 | |
| Industry | Trappist brewery |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 19, 1862 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Beer |
Production output | 123000 hL |
| Website | chimay |
Chimay Brewery (Brasserie de Chimay) is a brewery at Scourmont Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Chimay, Hainaut, Belgium, one of the thirteen breweries worldwide that produce Trappist beer. They make four ales: Chimay Rouge, Chimay Bleue, Chimay Blanche, and Chimay 150; and one patersbier for the monks. The monastery also makes four varieties of cheese.
The brewery was founded inside Scourmont Abbey, in the Belgian municipality of Chimay in 1862. [1]
The brewery produces four ales as well as a patersbier for the monks themselves which is occasionally sold as Chimay Gold; they are known as Trappist beers because they are made in a Trappist monastery. It was the first brewery to use the Trappist Ale designation on its labels. [2]
As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is sold only for financial support of the monastery and good causes. [3] The brewery business pays rent for use of the property within the abbey, which is used to support the monastic community. The majority of the profit from the sale of the beer is distributed to charities and for community development around the region. [4] As of 2007, sales figures for Chimay products exceeded $50 million per year. [5]
The water for the beers is drawn from a well located inside the monastery walls. The filtered solids from the beer mash are recycled into livestock feed which is given to the same cows that produce the milk for Chimay cheeses.
The beer is transported from the monastery to the bottling plant 12 km away, which can fill 40,000 bottles per hour, of which many are returns. The beer is then refermented in the bottle for three weeks before being shipped around the world. 50% of Chimay beer production is sold on the export markets. [6]
The brewing plant was updated in 1988, and as of 2005 produced 12 megalitres annually. [7]
The ingredients are: water, malted barley, wheat starch, sugar, hop extract and yeast; malt extract is used in Rouge and Bleue for colouring. [8]
Since 1876 the monastery has also made cheese, and as of 2010 offers four cheeses. [14]
They are:
Chimay is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. In 2006, Chimay had a population of 9,774. The area is 197.10 km2 which gives a population density of 50 inhabitants per km2. It is the source of the Oise River.
Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain—currently produce beer, but the Authentic Trappist Product label is assigned by the International Trappist Association (ITA) to just ten breweries which meet their strict criteria. As of 2021, Achel is no longer recognized as a Trappist brewery because it does not have any living monks.
Westvleteren is a brewery founded in 1838 at the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Vleteren, Belgium.
Orval Brewery is a Trappist brewery within the walls of the Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval in the Gaume region of Belgium.
Achel Brewery or Brouwerij der Sint-Benedictusabdij de Achelse Kluis was a Belgian Trappist brewery, until January 2021. It continues to operate as a brewery but is no longer Trappist, as the brewing monks whose presence gave rise to that status have retired. It is located in the Abbey of Saint Benedict in the Belgian municipality of Hamont-Achel. It brews six "Trappist beers".
Rochefort Brewery is a Belgian brewery which produces four beers designated as Trappist beers. The brewery is associated with the Rochefort Abbey, a Trappist monastery which originated in the 13th century. The current brewery dates from 1899.
Westmalle Brewery is a Trappist brewery in the Westmalle Abbey, Belgium. It produces three beers, designated as Trappist beer by the International Trappist Association. Westmalle Tripel is credited with being the first golden strong pale ale to use the term Tripel.
Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries including Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 liters of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The term dubbel is a Belgian Trappist beer naming convention. The origin of the dubbel was a strong version of a brown beer brewed in Westmalle Abbey in 1856, which is known to have been on sale to the public by June 1861. In 1926, the recipe was changed, and it was sold as Dubbel Bruin. Following World War Two, abbey beers became popular in Belgium and the name "dubbel" was used by several breweries for commercial purposes.
De Koningshoeven Brewery (Brouwerij de Koningshoeven) is a Dutch Trappist brewery founded in 1884 within the walls of Koningshoeven Abbey (Abdij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven) in Berkel-Enschot (near Tilburg).
Brewery Ommegang is a brewery located near Cooperstown, New York, United States, that specializes in Belgian-style ales.
St. Bernardus is a brewery in Watou, Belgium.
Dupont Brewery is a brewery in Tourpes (Leuze-en-Hainaut), in western Hainaut, Belgium. Founded in 1950, it is on a working farm which dates back to 1759 and has significant brewing history. In the 1990s, a bread bakery and cheese-making facility were added.
Alvinne is a small brewery in the hamlet of Moen near the Belgian city of Zwevegem, founded in 2002.
Scourmont Abbey is a Trappist monastery on the Scourmont plateau, in the village of Forges which is part of Chimay in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and for running the Chimay Brewery, one of the few producers of Trappist beer.
Chimay Abbey is an abbey in Wallonia in the city of Chimay, Hainaut, Belgium.
Brasserie de Brunehaut is the trade name for Brunehaut Brewery, located in Rongy-Brunehaut (Hainaut), Wallonia, 80 km south/southwest of Brussels, Belgium, near the French border.
Most beer sold in France is pilsner lager, mass-produced by major breweries which control over 90% of the market, although there are also traditional beer styles, such as top-fermented Bière de Garde, and a number of microbreweries.
The Abbey Brewing Company is an American craft brewing company located in the Chama River Wilderness Area near Abiquiú, New Mexico. The microbrewery was founded in 2003 as a Benedictine joint venture of Our Lady of Guadalupe monastery in Pecos, New Mexico and the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiú. It is the first American monastery brewery founded since before the Prohibition Era. The brewery's motto is "Made with care and prayer".
Tynt Meadow is an English Trappist beer with an alcohol content of 7.4%. It is brewed at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire.
