Saint Joseph's Abbey

For years, monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Massachusetts have been selling jams and jellies to make m

When the monks from St. Joseph's Abbey started asking questions at a Boston beer festival, their Trappist brothers in Europe wondered if trouble was brewing.
For nearly 60 years, the monks in Spencer, Mass., had been selling jams and jellies to help support their community of 63 monks. Now they were interested in the real family business: beer.
For more than a century, Catholic Cistercian monks, commonly known as Trappists, have been brewing and selling what many beer lovers consider some of best brews in the world. Eight monasteries _ six in Belgium and one each in Holland and Austria _ produce the only beer recognized by the International Trappist Association as authentic Trappist beer.
And starting Thursday, the 63 brothers of St. Joseph's Abbey _ about an hour's drive west of Boston _ will join them, selling the first Trappist beer brewed outside Europe.
The American monks' journey from jams to beer started almost five years ago when St. Joseph's sent two monks on a fact-finding mission to the Belgian Beer Fest in Boston. Within hours, European monks learned of the inquiries, concerned about what their American counterparts were up to.
The original skepticism was because we were outside of Europe... and Americans, said Father Isaac Keeley, the bald, jovial former potter who has been at St. Joseph's for 35 years and now directs the brewing. And the fear we would go too big too fast.
Keeley and another monk from St. Joseph's packed up and moved to Belgium in Dec. 2010 to see how their European brothers brew _ and to convince them that they could properly produce an American Trappist beer.
The European monks weren't the only ones who needed convincing. Back at St. Joseph's, a robust debate among the brothers was underway. Some were concerned about starting what would be the most expensive enterprise ever undertaken by the abbey.
But everyone agreed the aging monastery buildings were getting increasingly expensive to maintain. In the end, more than 85 percent of the American brothers voted for the project.
We see it as a 50-100 year project. As we're standing on the shoulders of those who came before us and built these building and supported the way of life. Hopefully future generations will be stand on our shoulders, what we are doing and we see the brewery as part of that. said Father Damian Carr, the head of St. Joseph's Abbey.
The European monks, warming to the idea of an American Trappist beer, began giving close counsel to their Massachusetts brothers.
The European monasteries made three strong recommendations: To brew beer of Trappist quality they needed to build a state-of-the-art brewery, hire a skilled brewing engineer, and brew just one kind of beer for the first five years. The monks from St. Joseph set to work, building a multi-million-dollar brewery that would be the envy of almost any microbrewery in the world.
Their bank loan _ an amount they won't disclose _ was made easier by the success of the monks' previous business venture, Trappist Preserves.
The European brewers, wanting a beer that wouldn't damage the Trappist brand, agreed to help the Americans develop a good recipe.
After more than 20 trial batches, the monks settled on the recipe for what would become Spencer Trappist Ale, a refectory ale of 6.5 percent alcohol. The cloudy, golden beer is all-American yet rooted in European tradition with sweet, yeasty notes familiar to fans of other Trappist ales.
With beer in his suitcase, Keeley flew last month to Belgium, seeking his brother monks' blessing. After a PowerPoint presentation on the new brewery, Keeley finally poured glasses of Spencer Trappist Ale for his European counterparts.
They approved it unanimously, he said, and after the vote there was applause.


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St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, MA

A view of the grounds of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA, one of the largest communities of the several Trappist Monasteries in the United States.

Saint Joseph's Abbey, Massachusetts. Archive film 95565

Typical small town of Chatham, Massachusetts, Cape Cod , United States of America, U.S.A. Amateur home movie of late 1940's.
A wooden fence and a sign for 'Saint Joseph's Abbey', a woman walks in the garden. Brief shot of man in wheelchair. The grounds of the abbey, a white cross. Many buildings with a Holy Mary statue. More views of stone built houses. Two smart woman with a bearded Catholic monk in brown habit.

For years, monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Massachusetts have been selling jams and jellies to make m

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus003947

SCRIPT:
BELGIAN MONKS BREW WHAT MANY CONSIDER THE BEST BEER IN THE WORLD.
BUT THESE MONKS AREN'T EUROPEAN, THEY'RE FROM SPENCER, MASSACHUSETTS.
WHEN WORD GOT OUT THAT FATHER ISAAC KEELEY AND THE MONKS AT ST. JOSEPH'S ABBEY WERE CONSIDERING OPENING A BREWERY, ALARM BELLS WENT OFF ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.
The original skepticism was because we were outside of Europe ... and Americans, and the fear we would go too big too fast. (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey)
FOR YEARS, THE SPENCER MONKS HAVE SUPPORTED THEMSELVES BY SELLING JAMS AND RELIGIOUS CLOTHING.
BUT FOUR YEARS AGO THEY DECIDED THEY NEEDED TO BREW UP A NEW SOURCE OF REVENUE.
We see it as a 50 or 100 year project....hopefully future generations will be able to stand on our shoulders and we see the brewery as part of that, (Father Damian Carr, The Abbott of St. Joseph's)
CISTERCIANS MONKS, COMMONLY CALLED TRAPPISTS, RUN EIGHT BREWERIES IN THE WORLD, ALL IN EUROPE.
IF THE MONKS FROM SPENCER WANTED TO JOIN THE BREWERIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL TRAPPIST ASSOCIATION THEY NEEDED TO MEET VERY HIGH STANDARDS.
AFTER BUILDING A STATE OF THE ART BREWERY, FATHER ISAAC WENT TO BELGIUM AND PRESENTED SPENCER TRAPPIST ALE TO HIS EUROPEAN BROTHERS FOR A FINAL VOTE.
They approved it unanimously and after the vote there was applause, (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey)
MANY OF THE BROTHERS AT ST. JOSEPH'S GOT THEIR FIRST TASTE OF THEIR BREW AT A RECENT HOLIDAY PARTY.
The keg was pouring beautifully. We had this great head on the beer. The monks were coming back for seconds at least. And it just struck me...in a certain sense we have made it. (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey)
SPENCER TRAPPIST ALE HITS SHELVES MID-JANUARY. IT WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE ONLY IN MASSACHUSETTS, BUT THE MONKS HOPE THAT ONE DAY THEIR EUROPEAN BROTHERS CAN DRINK AN AMERICAN TRAPPIST ALE.


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St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, MA

A view of the grounds surrounding St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, MA USA. It is one of the largest communities of Trappist monks in the United States, attracting retreatants and visitors from all over the world.

Spencer,MA

video uploaded from my mobile phone

St. Joseph's Abbey

A view of the grounds surrounding St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, MA USA. It is one of the largest communities of Trappist monks in the United States, attracting retreatants and visitors from all over the world.

Monks brew beer in Spencer, Massachusetts at only Trappist brewery outside of Europe

Nestled amid 2,000 acres of former dairy farmland in central Massachusetts lies the only Trappist brewery outside of Europe. The 55 Trappist brothers of the Order of Cistercian of the Strict Observance have been brewing and distributing beer from Spencer Brewery since 2014. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

just teslaing around (in spencer, ma)

most of this is in autosteer- any time there's a line on the road.

U.S. Monks Join an Exclusive Beer Community

For years, monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Massachusetts have been selling jams and jellies to make money. Starting this week, the monks will brew up revenue from a new source. (Jan. 16)

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US Monks produce first trappist beer brewed outside Europe

LEAD IN:
For more than a century, European Catholic Cistercian monks - known as Trappists - have brewed and sold alcoholic beer considered by some to be the best in the world.
Now, an Abbey in the United States is joining them - creating the first Trappist beer to be brewed outside of Europe.
STORYLINE:
Here, at St. Joseph's Abbey - around an hour's drive west of Boston - for nearly sixty years, monks here have sold jams and jellies to their community.
Now, the sixty three brothers are turning their attention to stronger stuff, having begun plans to brew their own Trappist beer almost five years ago.
But, having hatched a fact-finding mission to Boston's Belgian Beer Festival, their original plans were met with scepticism from European counterparts.
The only beer recognised by the International Trappist Association as truly authentic Trappist beer was then brewed by eight European monasteries - six in Belgium and one each in Holland and Austria.
Similarly, here at the monastery, some brothers weren't sure of starting a project that amounted to the most expensive enterprise ever undertaken by the abbey.
But, with 85 percent of the monks here eventually voting to go ahead with the project, Father Damian Carr says it was done to secure the Abbey's financial future.
We see it as a 50, 100 year project, he says.
As we're standing on the shoulders of those who came before us and built these buildings and supported the way of life. Hopefully future generations will be stand on our shoulders, what we're doing. And we see the brewery as part of that.
Having warmed to the idea of American Trappist beer, European monks then began giving close counsel to their Massachusetts brothers - ensuring the recipe wouldn't damage the Trappist brand.
The European monasteries recommended they build a state-of-the-art brewery, hire a skilled brewing engineer, and brew just one type of beer for the first five years.
The St. Joseph's monks then set about financing and then building this multi-million-dollar brewery - a structure that would be the envy of almost any micro-brewery in the world.
The European monasteries also put the St. Joseph's monks in touch with Brewing Engineer, Hubert de Halleux, who had previously worked at Chimay, the Trappist brewery at Scourmont Abbey in Belgium.
De Halleux says that at first fellow Belgian brewers had doubts about the project:
At the beginning of this project, when I heard about this project and was chosen for this job, people were saying what? Monks who are going to be brewing in the United States? he says.
After more than 20 trial batches, these monks settled on a recipe for what would become Spencer Trappist Ale, a refectory ale of 6.5 percent alcohol content.
Having secured unanimous approval from their European counterparts and with a US distribution deal signed, on New Year's Day - their annual holiday - the brewery team tapped a keg of their final product for the whole of the St. Joseph's community to enjoy.
Recalling that moment, Brewery Director at St. Joseph's Abbey Father Isaac Keeley, can barely hide his emotions:
The keg was pouring beautifully, he recalls.
We had this great head on the beer and the monks were coming back for seconds at least. And it just struck me like... in a certain sense we have, we've made it.
Sales of the Spencer Trappist Ale are currently limited to their state of Massachusetts, but they plan to expand nationally and eventually even internationally.


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Monks start brewing beer in America

To 'sustain a way of life' and expand a centuries-old European practice, these Trappist monks at St. Josephs Abbey in Massachusetts started brewing and selling beer.

TBG 70: USA Eliminated from World Cup 2018

What more is there to say? USMNT does not qualify for World Cup for first time since 1986. We serve up a slice of hate-cake with a little side of hope as we wallow in the misery that was watching the USA play against Trinidad Tobago.

The good news of the evening is Ron introduced us to the only Trappist brewery outside of Europe. We tried Spencer Brewery's Trappist Ale, brewed by monks of Saint Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

 

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St Patrick's Cathedral --- New York

Purchase of the property

The land on which the present cathedral stands was purchased in 1810. The Jesuit community built a college on the site, three miles north of the city. It contained a fine old house which was fitted with a chapel of St. Ignatius. The school closed in 1814 and the Jesuits sold the lot to the diocese. In 1813, the diocese gave use of the property to Dom Augustin LeStrange, abbot of a community of Trappists (from the original monastery of La Trappe) who came to America fleeing persecution by French authorities. In addition to a small monastic community, they also looked after some thirty-three orphans. With the downfall of Napoleon in that year, the Trappists returned to France in 1815, abandoning the property. The property at this point was designated for a future cemetery. The neighboring orphanage was maintained by the diocese into the late nineteenth century. Some of the Trappists resettled to Canada and eventually founded St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

Bishop DuBois reopened the chapel in 1840 for Catholics employed at the Deaf and Dumb Asylum and in the general neighborhood. A modest frame church was built for the parish of St. John the Evangelist and dedicated May 9, 1841, by the Rev. John Hughes, administrator of the diocese. Tickets were sold to the dedication to ease the parish's debt level, managed by a lay Board of Trustees, but to no avail and the property mortgage was finally foreclosed on and the church sold at auction in 1844. The stress is said to have contributed to the death that year of the church's pastor, the Rev. Felix Larkin. The experience was blamed on the management of the trustees and this incident is said to have played a significant role in the abolishment of the lay trusteeship, which occurred shortly thereafter. The young and energetic Rev. Michael A. Curran was appointed to raise funds for the devastated parish, and shortly fitted up an old college hall as a temporary church. Fr. Curran continued raising funds to buy back the church during the Great Famine in Ireland, eventually succeeding and taking the deed in his own name. The site of St. Patrick's Cathedral, hence, came to the Church through the labors of this young priest and the self-denial of his countrymen and not by the gift of the city.[8] The debt was finally all paid for by 1853 when it was clear a large church was needed and the site was selected as appropriate for the new cathedral.

Construction of the cathedral

The Diocese of New York, created in 1808, was made an archdiocese by Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850. In 1853, Archbishop John Joseph Hughes announced his intention to erect a new cathedral to replace the Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. The new cathedral was designed by James Renwick Jr. in the Gothic Revival style. On August 15, 1858, the cornerstone was laid, just south of the diocese's orphanage. At that time, present-day midtown Manhattan was far north of the populous areas of New York City.

Work began in 1858 but was halted during the Civil War and resumed in 1865. The cathedral was completed in 1878 and dedicated on May 25, 1879, its huge proportions dominating the midtown of that time. The archbishop's house and rectory were added in 1880, both by James Renwick Jr., and an adjacent school (no longer in existence) opened in 1882. The spires were added in 1888, and at 329 feet and 6 inches (100.4 meters) were the tallest structures in New York City and the second highest in the United States. An addition on the east, including a Lady chapel, designed by Charles T. Mathews, was constructed from 1901 to 1906. The Lady Chapel's stained-glass windows were made between 1912 and 1930 by English stained glass artist and designer Paul Vincent Woodroffe. In 1927 and 1931, the cathedral was renovated, which included enlarging the sanctuary and installing the great organ. The cathedral and associated buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976

St. Joseph Abbey recovery from 2016 flood continues

The large rebuilding at St. Joseph Abbey continues and hit a nice milestone recently with the opening of another section of the series of buildings.

Saint Joseph Abbey Monastery Post-Flood

A quick walkthrough of the state of the monastery as we await construction to begin after the 2016 flood.

Massive Beer Reviews # 221 Spencer Trappist Belgian Pale Ale

It's not ever day they had out new Trappist stamps, so back in 2014 when when the powers that be bestowed that seal on the United States own Saint Joseph's Abbey I've been chomping at the bit to see what those kooky monks have t offer!

Spencer Trappist Ale is a 6.50% Belgian Pale Ale, single, or table beer (what the monk drink during meals) and is the only beer produced by the brewery at this time per an agreement with eh Trappist association to only brew one beer for the first five years of the breweries existence.

So, does this old world meets new world offering stick to it's European roots or bring a updated, american influence to the table?

You'll have to watch on to find out!

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DETAILS:

Beer: Spencer Trappist Ale
Brewery: Spencer
Style: Belgian Pale Ale
Age: 2014
ABV: 6.50%
IBU: ??

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RATINGS:

Rating 1/100:
Value 1/10:
Availability 1/10:

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CONTACT:

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E-mail.com: massivebeers@gmail.com

Jesu Meine Freude

Live recording from a performance at St. Joseph Abbey in Covington LA. May 2014.

Massachusetts Beer Review # 14 Spencer Trappist Ale

America's first entry into Trappist certified ales is what's reviewed!

What is NOT mentioned in Spencer Ma

This is my video recorded with DU Recorder. It's easy to record your screen and livestream. Download link:
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Hope this video isn't sideways all the way through HA!!