– An Evening with La Trappe / Tuesday 30th September – 7pm
£14 advance from the bar or 0161 237 9949
To launch our Euro-Tober-Fest (30th September – 6th October) we are super excited to be hosting an evening with La Trappe. Limited to 40 places you will get the chance to enjoy five of their beers whilst learning more about the brewery from Dieter Lauwers.
History :
La Trappe Trappist ale has been brewed by the Koningshoeven brewery at the Cistercian abbey of Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven since 1884. Although La Trappe ales have very different characters, they also have some similarities. Each and every one is a pure ale. Unique ales are created with patience, love, passion and traditional craftsmanship on the basis of the strictly secret recipes of the Trappist monks.
Saint Benedictus is considered the godfather of Western monkhood. He started his own community and thus became the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict. The monks were to commit to ‘ora et labora’, which refers to praying and handcraft. In 1098 a reform was established by the Benedictine order to restore the observance of monks: the Cistercian order. Later in the 17th century, a group formed the Strict Observance in La Trappe abbey in Normandy. They were commonly referred to as ‘Trappists’.
By the end of the 19th century, the French government forced the Trappists to seek refuge. They found their safe haven in Berkel-Enschot in Brabant. It was a strip of heath, with farmsteads and a sheep pen. The farmsteads were called the ‘Koningshoeven’, literally translated ‘the King’s Steads’, after their former owner King Willem II.
The sheep pen was turned into an abbey. The reasons for the Trappists to start brewing beer, were the quality of the drinking water, their need for self-sufficiency and their duty to provide charity.