Trappist Beer
A trappist beer is an elusive brew that refers to a specific appellation rather than a beer style with a shared set of characteristics. The trappist appellation is not geographically based but instead corresponds to a legal designation where the beer is brewed under a monk’s supervision on a monastic property. Trappist beer is often classified into a system relating to relative strength and amount of malt used – enkel/single, dubble/double, tripel/triple and quadrupel/quadruple. Abbey beers are of similar styles to trappist ales, but are brewed commercially and without an obligatory religious affiliation.
While the beer style itself is somewhat obscure, the origins of trappist beer can be traced back to the early days of monastic brewing in Europe. These unique and highly individualistic beers tend to reflect the beer traditions of their region and are widely renowned for their rich, nuanced flavours and depth.
Monastic Beer & Early Middle Ages
During the 8th and 9th centuries, monasteries had gained prominence across Europe, as power shifted away from imperial rule following the collapse of the Roman Empire. In southern Europe, monks grew and harvested grapes to make wine for themselves and their communities. In northern regions, the cooler climate was more favourable for growing barley than grapes, so Northern European monks began brewing beer. As water supplies across Europe suffered contamination from sewage, the demand for beer grew as a source of potable water.
St Benedict & Trappists
In the sixth century, Saint Benedict of Nursia wrote the Rule of Saint Benedict, which provided specific lifestyle guidelines for monks and nuns, primarily centered around prayer and work. Trappists, sometimes called Trappistines, were part of a group originally founded in 1098, returning to a purer following of the Rule of Saint Benedict.
During the middle ages, Benedictine monks were required to spend much of the day performing manual labour to support the monastery as well as the community, offering hospitality to travellers and those in need. Brewing beer fulfilled the trappist agenda perfectly, combining hard work with economic support for the congregation and sustenance for the larger community.
Monastic Contribution to Brewing
Monks introduced rigorous sanitary practices and regulations for beer-making and storage. They kept meticulous records of recipes, constantly revising and striving to make a superior product. In 822, Abbot Adalhard of Corbie, France, recorded a series of statutes on how a monastery should run with specific reference to foraging for hops, and how much should be used in a brew. By the turn of the 13th century, German monks had discovered that hops were useful for their preservative properties in addition to balancing sweet malt flavours. This innovation would eventually transform the global beer economy, though it would be several centuries before the use of hops was widely accepted across Europe.
Rise of Commercial Brewing
Monasteries had both agricultural access and resources to build breweries, effectively becoming the large-scale brewers of the time. At the height of monastic brewing, six hundred monastery breweries operated across Europe. The thirteenth century saw the rise in urbanism, as the feudal system and monastic hierarchies began to decline. As monasteries began to shrink, commercial breweries grew, implementing practices borrowed from large-scale monastic breweries.
Trappist ales reflect a time-honoured tradition of quality craftsmanship in brewing, with significant contributions to the brewing process and commercial development. To date there are 11 remaining Trappist breweries recognized by the International Trappist Association (ITA): 5 in Belgium, 2 in the Netherlands, and I each in Austria, England, Italy and USA. With relatively few monastic breweries currently operating, trappist beer has become highly coveted by beer lovers worldwide.
If you’re looking to try a Trappist brew, you’ll likely find one at your local LCBO – it’s the perfect sipper for a cold winter day.
(Leah is a Toronto based freelance writer as well as the Beer Boss and a server at C’est What)