A faint waft of malt drifts over the walls of the tranquil Mount St Bernard Abbey in central England as brewmaster monks are hard at work within.
Faced with dwindling revenues from dairy farming, the monks at the Trappist monastery in Leicestershire decided about six years ago to swap milk for beer.
They sold the cows and spent five years setting up a state-of-the-art brewery that can produce about 300,000 bottles a year of “Tynt Meadow” — only the 12th beer in the world to receive the centuries-old Catholic order’s coveted seal of approval.
Photo: AFP
To qualify as an “Authentic Trappist Beer,” it is brewed within the monastery’s walls under the community’s control and responsibility, and the revenue it generates is used for social service.
The dark ale with an alcohol content of 7.4 percent last year became the first British brew to be recognized by the International Trappist Association, the order’s trade standards body, following an exacting three-day audit.
Tynt Meadow is named after the plot of land in Leicestershire on which Catholic monastic life was refounded in England in the mid-19th century, about 300 years after the Protestant king Henry VIII shut down the country’s monasteries and convents.
Photo: AFP
It has found an enthusiastic following in the Netherlands and Belgium, and at home among younger Britons who are fuellng the craft beer boom.
“I think people are increasingly fed up with fake and they want authenticity,” monastery head monk Abbot Erik said. “We endeavor to live our life authentically.”
Behind solid limestone walls, a web of pipes and state-of-the-art machinery, custom-made in Germany, churn out about 6,000 bottles with each weekly brew.
The popularity of craft beers and tradition of monastic brewing made the switch from milk an obvious choice, but it also came with challenges.
“We weren’t actually aware that there was a craft beer revolution going on,” Abbot Erik said.
“We were somewhat anxious about that for a bit. I think the other Trappist breweries were also a bit anxious that too many people would want to join the bandwagon,” he said.
The spotless workspace, a former laundry, and the monks’ dedication attest to exacting standards.
One monk, obliged to miss services on brewing day to monitor the high-tech system, joins his brethren in spirit by praying in the brewery, using an iPad app to ensure he is singing from the same page.
“We have our monastic life to live and we can’t let the brewery interfere with that too much,” Brother Joseph said, adding that they would brew only the quantity needed to maintain the monastery and support charities.
Thanks to the time-honored rhythms of monastic life, the brewery unexpectedly found itself in tune with cutting-edge culture, Abbot Erik said.
“The fact we make our beer in an artisanal way, we let the processes take their time, we use select ingredients and there is an important manual component to the work” all fit in with the craft beer trend, he said.
However, it also holds deeper significance, he added.
“Something that appeals to me is that beer is made up of very simple, very humble ingredients,” he said, outside the 19th-century abbey.
“What makes a beer special is that these ingredients are brought together in a specialized environment and then allowed to mature ... and then release a potential that was inconceivable originally, when you just looked at the malt, the hops, the water and the yeast,” he said. “I think there is there something of a parable of what goes on at a deeper level in a monastic community.”
Beer enthusiasts can enjoy the tipple any time, unlike its creators.
They get a taste only on feast days, Christmas and Easter, Brother Joseph said.
“We wouldn’t be great drinkers ourselves, being monks,” he said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was