The monks of Mount Angel Abbey, located about 40 miles south of Portland, unveiled their new brewery and taproom last weekend. Even those of little faith will find the spirit -- or at least, a spirit -- at Benedictine Brewery.
As the label's tagline reads, "taste and believe."
Father Martin Grassel can be credited for turning what began as a home-brewing project into a new revenue stream for the abbey. About 50 monks live at the abbey, which also houses a seminary school for those studying to become priests.
"A few years ago, I was just looking through financial reports, doing projections of revenues and expenses, and thought, this would be a good time to develop a new revenue source for us," Grassel said. "The community considered several ideas and we really gravitated toward the idea of a brewery... At the same time I'd begun home brewing. The monks really liked the beer I was making, and I think that helped make it a tangible reality."
For about five years, the monks have brewed small batches of beer at the abbey while primarily working and bottling out of Seven Brides Brewing in Silverton.
Now with the new facility, they'll be able to brew and bottle on-site, as well as offer beer on tap to the community.
During the taproom's opening weekend, a trio of young monks performed "Lean on Me" with keyboard and percussion, while lay people manned the bar. Though monks plan to be at special events and will brew the beer, the rigorous monastic prayer schedule prevents them from regularly staffing the taproom.
They will, however, be frequent guests. Part of the appeal of the taproom was providing a place for the community to meet the abbey's residents.
"It's not a religious hard sell," Grassel said. "There's no proselytizing going on, but we know that there's something different here, and that's what we want people to experience."
Just about everything about the brewery is local. Even the building's wood framing came from Douglas fir trees harvested from the abbey's tree farm.
When Mount Angel was established in the 1880s, the original monks planted hops and brewed beer. Today, Benedictine Brewery uses fresh hops from the abbey's property and well water pulled adjacent to the hops fields.
"Monastic beer-making goes back more than 1,000 years," Grassel said. "The oldest operating breweries in the world are Benedictine breweries."
Yet despite that beer-making tradition, the abbey says it's home to one of only three breweries in the United States owned and operated by Catholic monks.
On opening weekend, the popular brews were Black Habit (yes, that's a monk joke) dark Belgian ale, as well as the St. Michael Helle's lager. In the next few weeks, Grassel said Benedictine Brewery will roll out a Cascadian dark ale, a Scottish ale, a dunkel and a dubbel Belgian beer.
The Benedictine Brewery is located at 400 Humpert Lane, NE in Mt. Angel. Fall taproom hours are 2-7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 1-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, visit benedictinebrewery.com.
-- Samantha Swindler
@editorswindler / 503-294-4031
sswindler@oregonian.com