America's Newest Monastic Brewery Opens in Oregon

Very true.

 

Well, no - the monks don't get paid as such, but they get free "room & board" - since the breweries are operated to help make the monasteries self-sufficient.

And, of course, (where applicable) their lay employees get paid and their importers, distributors and retailers all make a profit from selling the beer.

 

Wellll... I get what you're implying Mr Jesus - that monks without any direct history of brewing are looking at the road created by others and jumping in via association as a way to make money... but to look at the question more openly, let's keep in mind how strong the relationship between monks and beer brewing was historically. Beer as we know it was shaped by monks.

While I think there's a degree of truth in these ideas that manages to reflect itself in the (terrific) beers produced, I have a far less romantic perspective. Business is still business.

Trappist beers are not immune to falling below (what should be) QC standards and the monasteries aren't immune to being accused of taking shortcuts or making production decisions seemingly due to financial incentive... be it the use of hop extracts or changing open fermenters to large conical ones.

Sure, a much larger percentage of the money earned from brewing might go to charities, but beyond that, I never really saw much difference in a monk vs a secular brewer selling beer to put a roof over their heads. This talk of gimmicks and pocketing money paints quite a simplistic black and white picture.

Perhaps I'm just more of a cynic than a romantic.

 

Cynic? Romantic? Perhaps, but alternatively, perhaps you, and others, may have overlooked or temporarily forgetten that the exact same behavior exhibited by two different people can arise from two quite different personal motives.

Regular church attendance by two different men may be for two quite different reasons. One may attend church regularly out of a deeply held belief in original sin and the need for perpetual repentance for Adam’s sins. The other may attend that same church regularly out of a desire to create an appearance of belonging and to appear spiritual and repentant to others.

So yes, business is business, but the exact same business decision can be made for two different reasons. As the Abbot of one of the Trappist Monasteries once put it, “We are not Brewers who are monks, we are Monks who brew.” Thus St. Bernardus Abt and Westvletern 12 May seem similar enough to be interchangeable beers, but the brewing, prices and sales policies of each brewery can arise from two different sets of motives or reasons.

Given that we are all outside of the heads of those making the business decisions being discussed in this thread it is sometimes easy to forget that others may think about the world, and the path they wish to follow through life, differently than do we. Thus my stupid question about why it makes a difference if there are some lay people who work with/for the “monks who brew” and my present side trip into pointing out that two different people may behave in exactly the same way for two very different reasons. We can each believe what we choose about others but that does not make us correct.

 

Which begs the question, "Does it make a difference if two similar actions arrive at the same end for two wholly different reasons?" Philosophically? Sure. Realistically? Nope.

 

Nothing wrong with cynicism! I definitely lean toward that over romanticism. If a politician tells me he’s an Everyman, but lives in a multimillion dollar mansion, or he’s a pacifist, but accepts contributions from defense contractors, I’m going to doubt his authenticity. These guys, however. Seem to be walking the walk.

It’s important to note that not all orders and not all vows are the same. Cistercians, or Trappists, follow the Rule or Benedict though. They're pretty hardcore. They give up all their worldly possessions and take a vow of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. They shut themselves out from the world for most of their lives and, while not strictly prohibited from speaking (no vow of silence), they pretty much communicate only when necessary and use a form of sign language to prevent breaking the prayerful nature of silence.

I think part of our perception of these monks, their culture and their beers is influenced by American sensibility. The over saturation of advertising (especially of the ‘guerrilla’ type) has created a natural cynicism and wariness of the genuine.

In the land of mega churches, there is a taboo and an understandable distrust of mixing religion and profit. These monks’ ethos, however, is not built on contemporary American mores, but medieval European theology.

Similarly, adjuncts like sugars and wheat starch, that may carry some taboo in the US brewing are embraced for their irreplaceable qualities in Belgium.

Although these guys may walk around in silly Monty Python cosplay, they don’t abhor technology or change like Amish. @zid noted the switch to conicals, which happened around the same time in Belgium, including non-monastic breweries like Duvel. Basically, studies proved they could get more consistent fermentation and less iso-amyl-acetate from the conicals, so they forwent tradition and went with the quality-forward option. Although some breweries are more tradition-minded (Westmalle?) the history of monastic brewing shows no reluctance to reach beyond the monasteries walls for secular help in the interest of improving quality. Hell, layman Jean de Clerck had more to do with shaping monastic brewing than likely any single monk!
This is another reason I think these beers have a quality argument over the ‘its artisanal or handmade so it’s better).

 

@drtth I enjoyed your post and appreciate your perspective. Let me point out two things tough:

I wasn't trying to express any personal opinion about the merit or lack thereof of beer brewed by monks. I was mentioning criticisms used by other people just so we don't run the risk of characterizing monks brewing beer as a robed cartoon that's too far removed from the reality of a huge Chimay warehouse. I'm really both a cynic and a romantic depending on the moment... so the two sides sometimes balance each other out. The result is that I do end up putting some Trappist product on a pedestal, but I don't necessarily put the brewers there too. This isn't due to anything/one being deserving or not, but rather a personal reaction that says more about me than anything else.

I do think that @EvenMoreJesus 's comment about who's actually doing the brewing is important. Sure, the two roads might lead to the same hypothetical destination regardless of the process or people or motivation, but it's still an important distinction to point out since it paints a more complicated picture than what some folks have imagined in their mind.

Yeah - This thread has unsurprisingly been mentioning the Trappist breweries rather than being strictly focused on the monks in the article. If the monks in the article were Trappists (just a hypothetical for arguments sake), beer brewed in the manner described below (from the article) would not be currently eligible for the Trappist seal.

 

I recognized that you weren't expressing a personal opinion about the merits of the various beers brewed at the monasteries. I also appreciate hearing your thoughts about why it might be important that sometimes there are laypeople working for the monks who supervise the brewing. I don't disagree with what you say. However, as I tried to express in my earlier post there are some additional nuances which others seem to be ignoring in painting a black and white picture involving gimmicks and pocketing money. The picture is not only simplified to black and white it ignores the nature and purpose of monastic commitment and lifestyle.

BTW, while my religious background is not one in which I personally would even consider becoming a monk, during my travels in Europe I have had the opportunity to be a guest in more than one such community. In the course of those experiences I've had the opportunity to spend a good bit of time interacting one on one with some of the folks who have chosen that path in living their lives.

 

I think that a lot of folks see these monastic groups as honoring the "Ora et Labora" ethos and the Rule of St. Benedict and that work, brewing in these cases, was looked at at just as important as prayer. Work without prayer was considered just as problematic as prayer without work, as these two things in harmony can be used to build community, but if either one was out of balance, the community would suffer.

Making beer became the work that many monasteries took on to not only fulfill their vows, but to provide a needed service to their community.

Now it comes to the present day when vocations are at an all-time low, but the monks still have a responsibility to not only their abbey and their community, but also to Rome and beer has become more popular than ever. Is it any wonder that brewing beer would be something that they look to in order to remain profitable? Why not preserves or cheese? I think the answer is obvious and if the monks, themselves, are unable or unwilling to do the brewing, subcontracting the work isn't looked at as a bad thing, as long as it satisfies the need to remain in the black.

That last bit, at least to me, seems more self-serving than it does in the spirit of the original "ora et labora" ethos.

 

True and beer sells itself , everybody needs that money. lol

 

hazebros…..love it

 

There's your first "Like". Welcome aboard!

 

I like this, do you think some of the early monks got drunk one night and had a religious experience and said we are gonna figure this shit out and polish it, maybe they thought it could get them to the next level, like Native Americans with herbs and such . Just a thought. I do think it's cool to think that these guys thought it down deep that this was part of their purpose so they put everything into it as if their life depended on it. That's some love for beer.

 

Just started ordering beer for the bar I've worked at for 5 years so I figure I should get deeper in the game.

 

Probably.