Courts Back Trappist Brewers In Multinational Dispute

beer, Courts Back Trappist Brewers In Multinational Dispute

Trappist brewers at the Abbey of Rochefort are celebrating a big win over Lhoist, a lime and minerals multinational, putting an end to proposed drilling operation that the monks felt could endanger their precious water supply.

Here’s the deal…

According to Flanders News “Belgium’s highest administrative court, the council of state, has sided with the Trappist monks in their dispute and has withdrawn the multinational’s license to perform drilling tests at a site near the brewery.”

Lhoist, runs a lime quarry near the Abbey of Our Lady of Saint-Rémy in Rochefort home to some of Belgium’s most valued beers.

The company had hoped to deepen its quarry and seek out new sources of water, but the Trappist brewers worried that their actions might impact the abbey’s water source as well as their beer if the project was allowed to go forward.

Last year the Walloon environment minister Di Antonio had issued Lhoist a license. But with last week’s ruling the world’s largest lime producer will now have to halt its work.beer, Courts Back Trappist Brewers In Multinational Dispute

The company claims hundreds of jobs are now under threat and intends to make a new application. But for now the courts (and who knows, maybe even God) have come down on the side of serious beer.

It’s been a tough period for Belgium’s spiritual brewing community. In March the abbey of Saint-Sixtus in Westvleteren saw their award-winning beers being sold without their permission by a large Dutch supermarket chain.

Rochefort is one of only eleven Trappist breweries in the world, six of them are in Belgium.

And their Trappist designation is a big deal! In order to be recognized as a Trappist brewery beer must be produced within the abbey walls and the profits must go to the monks’ maintenance and charity.

 

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