The Bowsing Ken

34 : Achel Bruin 8

    If one goes by the information in the 1901 "Continental Road Book," published by the London Cyclist Touring Club, about the only thing of note in the Belgian village of Achel was the presence of the last Belgian Customs House, before crossing into Holland at the Dutch town of Valkenswaard. The Guide does, however, point out that the road is "good and nearly level" so cycling must have been fairly easy. In another tour guide -"Grieben's Guide Book, Belgium - A Practical Guide" (1911) - Achel is only mentioned as a place one passes through when travelling between the towns of Neerpelt and the aforementioned Valkenswaard. Giving these books the benefit of the doubt, it can only be surmised that since this part of Belgium is in reality a picturesque mix of age-old farmlands peppered with equally picturesque county villages, it was simply not necessary for the authors to remind the reader of this fact.
  Moving ahead to today, in the "DK Eyewitness Travel for Belgium and Luxembourg" (2009), the poor village of Achel is not even given a brief mention. Maybe part of the reason for this was that in 1977, the village of Achel combined with the somewhat large town of Hamont into what is now known as Hamont-Achel. Evidently the larger of the two got to come first in the name. In the DK guide, there is a map for Province of Limburg that shows the town of Hamont, but not Hamont-Achel. Still, for the dedicated beer enthusiast one need only mention Achel, the home of the Sint-Benedictusabdij - De Achelse Kluis - the Hermitage of Achel - and, of course, its associated Trappist brewery, to know exactly where Achel is on the map of Belgium.
 As it goes...Back in 1656, there was an isolated region of Belgium called Achel, then under the control of the Belgian Princes of Liege, where Dutch catholics could get away from Dutch protestants and practice their devotions in relative peace and privacy. Since the Peace of Munster, signed in 1648, life for the clergy in the Netherlands had been difficult, and many priests simply crossed the border into Belgium to practice their faith, as did those who congregated at Achel. A priest by the name of Tielemans, who came from Valkenswaard, in the Netherlands, established a small vicarage on this site. Some 30 years later, on 7 March 1686, a monk by the name of Petrus van Eynatten (alternately Peeter Wijnants van Ennetten), who had come from his home in Eindhoven, bought the vicarage and the land around it, and established the Hermitage of Achel - the "Achelse Kluis." The Hermitage was dedicated to Saint Joseph, and was thus also known as the Hermitage of Saint Joseph.

  As is so common in European history, a conflict intervened and interrupted the quiet life of the monastery, in this case the French Revolution. On 28 August 1794, French soldiers looted the monastery, then on 1 September 1796, the Hermitage of Achel was forced by the French government to be put up for sale. It was sold on 16 June 1798, to some dude name Jan Diederik Tuyll van Serooskerken, better know as the Lord of Heeze, who never lived on the land, and probably had never even seen it. Of course, all the monks were forced to leave.
  Now, legend has it that in 1801, a couple of Trappist monks, presumably from the abbey at Westmalle and themselves on the run from French authorities, passed through Achel. The monks took note of the now abandoned Hermitage, before hotfooting it out of town. Before leaving, according to the legend, the two Trappists told a local priest that the Trappists would return and establish a monastery at Achel.
  In 1814, with the withdrawal of the French from the vicinity, life began to return to normal for the clergy, however, the monks of the Hermitage at Achel never returned. Meanwhile, the Trappist abbey at Westmalle had grown to the point that the leadership determined that some of their member monks should leave with the purpose of establishing an allied subsidiary monastery. With this goal in mind, on 1 May 1838, a group of monks, at the behest of the Father Abbot, went to survey the derelict Capuchin monastery at Meersel. Although there were a very few monks still at Meersel, the monastery had been all but abandoned for nearly half a century, and was now found to be unsuitable due to its poor state, as well as the small amount of tillable land associated with the monastery. Since it was planned that the new monastery would grow to become an autonomous monastery, it needed to be self-supporting and adequate farmland was a basic requirement. The search continued.

  In late 1844, the Hermitage at Achel was not exactly in the best of shape, but it did have the land needed to sustain a growing monastery. In October, Abbot Martinus Dom of Westmalle and Prior Van Moock of Meersel surveyed the site and determined that it fit the bill, although the buildings did need quite a bit of work. Thus, on 9 April 1845, a certain Father Gast, parish priest of Heeze and apparently the caretaker of the Hermitage and the representative of the Lord of Heeze, turned the deed to the Hermitage over to the Trappist monks. With some preliminary work complete, the monks moved into the newly named St Benedictus Abbey - the Sint Benedictus Abdij - on 20 March 1846.
  Soon the abbey began to grow and thrive. Of course, in addition to their devotions, the community was required to work - concentrating on agriculture and animal husbandry - in order to support themselves as well as the surrounding community. Several associated monasteries were founded by the St Benedictus Abbey, including in 1891, the monastery at Rochfort (please see the page of Rochfort for more on that story).
  So on to the beer...From 1846 to early 1850, the monks simply bought their beer from local breweries. Then on 12 July 1850, by royal decree, the monastery was given permission to set up their own brewery, as long as the beer produced was intended for internal consumption only. Extant record do indicate, however, that on occasion the beer was sold to the public, was used as a barter item for services needed, and was served at the monastery's guest house. It should be pointed out that the monastery also produced butter and cheese, made wine - using grapes from their own vineyards, as well as candles, soap, shoes and saddles. 
 Back to history for a moment...On 17 October 1914, the German army, in pursuit of Belgian General De Schepper and his troops who were hold up in the monastery, shelled the buildings and later occupied the grounds. Both General De Schepper and the Trappist monks had fled. The Germans stayed long enough to drink all the beer and wine, but they returned in mid 1917, this time to loot the monastery of all its strategic materials, including the cooper used in the brew house. The monks returned to the St Benedictus Abbey in November 1919, but confronted with many damaged buildings, it was decided to forego rebuilding the brewery. The monks did file claims against the German government for damages, but the case would drag on for years. The brewery was not reopened.

  So, again back to the beer ... Sint Benedictus Abdij - de Achelse Kluis weathered World War Two relatively intact, and after the war continued to expand their commercial operations. By the mid 1970s, the monastery leadership began to explore reentering the world of making beer. Somewhat oddly, in 1976, there was actually a beer being marketed as "Achelse Kluis," although it had nothing to do with the monastery. Rather, it was brewed at the De Kluis Brewery in Hoegaarden, owned by Pierre Celis, the maker of the well known Hoegaarden Wit beer.  Brother Gerbrandus - cellar master at Saint Benedictus - met with Celis and cut a deal whereupon Celis' Vader Abt - Father Abbot - beer was relabeled for the monastery, to be served within the monastery and through the monastery's shop.

This arrangement continued on for several years, and was superseded by similar deals with other breweries. However well all these deals worked out, the bottom line was that the beer was clearly not brewed within the monastery and therefore could not really be considered a Trappist product. As a side note - by 1989, it was evident that the agricultural operation was simply getting too large and was perhaps getting in the way of the monks primary reason for being. Thus, the farmland was sold off, much of it to the Dutch National Forest Administration. The monks did continue with smaller pursuits, including the making of cheese and, lucky for us, in the near future, the brewing of beer.
    In 1994, enter Dom Marc Gallant, who came from the monastery at Orval, and would become the abbot at the St Benedictus Abbey in 1995. To him, several factors indicated that restarting the brewery at the St Benedictus Abbey was a good idea, including its relationship with its immediate superior abbey - Westmalle - and its subordinate abbey - Rochfort, as well as his own history being at the monastery at Orval. The basic plan called for a brewery making draught beer for the monks and to serve to the public at a small inn connected to the monastery. A first, bottle beer for sale to the general public was not part of the plan. On 3 December 1998, under the supervision of Brother Thomas Sas - who had brewed beer at Orval, Westmalle and Westvleteren - the first batch of Achel Trappist beer was made at the new brewery within the walls of the St Benedictus Abbey
   Lucky for us, it was soon determined that a reasonable amount of money could be made by selling, on a limited basis, Achel Trappist beer in bottles outside of the monastery grounds. (I had my last case shipped over from Belgium.) Although always subject to change, those beers available for purchase in bottles include the Achel Blond 8, Achel Bruin 8 and the Achel Bruin 9.5. Of course, there are always a variety of beers that can only be sampled at the inn, making a trip to Belgium something to put on the agenda.

  So, if you are mapping out a cycle tour of the Limburg area, basing it on either an old or a new tourist guidebook, be sure to pencil in a stop at Achel - and have an Achel Trappist beer. Cheers!