March 2 Mass, Nativity B.V.M.
Cathedral, 11 am
March 5 Ash Wednesday Mass,
Nativity B.V.M. Cathedral,
noon
March 6 Seminary Board Meetings,
St. Joseph Abbey, Covington,
Louisiana
March 9 Mass, Nativity B.V.M.
Cathedral, 11 am
March 11 Foundation Meeting, 3 pm
March 12 Housing Board Meeting,
2 pm
March 13 Confirmation, Sacred Heart,
Pascagoula (includes St.
Peter the Apostle Parish,
Pascagoula), 5:30 pm
March 15 Installation of Father José
Vazquez as Pastor of St.
Francis Xavier Parish,
Wiggins, & St. Lucy Parish,
Lucedale (at St. Francis),
6 pm
Massachusetts abbey now producing only
Trappist ale outside Europe
ByWilliam T. Clew
Catholic News Service
SPENCER, Mass. (CNS) -- “It’s a very
put-together Belgian beer.”
That was the assessment of Chris Pierce,
assistant beer manager at Julio’s Liquors in
Westborough. He was talking about Spencer
Trappist Ale, brewed at the Spencer Brewery
at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer.
The ale went on sale for the first time in
January at Julio’s outlets in Massachusetts.
Until now, Trappist ale was brewed only in
Europe.
“We had a very good sale,” Pierce said.
The store sold 55 cases, each containing six
four-packs. That’s 1,320 bottles. They were
gone in two hours.
Since then, he said, the store has gotten
nonstop calls asking when more of the ale
would be available.
At Spencer Country Spirits, owner Alan
Letendre said there has been such a demand
that, after he sold out his 50 cases, he started
a list for people who come in to buy the ale.
He said the day the delivery truck came
to his store, he took a picture of the deliv-
ery men wheeling in the cases and posted
the picture on Facebook. The beer arrived at
noon. All 50 cases -- 1,200 bottles -- were
gone by 9 pm.
“I haven’t had a chance to try some
myself,” he told
The Catholic Free Press
,
Worcester’s diocesan newspaper. “This was
a response like I’ve never seen before, and
I’ve been in the business since 1990.”
Trappist Brother Jonah mans the bottling
line Jan. 23 as bottles for Spencer Trappist
Ale are washed, filled and capped in the
Spencer Brewery at St. Joseph’s Abbey in
Spencer, Mass.
CNS photo/L.A. Faille, Catholic
Free Press
The source of the new ale that is caus-
ing the excitement is a new building on the
grounds of St. Joseph’s Abbey. It is a long,
stainless steel, silver-gray, 36,000-square-
foot, state-of-the-art brewery located in a
section of the 2,000-acre property that is
closed to the public. It looks nothing like the
other buildings at St. Joseph’s Abbey, which
are stone and wood, for the most part.
It is the first brewery at a Trappist monas-
tery in the United States. Eight other Trappist
monasteries, all in Europe, also have brewer-
ies. Six are in Belgium, one is in the Nether-
lands and one is in Germany.
According to the International Trappist
Association, to become an authentic Trappist
product, the ale must be brewed inside the
walls of a Trappist monastery by the monks
or under their supervision, must be of sec-
ondary importance within the monastery
and should witness to the business practices
proper to a monastic life. The brewery is not
intended to make a profit. Income covers liv-
ing expenses of the monks and maintenance
of the buildings and grounds. Whatever re-
mains is donated to charity and to help peo-
ple in need.
Spencer Trappist Ale was awarded the
designation “Authentic Trappist Product” by
the International Trappist Association Dec.
10, 2013, according to the brewery website,
The Trappists at St. Joseph’s Abbey make
a wide assortment of jams and jellies, which
they have sold for nearly 60 years. Under the
Trappists’ direction, the Holy Rood Guild on
the grounds also makes and sells religious
vestments. These enterprises produce income
to support the brothers and pay the bills.
But jam- and jelly-making is labor inten-
sive. The 63 brothers and priests at the abbey
aren’t getting any younger and it was felt that
another source of income was needed.
Father Isaac Keeley, brewery director,
said there were long and animated discus-
sions about whether the abbey should start
a brewery. They hired a consultant and came
up with a detailed business plan. Finally,
they decided to make Trappist ale. Several
of them, including Father Keeley, traveled to
Belgium to consult with the Trappists there.
The Belgian Trappists at first were less
than enthused by the idea of a Trappist ale be-
ing made in the United States. They weren’t
sure the new ale would be up to Trappist
standards. But they asked that the Spencer
Bottles of Spencer Trappist Ale are
displayed Jan. 23 at Spencer Brewery
at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass.
The ale was awarded the designation
“Authentic Trappist Product” by the
International Trappist Association Dec.
10, 2013, according to the brewery website.
CNS photo/L.A. Faille, Catholic Free Press
See trappists ale, page 8
Gulf Pine Catholic
•
February 28, 2014
3
Gulf
Pine
Catholic
(ISSN No. 0746-3804)
February 28, 2014
Volume 30, Issue 13
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