Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them

by Stan Hieronymus

Discover what makes the heavenly brews of Belgium so good in this new book by long time Real Beer Page Editor Stan Hieronymus. In Brew Like a Monk, he details the beers and brewing of the famous Trappist producers along with dozens of others from both Belgium and America. Sip along as you read and, if you feel yourself divinely inspired to brew some of your own, try out the tips and recipes as well!

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Nonfiction, Reference, Cooking, Food, History

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you know, I dabble in the home brewing. And this book has taught me some very important lessons about brewing. One is that the peaceful life of a monk leaves lots of time to focus on making great beers. There is something to be said about a cloister of men that live in beautiful surroundings, in peace and quiet and spend their days brewing for charitable causes. But...the celibate lifestyle is tough, hence beer.

Seriously though, this book taught me how important yeasts are in brewing. The Belgium monks have been brewing very unique and fabulous beers with very simple recipes for centuries, and it is all based on the care and attention they spend on their yeasts that give the beers their special flavor. I plan on trying some new strains in my next batches that I brew this winter based on what I read in this book.

Kevin and Chris, this book is for you.

[Kaveh · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge Belgian beer fan and an avid homebrewer myself, this was one of the more anticipated books.
To me the book varied in quality quite a lot.
The first section, the author describes how he don't want to go too much into recipe details writing it, and how the book isn't aimed for beginners. But still big chunks of the early pages are filled with outlines of ingredients, that any somewhat experienced brewers ought to have guessed himself already, and what's up with the section about American brewers making Belgian beer? Although the reader could have gotten some hints from brewing without a Belgian background, that was just redundant to me... At some point in the book, I didn't really feel that I had gained that much knowledge, already having knowledge from previous brews (other than the fantastic stories about the monasteries).
However, getting into the specifics about fermentations and the temperature controls' affect over phenol and ester production as well as production of higher alcohols was were this book really made it worthwhile to read. Although those aspects are mentioned elsewhere, the explanations in this book were really comprehensive.
Wouldn't mind having a new revision released as the book is referring to some studies being performed when the book was written back in 2005!

My final words would be that the book is a worthwhile read, even though the mid-section wasn't too interesting

[dusty.rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to read to grasp a particular grouping of abbey ales.
I read this without having gotten itno brewing as of yet, but it brushes some of the mystery away without overwhelming. I imagine it would be useful for a brewer, but I don't have the experience to back that assertion. I do, however, have the experience to say that "as a beer drinker who's not a moron, this book was fun to read and not opaque."

[William Graney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I'm going to start brewing Belgian styles I thought I should check this book out, it has a very good reputation. The goal is to get you to think about the brewing process in the same way as the Trappist and Abbey ale producing brewers, rather than offer step-by-step instructions. This is advanced level reading, you should already be heavily into beer geekdom before taking this on.

[Michael Farrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good history of trappist and abbey brewing, but not a very good how to guide. The only take away is that Trappists break the rules, therefore don't bother with rules. Okay, thanks. Almost no recipes, and one of them, for Trappist blonde, was written by a brewer, who self-admittedly, has never made that style or recipe.

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good book for beer brewers that for once is more than just a collection of recipes. Instead, the author explains the history of (Belgian) trappist beer and gives you a sense of the range of styles by tradition and best practices rather than a dry summation.

I really feel like I've learned a lot, which is noticeable from the amount of notes I took that I will now work out and add to my brewing knowledge bank. Next time I'll try to improve for example my dubbel I'll have lots of new insights to include.

Mostly interesting for people who brew themselves, but I actually think that beer geeks who simply enjoy Belgian beers could also get a lot out of it.

[David Snijder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I brewed a Belgian Blond just before picking this book up (it is still bottle conditioning as I write this) and I'm happy to see that my recipe closely matches the one outlined at the end of this book. This has given me inspiration (and confidence) to be bold with future Belgian-inspired recipes.

[Bobby Chastain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazingly informative book covering the brewing practice, business practice, and religious practice of the Trappist monks in Belgium. Hieronymus spent a lot of time meeting with the monks and lay-brewers discussing the history and brewing philosophy of each of the Trappist/brewery monasteries. Reading this book you get an amazing sense of "pedigree," as you find out some of the masterminds behind much of the Belgian flavor, as well as how yeast strands have come to each brewery. My favorite yeast story is Father Theodore's of Chimay. He was quite proud (in an almost non-Trappist way) of how he isolated the specific cells that were resiliant to their brewing environment. You'll also walk away from the book wondering if St. Bernardus yeast is indeed the same strand used by Westvleteran (or better yet, wondering what Westvleteran tastes like!).
Most surprising is how the monks' primary role in the brewery is the business side of it, while only a handful of monks actually brew. Often lay-people are sent to the Notre Dame or another Catholic University to study brew science, and then become the brewmaster. Even still, you will find lay-people on the "executive committee." As one head of operations quipped, "I left the secular business world because I found it difficult to live an upright Christian life. However, here everything is contradictory to the outside business world. "Cutting costs" can't involve laying off workers or changing recipes. You really have to be creative - and you have to discuss everything with the monks and the employees."
Hieronymus covers, in addition to the 5 monasteries carrying the "Official Trappist Product" logo, several Abbey and secular breweries as well that specialize in Trappist-style beer. He not only covers those in Belgium, but the breweries that have fallen in love with Trappist ale in the United States.
My only complaint about this book is that too often paragraphs contain non-related material. Sometimes by the time you finish one paragraph, you forgot why the author started it. However, this small editorial comment should reflect in no way on the quality of this read.

[A-ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many beer books get bogged down with a lengthy explanation of basic brewing science. This sheds these introductory chapters and gets right the nitty-gritty. You like Strong Belgian Ales (yes, this hits on much more than the Trappists), here's how some people do them (because brewer are people, and all people are different). There are no definitive adages or methods that they preach you must use. The book does not have many recipes and the few they do, are written in the most helpful way, with percentages instead of weight, so you can actually understand what is going on within each brew. This is also not a book meant to help people clone the classic beers. Stan Hieronymus believes what all the Belgians have told him, brewing is an art, based in creativity. These beers were not developed to fit as style, the style came from the beers. It is our jobs as brewers to make the beers we want to make, to fit what we like, not a spec sheet. He does however, fill the book with tips from experts on many of the key features to brew these styles (the key word is attenuation). The stories and histories behind many breweries and beers is an added bonus.

This is not a book for beginners, nor is it one for experts (though experts can clearly learn something). But it is a fascinating read that is sure to inspire brewers to find their inner-monk and make a beer that is worth quiet contemplation.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You could probably fit the absolutely essential information on brewing Trappist style beers from this book into a reasonably short article in a brewing magazine, but it wouldn't be as much fun to read. Stan Heironymus does a great job (as always) in both the brewing and journalistic parts of his job. He doesn't only give you some good guidelines on making beer, but he also gives you some good travel and food writing and gets some great quotes from his interview subjects. The BA did let a few typos slip in to the final pressing, but otherwise it's a fun read and also an attractive book with nice design and illustration.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more from this to be honest. With a title of Brew Like a Monk i was hoping to get deeper into brewing methods and a wide range of recipes to try. This is a book more steeped in delivering a history of the Trappist breweries in Belgium and the history behind their rise to commercial brewing.

It is still an interesting book on how well the Monks have commercialized their business and I woudl love to us this book as a tour guide in Belgium. But if you are not into the history of Belgian Monk brewing you'd probably best leave this one alone.

[Bart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read for everyone who either loves (Belgian) beers or is a homebrewer. This book is full of history and background information about Belgian monks and their amazing beers, and includes valuable knowledge, recipes and hints for if you want to brew Trappist-style beers yourself.

[Ben Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of history, miscellaneous stories, recipes, and sundry info about Trappist/abbey/belgian beer. Well written and easy to read. Every time I sat down for 10 minutes with this book, I invariably wanted to get up to find a beer. I will be definitely looking back in this book for one of this summer's homebrews.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an enjoyable read. Lots of history of the Trappist abbeys in Belgium, beer brewing in general in Belgium, visits to each of the six Trappist breweries, and interviews with both Old World and New World brewers about their interpretations of the styles. Brewing wise, there's very little in the way of recipes but loads of reference material to help with crafting your own beer.

[Esme Cowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book aimed squarely at me. Includes a ton of description of Trappist breweries and also a wealth of practical information. This book does have a few recipes, but more importantly it has a great wealth of details about the raw materials, brewing practices and everything else that make abbey beers so great.

[Gingerwolverine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives some good background on the history of Trappist and Abbey beers, as well as some useful information on how they're brewed. Recipes are all from US brewers but that's no bad thing. I know they're not Trappist or Abbey beers but given the Belgian focus, it would have be good to have a chapter on lambics and other wild beers. Just saying...

[Christof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belgian ales really got me into craft brewing and this book certainly provides oodles of background on Trappist ales and Belgian ales in general. The history is extremely interesting and virtually all technical aspects of the beers themselves are also discussed. A must have for anyone interested in Belgian beers.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic resource for both the history and the practice behind belgian brewing, not only the tradition monastic brews, but also the belgian-inspired ales of America. Easy read for both the brewer and the beer lover alike.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best beer books I've ever read. An in depth analysis of technique, history and ingredients for lots of Belgian and Belgian inspired beers. Not a book for beginners, though. You need to have a basic understanding of brewing to understand much of this book. Highly recommended.

[Andrew Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history, background and inter-workings of Belgian Ale production. The author interviews multiple brew-masters from the original abbeys that traditionally brewed them in Belgian to newer breweries that continue the tradition of brewing these quaffable beverages.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good treatise on Belgian beer and brewing. I learned a lot about different abbeys and producers and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipe design/production tips the next time I make a Belgian brew (probably a dubbel).

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those crazy Belgian Trappists and their blatant disregard for The Reinheitsgebot!

[Dustin Bagby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the history of Belgian, especially "Trappist" ales and the techniques and ingredients to make them. Found it VERY helpful!

[Michael Florez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monk start beery styles.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty advanced material, but it does the service of not focusing on recipes.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

[Michael Cramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great easy read on Belgian brewing history and styles.

[Garrett Zick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invaluable source of information about brewing your own beer as well as a pretty sweet history of monks and beer.

[Tim Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ready to channel my inner Benedictine brewer after reading this one! Mostly focuses on the Trappist breweries and their history and philosophy behind what they do.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting history to the trappist breweries. The discussion around composition and brewing of the various styles was invaluable. Will definitely guide my recipe development.