Brewgodly - Part 2: Trappist Traditions

The monks of Mt Angel Abbey make great beer. Their dubbel, St. Gabriel 2.0, is a strong, dark ale balanced beautifully with dark malt character and classic Belgian yeast esters. You don’t find many trappist breweries outside of Europe and yet they do exist. Some like Benedictine Brewery started brewing only seven years ago despite the abbey’s creation in 1882. They make beer to be enjoyed “in gatherings of food and fellowship, nourishing both the body and the spirit.” Self-sufficiency has been at the heart of monastic communities for centuries and normally they  produce only enough to help support their basic needs and use ingredients they grow themselves and water found on site. They are simply not motivated to make more money regardless of the material wealth or market share that might be gained. Their priority? “Beer with a higher purpose.”

But it’s just beer right? Well, not in their world. Or mine. For me, brewing in the depths of rural Congo (and the hardships of high ambient temperatures) or London (and the travails of hard water and the gritty city), it has always been about more than just good beer. These days, especially in Portland, Oregon, if you throw a stone from anywhere in the city, you will hit at least one brewery and it will be serving great beer. I guess that could be enough. But should it be? Something tells me that a sated craft beer lust isn’t enough. What of deeper purpose and community?

Mt Angel beer is not the best by world standards and certainly can’t match the finest breweries in this part of America, but that’s not the point. It has a quality which makes it excel in ways difficult to define. It is connected to tradition and sustainable ways of living which are profoundly good (even as the Catholic Church is sullied by paedophilic disgrace). There is an evocative incarnational aspect which means it transcends the approach taken by most breweries. Some might say it has heart.

What goes in comes out somehow. Can you taste a prayer? Does motivation matter? The monks believe it does. I agree.

For the love of beer,

brewgodly