Description
A spicy, full bodied, copper cloured beer.
7.0%
33cl
Trappist beers come from breweries run by monks. Brewing was once an everyday practice in most monasteries, but now only six produce commercially available beers. Of these Chimay is the most well known. The brewery produces four beers, one for the monks and three available to the rest of us.
Chimay red is the least strong of the three. It is copper coloured with a spiciness reminiscent of nutmeg prominent in the flavour. It is this character, along with a blackcurrant like fruitiness, that make it great with a range of foods. Any rich or spicy foods will benefit from being paired with this tasty beer.
In order to meet their needs and those of their foundations as well as to sustain employment in their region, since 1862 the Cistercian Trappist monks of Chimay have been developing the production of Trappist beers and cheeses which, owing to their character and qualities are well known and enjoy great success.
In order to understand the reason that the monks brew beer, we invite you to consider an essential historic moment.
The monks of the Abbey of Scourmont at Chimay belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, known generally as Trappists.
These monks, who follow the Rule of Saint Benoit (going back to the 6th century) take the name of "Cistercians" from the monastery of Citeaux, founded in Burgundy in the 12th century.
The Cistercian monasteries are divided into two great Orders, of which one is historically attached to the Abbey of La Grande Trappe, in Normandy. From here originates the popular name of "Trappists".
The monks dedicate their life to the worship of God in prayer and meditation. Making a vow of celibacy, they live in a community, under the direction of an abbot and renounce all personal possessions
The heart of their life is their work and they try hard by these means to secure aid for the poorest people. The work of the monks has for a long time essentially been the cultivation of crops in the field, but recently this has extended to light industry, in particular food and agricultural activities. This is how, in the northern part of the country, they have brewed beer for many centuries.
Since the monks carry out their work with the same concern for perfection that they strive for in their life of prayer and study, brewing has become a true art over the course of time in the abbeys and has been perfected at the Abbey of Scourmont through the most modern scientific methods.
It was during the summer of 1850 that a small group of monks established themselves on the wild plateau of Scourmont close to Chimay. They had to do a lot of work to transform the barren soil of this region into fertile farmland.
Around the monastery that they had built, which was of great beauty and simplicity, a farm was developed, followed by a cheese making plant and a brewery.
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