A fine job in the Philadelphia City Paper of explaining why bars raised the price of Chimay White.
Blame the weak dollar, among other things.
Although the story is very well done, it contains one line that gets repeated too often: “the Trappist monks who oversee Chimay do not produce and sell beer for profit.” Yes, they do. But they don’t spend the profits on wine, women and song. These figures are from Brew Like a Monk so aren’t totally up to date, but you’ll get the point:
Including the brewery, bottling plant, and marketing, eighty-two people work for Bières de Chimay. Chimay began producing cheese in 1876, bathing the rind of one in beer, and now sells Chimay cheeses in many countries. Overall, Chimay employs more than one hundred and fifty people, making it one of the biggest employers in one of Belgium’s poorest regions. A part of the profits from brewing and cheese production go to help or build other Cistercian monasteries, with the rest dedicated to various projects in the area of Chimay.
If the monks weren’t turning a profit then there wouldn’t be much point in brewing.
Hey, but,,,,I gotta get paid!!
What a boneheaded comment. It wouldn’t have taken a whole lot of research to discover that many Catholic monasteries sell things to create an income stream. Beer is rare (relative to the total number of monasteries), but in keeping with general practices.
OK Jeff, I guess monks should brew awesome beers for free and nobody should ever make evil money to pay the bills- even if they earn it. Monks should only pack nuts and bolts into little bags,,,and still beg for the money. How old are you with the namecalling anyway? Does this site screen for age?