularly the several faithful continental Europeans who suffer through an inordinate amount of irrelevant content. This one is for you guys, for I have Big News: Google Street View finally arrived in Belgium.
I love Belgium and I’ve been there multiple times. I’ve had great fun returning to some of my favorite spots vicariously in Street View over the last couple of days. I’ll let all of the other geo-blogs focus on famous places like Grand-Place, Butte du Lion and Manneken Pis (he often wears a costume). Instead, this development provided me with a wonderful opportunity to feature another Belgian attraction: breweries at monasteries.
Note, this article is more about geography than religion or brewing. Experts on either subject will consider this grossly oversimplified. So please bear with me. I don’t intend any slights or insults.
Trappists
Trappists are Roman Catholic monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, and thus follow the Rule of St. Benedict. They value obedience, self-sufficiency, contemplation and manual labor as part of their monastic vows. Approximately 170 Trappist monasteries exist throughout the world. Only six in Belgium and one in the Netherlands brew their own beer.
That’s it. The International Trappist Association recognizes only seven production brewery monasteries. [UPDATE: now 14, as of May 2021]. Only they can display the Authentic Trappist Product logo. The rules are strict:
(1) The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
(2) The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
(3) The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
(4) Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers.
Trappist vs. Abbey
Belgian breweries produce plenty of similar beverages they call “Abbey” beers. Even breweries outside of Belgium do this. Naturally this can cause some confusion. It simply means that they mimic Trappist styles or use them as an influence. However, they are not in fact Trappist products.
Many of them are still exceptional beers even if their brewers do not follow the strict rules of the International Trappist Association. How many brewers can one reasonably expected to both build a monastery and turn their lives over to the Rule of St. Benedict? Right. So by definition, this will always limit the number of truly Trappist breweries.
One might find it odd that monks produce alcohol. It goes back in history to a not-too-distant time when people died in droves from water-borne pathogens. So breweries (and distilleries and vineyards) served as the water treatment plants of their day.
Nasty, harmful germs cannot survive in alcohol. We’ve lost sight of that noble purpose in many parts of the world during an era of safe, reliable tap water. However it’s been ingrained within the culture of many places over hundreds of years, including Belgium. They see no discernible contradiction between monks and alcoholic beverages, and monastic life is about moderation anyway.
La Trappe (Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven)
I mentioned that one of the seven Trappist breweries is located in the Netherlands. Here, the Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven brews under the La Trappe label. So I thought I’d get that one out of the way up-front and then return the focus to Belgium. Let’s note it and move along.
Chimay (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont)
Chances are, if you’ve tried an authentic Trappist beer it’s probably Chimay. I know that was true for me when I first discovered the joys of Belgian beers twenty-ish years ago. They’ve done a great job of waving the Trappist banner and bringing it to the minds of discerning consumers worldwide.
Street View images exist but only from a distance on Rue de la Trappe. That’s a shame because they certainly deserve decent coverage. It’s a conundrum I ran into in other places too. Street View tends to have gaps in rural areas and Trappist monasteries aren’t generally located in the middle of cities. So feel free to enjoy the Flickr photo I embedded instead, and review the map.
Achel (Sint Benedictus Abdij – De Achelse Kluis)
Geographically, the most amazing aspect of Sint Benedictus Abdij – De Achelse Kluis is that a small corner of it seems to be in the Netherlands! I do understand that Google can be wrong by several metres especially with international borders so I’ll try not to get too excited. Still, I might be able to add a Trappist monastery to our list of things split by a border. I’ll assume that the physical boundaries of the brewery must fall within Belgium since the Association considers Achel a Belgian product.
Orval (Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval)
If not Chimay, then Orval probably serves as the Trappist beverage most commonly consumed by budding beer aficionados. Street View does a fantastic job of recording the Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval, both its monastic buildings and its production facilities.
Rochefort (L’abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy à Rochefort)
Street View also provides great coverage of L’abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy à Rochefort. This monastery looks quite tranquil and beautiful.
Westmalle (Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle)
However, it falls a bit short on Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle, only getting as close as a long driveway which isn’t very exciting (map). The town of Westmalle, I noticed, is west of the town of Malle, thus bringing to mind that perhaps West is a cognate. I dropped “malle” into a translator and it returned “silly” as the value. West Silly beer? That can’t be right.
Westvleteren (De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren)
De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren does not have Street View images available (map). That obscurity feels appropriate given the rarity of Westvleteren beers. It is barely available commercially, primarily at the abbey’s visitors center.
Visitors must order it ahead of time by telephone, with individual purchases strictly limited, and with only one style available at a time (and sometimes none!). Occasionally it becomes available through other channels including the black/grey market, with its lack of availability creating a mystique and resulting outrageous price markups in serious Beer Geek circles. It’s like a high-class Smokey and the Bandit. There’s nothing like telling someone they can’t have a product to create a demand. That says more about us than the monks.
I hope you enjoyed this romp through the Belgian countryside. I think I’ll have a beer — Gueuze goes great with Turkey.
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