Abbey Brewing Company

Not to be confused with The Abbey Brewing Company in Miami, Florida.
Abbey Brewing Company

Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Type Belgian-style monastic brewery
Location Abiquiú, New Mexico, US
Coordinates 36°22′40.80″N 106°40′49.80″W / 36.3780000°N 106.6805000°W / 36.3780000; -106.6805000
Opened 2005 (2005)
Key people Brad Krauss
Annual production volume 2,900 US beer barrels (3,400 hL)[1]
Owner(s) Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Distribution Arizona, Arkansas, southern California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas[1]
Website christdesert.org/Abbey_Beverage_Company/
Active beers
Name Type
Monks' Ale Enkel
Monks' Dubbel Dubbel
Monks' Tripel Tripel
Monks' Wit Witbier

The Abbey Brewing Company is an American brewing company located in Abiquiú, New Mexico. The microbrewery was founded in 2005 as a Benedictine joint venture of Our Lady of Guadalupe monastery in Pecos, New Mexico and the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiú. It is the first American monastery brewery founded since before the Prohibition Era.[2][3][upper-alpha 1] The brewery's motto is "Made with care and prayer".[2]

By 2010, the Monastery of Christ in the Desert had bought out the interest of Our Lady of Guadalupe monastery and is now the sole operator of Abbey Brewing.[4] Most of the brewing is now done at the Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in Moriarty, New Mexico. An experimental pilot brewery and the taproom are located in Abiquiú. The monastery grows its own hops.[6]

Abbey Brewing uses solar energy in its operations.[6][7]

Initially, the brewery is focused on producing Belgian style beers.[4]

History

Abbey Brewing produces a number of varieties of beer. Native hops (subspecies neomexicanus), grown at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, are featured. In spring 2010, native New Mexican hops were planted in an experimental hop yard. This occupies one quarter acre.[8]

The Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiú, New Mexico hosts the master brewery. Another brewery is maintained per a contract agreement with Rio Grande and Sierra Blancha brewery[5] in Moriarty, New Mexico. Abbey Brewing Company directly controls the total brewing process including the formulae and brewing processes. The company maintains direct control for sourcing both ingredients and packaging. The Abbey Brewing Company owns the brewing equipment on the grounds of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. At the Moriarity brewery, some of the major brewing equipment is also owned by Abbey Brewing Company.[8] Because of the remote location and relative inaccessibility of the abbey, production there will be limited to nanobrewery scale. Thus, most of the beer will be produced at the contract brewer's location.

Monastery brewery operations completed a new brewery building in March 2011. It utilizes a half-barrel micro-brewing system, specifically designed for expansion to a 3 or 5 barrel brewing system.[8]

Production is limited. Production capacity is rated at 2,900 barrels per year.[8]

The brothers maintain that: "Our focus in all our work is 'to bring everything to perfection for the glory of God' as the Rule of Saint Benedict instructs us."[8][upper-alpha 2][upper-alpha 3]

The product is distributed in nine states[upper-alpha 4]

Personnel

The head brewer of the Abbey Brewing Company is Brad Krauss, a native of New Mexico. He holds a degree in chemistry from Rice University and has worked in New Mexico craft beer brewing for two decades, including startup work for Rio Bravo Brewing Company (Albuquerque), Wolf Canyon Brewing (Santa Fe), and Isotopes Brewing Company (Albuquerque).[11] "A 30-year craft brewing veteran," he helped them develop original recipes.[9]

Other personnel include Berkeley Merchant (business manager, who runs administration, marketing and sales)[upper-alpha 5] and Brother Christian Leisy (cellarer).[11]

Regular brews

Awards

In 2014, the Abbey Brewing Company won 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals in the New Mexico State Fair Beer Pro-Am competition. The gold was awarded to their limited specialty brew, Monks' Tripel Reserve.[15]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Craft beer suggests that this is the only monastic brewer in the United States.[4] However, at least two other monasteries are going into the U.S. beer business this year: "Spencer Trappist Ale is made by the monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Mass., an unfiltered beer in the Belgian tradition and available only in New England. The Benedictine Brewery is the project of the Mount Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, Ore. [is scheduled to start production]... Western Pennsylvania's own Benedictine monastery, Saint Vincent, the oldest in the United States, brewed beer in the German pilsner style until 1920 and was the victim of Prohibition. After the brewery burned down in 1926, the archabbey in Latrobe abandoned plans to restore the brewery operation." The old recipe is lost to posterity.[5]
  2. ↑ "The monks live according to the Rule of St. Benedict that, in part, says everything the brothers undertake should be brought to perfection for the glory of God," Merchant says. "We take that as an admonition to make great beer."[9]
  3. ↑ "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)."[10]
  4. ↑ In alphabetical order: Arizona, Arkansas, southern California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas.[4][8]
  5. ↑ A "monastery oblate -- or lay brother -- who fully appreciates the Benedictine philosophy."[9]
  6. ↑ "Despite their initial focus on Belgian beers, Abbey Beverage Company seeks to draw from its eclectic order of monks, who hail from five different continents, to craft other European-inspired monastic brews as they slowly expand their 1/2-barrel brewing system to seven barrels."[4]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Official Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert website
  2. 1 2 Stott 2014, p. 91.
  3. ↑ Haederle, Michael (November 7, 2010). "Brewing is spiritual for monks in New Mexico". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Witkiewicz, Kay (2015). "Abbey Beverage Company". Craft Beer (Brewers Association). Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Hoover, Bob (April 13, 2014). "This brewery in the New Mexico desert is not a mirage". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Abiquiú, New Mexico). Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Stott 2014, p. 92.
  7. ↑ Dyer, Jessica (April 21, 2014). "Kellys brewing beer with solar". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Abbey Brewing Company". Abbey Brewing Company, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 DeSimone, Dave (May 1, 2012). "'Prayer and care' go into abbey's creation of beers". TribLive.com (Trib Total Media, Inc.). Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Staudt, R. Jared (May 6, 2013). "Cause for Mirth: The Return of Abbey Brewing to the United States". Crisis Magazine (Catholic Education Resource Center). Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Stott 2014, pp. 92–93.
  12. 1 2 Stott 2014, pp. 92–94.
  13. ↑ Stott 2014, pp. 92, 95.
  14. ↑ Stott 2014, pp. 92–95.
  15. ↑ "A cider wins State Fair Pro-Am, beer drinkers weep". NMdarksidebrewcrew.com (Dark Side Brew Crew). September 9, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2015.

Sources

Further reading

External links

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