A great sign for the renewal of Catholic culture in the United States

Cause for Mirth: 

The Return of Abbey Brewing

 to the United States

by R. Jared Staudt

Beer is another one of those testimonies to how the Catholic Church built European civilization. It is true that brewing was widely practiced in the ancient world, but the process was very primitive, even as simple as soaking a loaf of bread in water. Modern brewing practices grew up within Benedictine monasteries, where beer provided good sustenance, sanitary drink, and probably some mirth (at least for the pilgrims). The monks even created a special brew to sustain Lenten fasts, the double bock, classically seen in Paulaner’s Salvator (“The Savior”; look for St. Francis Paola on the Paulener label).

The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, so destructive of Catholic culture generally, led to the decline of monastic brewing (and monasteries in general), secularizing the most famous of them. Some remnants remain, as seen in the Belgian Trappist beers (the most famous of which is Chimay) and Weltenburger, the second oldest brewery in the world (c. 1050), still run by Weltenburger Abbey. European founded monasteries in the United States continued the art of brewing, though prohibition brought about the demise of this practice. St. Vincent Archabbey, for instance, had a large and successful brewery founded in 1855.

But what good news, monastic brewing is entering a period of revival in the United States! Several initiatives around the country show that monasteries and independent breweries cooperating with monasteries are reviving interest in abbey style beers. This is a great sign for the renewal of Catholic culture in the United States. It will help bring monastic culture to the culture more broadly and hopefully will spark interest among Catholics in monastic history and its brewing culture.
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