An American monastery brewery
Within a matter of weeks drinkers as a few select spots in Santa Fe, N.M., will be able to order Monks’ Ale on draft in a specially designed Monks’ Ale glass inscribed “Made with care and prayer.”
They are bound to have questions, because what will be the first monastery brewery in the United States in more than 100 years has already earned a small measure of national attention. This will be an ongoing story - not only because of the links with two abbeys, but also because of the effort to build a brewery that is in harmony with the surrounding environment. (Can you say “biomass-powered refrigeration?”)
It will be fun for me because the brewery is only about 80 miles from my house. So here’s the first round of questions and answers.
Where is the beer brewed?
For now, beer will be brewed under contract at Sierra Blanca Brewing in Carrizozo.
Where will the brewery be built?
Just north of Pecos, on land that the Pecos Benedictine Monastery is selling to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert near Abiquiu. Abbey Beverage Co. is a partnership between the two monasteries. The Pecos Benedictine Monastery sits on 1,100 acres and the brewery complex will occupy no more than six. Walking the land right now you need more than a bit of imagination to envision a brewery.
The Pecos monastery will house a small pilot brewery that was delivered Sept. 14.
Brad Kraus, whose beers have won awards in many national competitions, will supervise brewing. He’ll use the pilot brewery for test batches and perhaps a few small-run specials.
When will Monks’ Ale be available in bottles?
Not until after the beginning of the year, but there is a chance Kraus will do a small-batch Christmas beer.
What other beers will be brewed?
Kraus brewed test batches of Monks’ Ale, Prior’s Ale (a dubbel) and Abbot’s Ale (a tripel). He entered the first two in the New Mexico State Fair Pro-Am, with Monks’ Ale winning a gold medal as a Belgian Pale Ale and Prior’s Ale sharing a silver medal.
What’s the Monks’ Ale like?
It’s along the lines of the beers Trappist breweries produce for the monks themselves to drink but don’t sell commercially (such as Westmalle Extra and Chimay Doree). A 1.052 (13 degrees Plato) beer, it’s 4.7% abv and 16 IBUs. The grain bill included two-row pale, honey malt and aromatic malt, and Monk’s Ale was hopped with Hallertauer, Styrian Goldings and Czech Saaz.
Kraus fermented all the test batches with White Labs WLP 510, which was sourced from Orval (primary fermentation; not the Brettanomyces used in secondary).
One State Fair judge (a Belgophile, in fact) described the aroma of Monks’ Ale as, “biscuit with honey” and the flavor as “sweet in balance between malt and spice, fruity and bready fading to a clean finish.”
February 18th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I inquired over a year ago and was wondering if the joint-venture monastery brewery was ever built.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
There has been no progress on the brewery.
The monks continue to have Monks’ Ale produced under contract at Sierra Blanca Brewing. The first bottled version was released in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe region in December.
February 24th, 2007 at 12:19 am
So is it true that Monk’s Ale comes in at 4.7% abv? When it was first introduced to the pubs of Albuquerque last year, all the bartenders commented that it was a strong beer. As good as it may be, I would not call 4.7% abv a strong beer.
February 26th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Ron - It is 4.7%.
I guess the bartenders thought it was strong a) because of the strong aromas or b) because they figure all “abbey” style beers are.