Now there are seven “sanctioned” Trappist beers. The International Trappist Association has announced it will allow La Trappe to again use the official Trappist logo on its beers.

Because La Trappe was not sancitoned while I was researching BLAM I did not visit the brewery - although Derek Walsh did provide the same basic details (OG, attenuation, IBU, etc.) about La Trappe’s beers as we feature on the other monastery beers. Beyond the fact that Koningshoeven produces beers in the bock and Belgian wit styles there are some interesting difference between its beers and other Trappists. La Trappe tripel, for instance, is 14 IBUs, compared to 39 and 35 for Westmalle and Chimay respectively.

As an aside: Michael Jackson visited La Trappe when he did his Beer Hunter television series in 1989, and that’s always worth reviewing.

The ITA press release:

The International Trappist Association (I.T.A) announces that it grants the “Authentic Trappist Product” logo to all “La Trappe” beers produced in the Koningshoeven Brewery by the monks of Koningshoeven Abbey in Berkel-Enschot (Tilburg, The Netherlands).

In 1999, the I.T.A. had withdrawn its logo for all the La Trappe beers after the agreement concluded by Koningshoeven Abbey with Bavaria B.V. The Association considered the situation so confused that it could not guarantee the authentic provenance of beers bearing the name of “La Trappe.” Consequently, Koningshoeven Abbey had ceased to use the logo.

To satisfy the logo criteria, Koningshoeven Abbey recently revised its cooperation agreement with Koningshoeven Brewery (a subsidiary of Bavaria B.V.) : In this new agreement, the position of the monks resulted in the Trappist provenance of “La Trappe” beers being strengthened and guaranteed.

Further to an independent survey conducted in the name of the International Trappist Association (I.T.A.) and Koningshoeven Abbey, the I.T.A. now believes that “La Trappe” beers meet the criteria for the logo.

“La Trappe” beers are produced exclusively within a part of the monastery walls, where the Koningshoeven Brewery is a tenant of the abbey. In its capacity of owner, Koningshoeven Abbey decides about the use of the buildings.

As regards production ­ the management, quality, advertising and financing methods applied to make the “La Trappe” beers, the Koningshoeven Brewery operates completely under the control and to the instruction of the monks of Koningshoeven Abbey. The Koningshoeven Brewery (Bavaria B.V.) is only an executive authority.

The members of the monastic community work a few hours a day in the brewery. The revenues generated by the La Trappe beers enable the monks to meet the needs for their subsistence, to help their foundations in Indonesia and Kenya and to follow other social objectives.

In the USA and Canada, La Trappe is marketed as Koningshoeven Trappist Ale.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Trappists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.