{"id":4478,"date":"2010-08-06T08:54:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T14:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=4478"},"modified":"2010-08-06T08:54:36","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T14:54:36","slug":"session-42-it-wasnt-the-beer-it-was-the-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/session-42-it-wasnt-the-beer-it-was-the-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Session #42: It wasn’t the beer, it was the silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheFor the 42nd gathering of The Session Derrick Peterman asks we write about “A Special Place, A Special Beer.”<\/a> Visit his blog for a recap of all the posts.<\/em><\/p>\n

I told this story in Brew Like a Monk.<\/a> This is the condensed version.<\/p>\n

Inside the brewery caf\u00e9 at the monastery of the Saint Benedictus Abbey of Achel, only a single food server and one monk putting items on his cafeteria tray remained when Marc Beirens opened the door and stepped into a chilly December evening.<\/p>\n

Beirens, a businessman who has been visiting monasteries since he was a child, took a few strides into a terrace area that was once the abbey\u2019s courtyard. As the sky above turned from dark blue to black, he nodded back toward the brewery, located in a space that once housed the monastery dairy, then to a new gallery and gift shop to his right. Those buildings held pigs and more cattle, before it became obvious agriculture would not sustain the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should have seen this all a few years ago,\u201d he said, his voice bouncing lightly about an otherwise silent courtyard.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

During the next few hours Beirens and Brother Benedict, the monk in charge of marketing when I visited in December of 2004 gave me a complete tour of the monastery and its small brewery. Always a good host, Brother Benedict insisted I try the beers.<\/p>\n

Staring with Extra,<\/em> a substantial 9.5% beauty served from a 750ml bottle. He didn\u2019t drink himself, talking a little business with Beirens, answering my questions about the monastery, and excusing himself after his cell phone rang. He returned a little later. “This is the same bottle?” he asked, knowing the answer was yes. “You don\u2019t like the beer.” He laughed mightily.<\/p>\n

He ordered we have another, then headed off again. Both Beirens and I ordered the Achel 5, a blonde beer of 5.3% abv, and compared it to the 5% abv Westmalle Extra. When Brother Benedict returned, he looked at our blonde beers, working on a scowl. He took a sip of one. \u201cWater,\u201d he said, once again laughing.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Beirens appreciates the importance of commerce to the monasteries, and that the six Trappist breweries are part of a larger family. He distributes a range of monastic products ? beer is the best selling, but they include cookies, soap, vegetables, wine, and other goods ? throughout Belgium and France. His father did the same. \u201cI\u2019ve been visiting monasteries since I was this high,\u201d he said earlier, holding his hand below his waist. That\u2019s why he understands something else about monasteries.<\/p>\n

It was dark now, and the courtyard empty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the silence,\u201d Beirens said. \u201cI used to have a friend who was a monk. He\u2019s gone now.\u201d<\/p>\n

We walked along in silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was 80 or so, I\u2019d still call him. If I had a problem I could go see him. He didn\u2019t have to say anything and I\u2019d feel better.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll it took was silence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the 42nd gathering of The Session Derrick Peterman asks we write about “A Special Place, A Special Beer.” Visit his blog for a recap of all the posts. I told this story in Brew Like a Monk. This is the condensed version. Inside the brewery caf\u00e9 at the monastery of the Saint Benedictus Abbey … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-session"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-1ae","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4481,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}