While it’s been a rumor for a number of years — I first learned about it at least four years back, but like a monk was sworn to silence — finally it’s out in the public. America is getting its first officially sanctioned Trappist brewery. St. Joseph’s Abbey of Spencer, Massachusetts will be adding brewing to its daily routine, and selling under the name Spencer Brewing Co.
The abbey was established in upstate New York in 1950, and is part of the Catholic Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), better known as “Trappists.” Many reports have indicated there’s 180 of them worldwide, but I count 175 at the list on the order’s official website.
The abbey already sells preserves, and has done so for a long time, since around 1954. They also sell “liturgical vestments, and run a farm” to fund the abbey. Apparently the Scourmont Abbey, which makes Chimay, is helping the monks of St. Joseph’s in some capacity, whether through education, logistical support or just consultation I’m not sure. I also know that Dann Paquette from Pretty Things had been helping out, at least in the early stages, as he’d befriended a couple of the monks there as they gathered information and were considering the project of opening a brewery. Records indicate the building for brewing will be 50,000 square feet and their goal to brew 10,000 bbl per year. The first beer will be a Pater, a type of beer made by several Belgian breweries. Here’s how the back label describes the beer:
“Inspired by traditional refectory ales brewed by monks for the monks’ table, Spencer is a full-bodied, golden-hued Trappist ale with fruity accents, a dry finish and light hop bitterness.”
The brewery website is still empty, with just a Go Daddy holding page, and there’s no word on when the beer might be available. With the now Belgian-owned Anheuser-Busch InBev, Sierra Nevada working with Ovila, Moortgat buying Boulevard Brewing, and now this, there’s going to be a lot more Belgian-inspired, and Belgian-made, beer in the U.S. in coming years. But it’s hard not to be excited about this development.
And the hexagonal Trappist logo is on the back label.
Having gone up to the Abbey of New Clairvau in Vina (the monastery that SNVB collaborates with) and heard what a hard time they have recruiting men to become monks, a brewing program might not be the worst recruiting tool in the world.
Excellent news. I hope though the beers will have an American taste: APA or one somehow influenced by American hops. In particular, I hope the beer avoids the raisiny/yeasty taste which most Trappists have and indeed most Belgian ales have. It’s territory well-covered, perhaps too well-covered, to need a new world version (IMO).
Gary
Well put Gary. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Right.. Because the APA style isn’t overdone at all in the US. If you’re going to make a Trappist brew, make a Trappist brew. Don’t make an American brew and call it Trappist.
There’s no such thing as a “Trappist Brew” as far as style guidelines go. The brewery should make whatever it wants.
The American PA/IPA has been done, done, and done again. It’s the last new beer I’d like to see added to a pretty well saturated market. Well done American belgian-inspired beers, on the other hand, are relatively few in comparison. I’d certainly welcome a few more. Especially a solid quadrupel.
I hope their beer will be as good as their lemon marmalade (which I’ve been buying for years when I’m in the DC area; I’ve never seen it in CA), & maybe find its way out here.
the hexagonal logo which certifies the product as authentic and Trappist is missing from the label, anyway…
It’s on the back label.
IIRC, what makes beer Trappist by the definition of their association are things like production within the monastery walls, it’s not any particular production method or taste. Orval doesn’t have the taste I mentioned for example, it’s more a brett-influenced pale ale. It’s true there are a lot of APAs. But also, current American hop production allows for a variety of tastes unique to the new world. In the end, we are talking subjective taste, and I’m just saying if they make something that is a clone of a typical Belgian flavour it’s not what I (as a potential customer) want.
Gary
Orval is an excellent bret/dry hopped ale. I would like to see a good wit(single), and a decent triple. The trappist singles are usually never exported to the US. The Chimay Dorie and the Orval Petite just to name a few.