Trappist

It is impossible to have a website about Belgian beers, without mentioning Trappists. A trappist is in fact a monk of the Cistercians of the strict observance, a Roman Catholic community that lives according the rules of St. Benedict.
The name itself refers to La trappe Abbey in Soligny-la-trappe in France. Worldwide,there are no less than 169 Trappist monasteries that have around 2500 monks and 1800 nuns.
Not all of these monasteries brew beer however. There are fourteen who do: Six in Belgium, two in holland, and then one for France, Spain,US, Austria, Italy and England.

The name Trappist for beer, is very well protected and they are united in the ITA or International trappist association. This association controls the authentic trappist product label which indicates that the product meets all trappist requirements. This label is not only used for beer produced by the Trappists, but also for a wide variety of other products. This means first of all that the product is made by or under the supervision of Trappist monks, that it’s produced within the neighborhood of the abbey referring to , and that the profits made upon the products are used to support the Monastery or charity.
As a Belgian-beer focused website, we will only bring the Belgian Trappists under your attention but feel free to take a look at the other Trappists all over the world. After all, you are supporting a good cause by eating/drinking their products ;-). Where possible, i linked to the page in English, but not all monastery’s have an English version of their website.

In no particular order, these are the Trappist breweries at today:

Austria

• Stift Engelszell

Belgium

• Chimay external link – internal link
• WestMalle
• Westvleteren
• Achel
• Rochefort
• Orval

England

• Mount St.Bernard Abbey

France

• Mont des Cats

Italy

• Tre Fontane Abbey

Netherlands

• Zundert
• La Trappe

Spain

• Cerveza Cardeña Trappist

United states

St. Joseph’s abbey , Spencer MA