Beer and the church have a long tradition. Until the Reformation, abbeys and monasteries were the main source of brewing and monks made beer not only for their own consumption but also for inns and pilgrims’ houses.
When Henry VIII closed St Albans Abbey, the monks who were expelled included two brewers. They had made substantial amounts of ale for their fellow monks, local inns, such pilgrims’ houses as the Fleur de Lys and the White Hart, and two nunneries at Sopwell and the Pré.
The Reformation ended the church’s involvement in brewing and commercial production took over.
But now the tradition of monks in beer making has been revived at the abbey of Mount St Bernard in Charnwood, Leicestershire.
The abbey is a Cistercian church where the 27 monks are members of the strict Trappist order.
In 2017 they built a brewery in outbuildings and a year later they launched Tynt Meadow, 7.4 per cent, described as an 'English Trappist Ale'.
The name comes from the field where monks established a small church in the 1830s before moving a short distance to the current site in Charnwood Forest where they built the grey stone monastery in Gothic style.
A young monk, Father Michael, was put in charge of the brewing operation and he went on a special brewing course in Sunderland also had help and advice from brewers in the famous brewing town of Burton-on-Trent.
The abbot and other monks visited Cistercian abbeys in Italy and Belgium to seek further advice.
They were especially impressed by the Belgian Trappist beers famously brewed by five monasteries there.
The Belgian monks advised their British brothers not to replicate their beers but to make a definitively 'English' style, though I find that Tynt Meadow Ale is similar in taste to the dark beer brewed at the Rochefort Abbey in the south of Belgium.
Tynt Meadow created enormous interest and the monks, who produce 2,000 litres per batch, struggled to keep up with demand from both this country and abroad.
In typical Trappist fashion, the monks are tight-lipped about the ingredients they use but following a visit to Mount St Bernard I believe they use pale and crystal malts with a touch of roasted barley with English Cascade, Fuggles, Goldings and Pilgrim hops.
The beer is bottle conditioned with live yeast and has a bright russet colour with an aroma and palate of rich biscuit malt and raisin and sultana fruit. It ends bitter, fruity and dry.
The monks have now added a second beer, Tynt Meadow Blond (five per cent). It’s also bottle conditioned and is made with the same hops and pale malt.
It’s a luscious beer with a superb aroma of lemon, lime and nectarine fruit, balanced by juicy malt. It’s wonderfully quenching on the palate with fruity hops and biscuit malt and it has a long and lingering finish with tart fruit and bitter hops in dominance.
The income from the sales of the beers helps pay for the upkeep of the abbey and the monks’ work in the community.
Both beers can be bought from the abbey’s online shop: www.mountstbernard.org or from the Belgian Beer Company that, despite the name, is British based: www.thebelgianbeercompany.com.
Perhaps the success of the Trappists’ beers will encourage the Dean and his team at St Albans Abbey to restore brewing there. I’d be happy to help.
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