On Sept. 29, 2022, the Norbertines at St. Michael’s Abbey hosted a feast of sorts – a reception held in the courtyard following Mass that featured Monastic brews (beer) produced in the Abbey’s kitchen by its seminarians and overseen by Fr. Peter Adrian Miller.
The Abbey’s seminarians follow a one-barrel system (1BBL) of brewing. Generous friends (and brewery owners) of the Abbey have lent the necessary equipment.
That rhythm includes a vigorous sanitation process and according to Fr. Peter Adrian, “To be a good brewer you need to be both a janitor and a chemist.”
There is also a special Rite of Blessing for the beer. For Michaelmas, the seminarians brewed 100 gallons of beer and although they have produced all kinds of styles, they focused on just three for this event – Rosa Mystica, an English Ale; Dolorosa, an Oatmeal Stout; and Domus Aurea, a Belgian Golden.
Frater Gereon said that oftentimes, people will ask why their beers are given names associated with the Blessed Mother.
“For people not of the faith and wondering about it, it plants a seed in their head of who is this Blessed
Virgin and why are we naming these delicious beers after her when some of the other beers out there are named after pretty awful, demonic things,” he said.
Full story at OC Catholic.
I wont be supporting a group who takes their que from the demonic beer makers jim
It’s a good order, those Norbertines. Their beer better be also!
This is St. Michael’s Abbey jumping the shark. What a shame.
“It’s a good order, those Norbertines. Their beer better be also!” It seems the beer is not for sale commercially; so far as I can tell. .
So they close the prep school and open a brewery.
Why don’t they publish catechetical materials instead?
Because they want to sell the beer to their Legatus and Napa Institute buds.
This is apparently THE millennial thing to do…capture a bit of the medieval spirit and way of life by brewing beer. The only difference is that, in medieval times, there was a true need. Water was never drunk and considered poison as so much of it was actually poisoned due to bad hygiene and a lack of basic scientific knowledge. The boiling of the wort (the grain extract liquid) and the alcohol in beer killed the bacteria. Now, it seems like it more of a trendy thing to do. It seems more of a hobby than a serious business venture. I also wish the Norbertines would focus more on education and formation instead of beer brewing. At this moment, there are over 1,000 independent brewers in California alone. We don’t need more beer in CA.
An insightful reply, El Padre. Thank you for it.
I think we can walk and chew gum (or drink beer) at the same time. Brewing is one of many activities historically undertaken by monasteries to provide for their monks and to generate income. Can’t see what’s wrong with that. In fact that’s one of their contributions to western culinary culture. The Church is a large, complex, multifaceted community with many gifts to offer our civilization. We need to preserve western culture, not abandon it as part of an overzealous attempt to prioritize.
As the guy above pointed out, there’s a glut of craft beers already. There’s a dearth of good catechesis. Priorities. St. Michael’s Abbey needs to get some.
I love beer and ale. I think it is just optics with the beer thing. They close the prep school, then build an abbey complex in sort of middle of nowhereville. All good, but a few eyebrows have been raised as they have retreated into the wilderness with wealthy benefactor’s money. The abbey was frightfully expensive to build (about $140 Million all in) as they had to create an entire infrastructure back there, including roads, sewer, plumbing, electric and grading on top of a very expensive PIP build. The building will no doubt continue. God bless the wealthy families of the Diocese of Orange.
You’ll never find clergy unwilling to take people’s money. You’ll never find an order running out of things to request money for.
Imagine what $140 million could have done to improve parish catechesis and liturgical music all over the diocese.
Greedy little Norbertines.
Whelp… it will be another weekend of poorly performed and sung CCM songs at Mass at Solano and Holy Trinity and in other parishes. It will be another Confirmation season of 80% or more of teens saying goodbye to the church after they get confirmed.
But the Norbertines will have their expensive buildings and now their beer.
I suspect that the Seminarians can pray and make beer at the same time. Is it ok to make beer while praying? Is it ok to pray while making beer? A paraphrase from the movie The Two Popes.