Chimay Brewery
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| Industry | Trappist brewery |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1863 |
| Headquarters | Chimay, Belgium |
| Products | Beer |
| Production output | 123000 hL |
| Website | http://www.chimay.com |
Chimay Brewery ("Bières de Chimay") is a beer brewery in Chimay, southern Hainaut, Belgium. The brewery is located in the Scourmont Abbey, a Trappist monastery, and is one of the seven breweries worldwide that produce Trappist beer. They make three widely distributed ales: Chimay Rouge, Chimay Bleue, and Chimay Blanche; and they make one patersbier exclusively for the monks. The monastery also makes four varieties of cheese.
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[edit] Brewery
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The brewery was founded inside Scourmont Abbey, in the Belgian municipality of Chimay in 1862.[1]
The brewery produces three widely distributed ales and a patersbier exclusively for the monks; they are known as Trappist beers because they are made in a Trappist monastery. It was the first brewery to use the Trappist Ale designation on its labels.[2]
As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is sold only for financial support of the monastery and good causes.[3] The brewery business pays rent for use of the property within the abbey, which is used to support the monastic community. The majority of the profit from the sale of the beer is distributed to charities and for community development around the region.[4] As of 2007, sales figures for Chimay products exceeded $50 million per year.[5]
The water for the beers is drawn from a well located inside the monastery walls. The filtered solids from the beer mash are recycled into livestock feed which is given to the same cows that produce the milk for Chimay cheeses.
The beer is transported from the monastery to the bottling plant 12 km away, which can fill 40,000 bottles per hour, of which many are returns. The beer is then refermented in the bottle for three weeks before being shipped around the world. Fifty percent of Chimay beer production is sold on the export markets.[6]
The brewing plant was updated in 1988, and as of 2005 produced 12 megalitres annually.[7]
[edit] Beers
The ingredients are: water, malted barley, wheat starch, sugar, hop extract and yeast; malt extract is used in Rouge and Bleue for colouring.[8]
- Chimay Rouge (Red), 7% abv. In the 75 cl bottle, it is known as Première. It is a dark brown colour and has a sweet, fruity aroma.
- Chimay Bleue (Blue), 9% abv darker ale. In the 75 cl bottle, it is known as Grande Réserve. This copper-brown beer has a light creamy head and a slightly bitter taste. Considered to be the "classic" Chimay ale, it exhibits a considerable depth of fruity, peppery character.
- Chimay Blanche (White), or Chimay Triple, 8% abv golden tripel. In the 75 cl bottle, it is known as Cinq Cents. This crisp beer bears a light orange colour, and is the most hopped and driest of the three.
- Chimay Dorée (Golden), 4.8% abv ale, brewed from very similar ingredients as the Red, but paler and spiced differently. It is a patersbier, intended only to be drunk at the abbey or at the nearby inn Auberge de Poteaupré, which is associated with the abbey. The monks themselves drink this variety rather than the stronger three. The Dorée is not sold commercially and the rare bottles which make their way out are through unofficial sources. Even the brewery's own web site makes no mention of this variety.
Like many strong Belgian beers, those produced at Chimay age well and can be cellared for at least five years whilst maintaining quality. The Chimay Bleue variety can be aged for upwards of fifteen years.
[edit] Cheeses
Since 1876 the monastery has also made cheese, and currently offers four cheeses.[9]
The cheeses are:
- Chimay with Beer, whose rind is soaked in Chimay beer.
- Chimay Grand Classic, a semi-hard pressed cheese.
- Chimay Grand Cru, made from pasteurised milk and matured for six weeks.
- Old Chimay, a hard cheese matured for at least six months.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bières de Chimay S.A.. "History". Chimay. http://www.chimay.com/en/history_53.php?PHPSESSID=c27f83a4d67fdfb22b3f7ae0020a92d8. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ Sawyer, Christopher (May 8, 2003). "U.S. acquiring a taste for Belgian ales". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/08/WI261408.DTL. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
- ^ http://www.chimay.com/en/the_origins_110.php
- ^ Bières de Chimay S.A.. "Beers from Chimay: Beer Export, Distribution, and International Partners". Chimay. http://www.chimay.com/en/the_bieres_de_chimay_company_116.php. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ Miller, John W. (November 29, 2007). "Trappist Command: Thou Shalt Not Buy Too Much of Our Beer". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119628388037006909.html. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
- ^ http://www.chimay.com
- ^ "The Beers of Chimay by Roger Protz". Beer-pages.com. http://beer-pages.com/protz/features/chimay.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ John White of White Beer Travels. "Trappist Beer from Scourmont Abbey, Chimay, Belgium". Whitebeertravels.co.uk. http://www.whitebeertravels.co.uk/chimay.html. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
- ^ Bières de Chimay S.A.. "Products of the Soil, Degustation of Belgian Cheese, and Beers of High Fermentation". Chimay. http://www.chimay.com/en/intro_241.php. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
[edit] External links
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