“Bless this creature, Beer. . . . Grant that whoever drinks it, with Thanksgiving to Your Holy Name, may find it a help in body and soul; through Christ Our Lord, Amen.”
That invocation, from a Catholic prayer book titled “The Roman Ritual,” pays tribute to a tradition of monastic brewing that stretches back more than 1,000 years. In an age when drinking water was suspect because of bacterial contamination, monks sustained themselves by brewing a thick, nutritious beer, which proved especially useful during the long Lenten fasts. As early as the 800s, the Abbey of St. Gallen near present-day Zurich had three brewhouses turning out beer not just for the monks but also for thousands of thirsty visitors.
Today, six Trappist monasteries in Belgium and one in the Netherlands carry on this tradition. Except for the strictly cloistered Abbey of St. Sixtus in Westvleteren, Belgium, they all export to the United States. The profits from brewing support the upkeep of the monasteries and the order’s charitable works.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Scourmont in Forges, Belgium, which makes more than 100,000 barrels of its Chimay brands each year, is perhaps the best known internationally. But the Abbey of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Westmalle, Belgium, gives us the clearest delineation of abbey styles. Westmalle produces a lighter, lower-alcohol beer called a “single,” for the monks’ consumption; a dark, stronger ale called a “double,” full of fruit and chocolate flavors; and a pale, even stronger ale called a “triple,” with a drier, herbal-spicy profile.
Yeah, if I ever get a calling, I'll definitely be looking into one of those monasteries in Belgium. I don't dig the haircut too much but I could live with it.
Beer to get me through lent sounds like a very, very good idea. (but then, what would I give up?)`