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(Caroline Wllace, Jessica Deahl, and Sarah Wood: Courtesy Tyler Malone0
American Craft Beer delivers craft beer news and lifestyle 24/7 and because we do, we’re sometimes sent books to review. And we recently received a book that takes readers inside monastery walls for an in-depth look at the legendary breweries of theTrappist monks.
The story around Trappist Beer Travels, Second Edition: Inside the Breweries of the Monasteries is as interesting as the work itself. Books on beer come and go and very few warrant a second edition. But like the Trappist Monks themselves, who brew some of the most coveted beers in the world, Trappist Beer Travels is something special.
Written by Caroline Wallace, Sarah Wood and Jessica Deahl, three American beer writers who not only understand beer but know how to write about it, Trappist Beer Travels melds the pleasures of an informed beer journal with the history behind the Trappist tradition. It’s also another part travelogue granting readers rare access inside monastery walls for an in-depth look at the legendary breweries of Trappist monks.
Trappist Beer Travels explores the expansive production facilities (at least by Trappist standards) at Chimay, the coveted gates of Westvleteren, home to some of the most collectable beers in the world, and the ancient sunbaked walls of Rome’s Tre Fontane. It also journeys to the Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in the UK, Engelzell Trappist brewery in Austria, and the Zundert and Koningshoven cloistered breweries in The Netherlands, all their visits punctuated with beautiful photos that linger like the best travel books.
Now in its second printing, a rarity in the beer book world, Trappist Beer Travels updates where Trappist brewers are today, having suffered the economic impact of the pandemic. Like many craft breweries, these monastic sects were faced with logistic challenges and lockdowns that led them to embracing online beer sales and home delivery, and massively expanding their presence via social media channels.
Rich yet accessible, like the beers these journalists so clearly love, Trappist Beer Travels is a keeper that deserves a second edition, as it does a place on any serious beer lover’s shelf.
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