{"id":216799,"date":"2025-10-11T13:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/216799\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T13:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T13:15:11","slug":"the-only-monastic-brewery-in-the-united-states-is-in-mount-angel-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/216799\/","title":{"rendered":"The only monastic brewery in the United States is in Mount Angel, Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mount<\/p>\n

Mount Angel Abbey has been in Mount Angel since 1882 and is the only monastery in the United States with a brewery that still brews beer in the centuries-old monastic tradition.<\/p>\n

Lisa Wood \/ OPB<\/p>\n

Nestled in the trees on the hill above the town of Mount Angel, Oregon, sits Mount Angel Abbey<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was founded in the Willamette Valley in 1882 by Benedictine monks from Switzerland and, after a disastrous fire in 1892, they rebuilt on the hilltop.<\/p>\n

The Abbey is an expansive complex that houses a monastery, a college, a library, a museum, a guesthouse and retreat center, and it is the only monastery in the United States with a brewery that still brews in the centuries-old monastic tradition. <\/p>\n

All walks of life are welcomed to experience the Abbey, which houses over 2,000 guests a year in overnight stays and hosts events like the Saint Benedict Festival and the Bach Festival.<\/p>\n

Father Vincent, who has been at the monastery 65 years, says the brewery serves as a kind of outreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe monks like to go down there and mingle with the crowds and even help out whenever they can,\u201d said Vincent. \u201cBut there are a lot of questions that are asked and people are drawn to come up and see for themselves and visit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Father<\/p>\n

Father Martin tastes a new batch of beer and ponders the flavor profile.<\/p>\n

Lisa Wood \/ OPB<\/p>\n

Father Martin, the brewer and general manager of the brewery and St. Michael Taproom<\/a>, brews about 230 barrels of beer a year with just a few helping hands. <\/p>\n

\u201cBenedictine monks have a really long history in brewing. After the fall of the Roman Empire with the collapse of Western civilization, there was very little structure left and the monks became the brewers of the day,\u201d said Father Martin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey needed beer for themselves because they couldn\u2019t drink the water, so for hundreds of years until the renaissance, monks were really the commercial brewers of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin was a software engineer for 10 years before he decided to become a priest and his bishop sent him to Mount Angel Seminary. He has been there for 30 years now. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to work and craft, the rule of St. Benedict permits the artisans of the monastery to pursue their arts, their crafts, but if it becomes a matter of pride where the monk feels like he\u2019s bestowing something on the monastery, then he\u2019s no longer to practice that,\u201d said Martin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe monk\u2019s life is a spiritual life, not a business life, not an art life. The monk\u2019s number one pursuit is his own spiritual growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The small but mighty Benedictine Brewery in the back of The St. Michael Taproom. <\/p>\n

Lisa Wood, Lisa Wood \/ OPB<\/p>\n

Father Martin gravitates towards Belgian and Bavarian styles because that\u2019s what people associate with the Belgian trappists and their famous beers. <\/p>\n

And when it comes to sourcing ingredients, they don\u2019t have to go far. Some of the hops are grown on their land and the biggest ingredient in beer, water, comes from their own well. <\/p>\n

Other than the hum of patrons enjoying themselves, the taproom is quiet \u2014 and that\u2019s by design. There\u2019s no music and no TV: just a space for people to gather, socialize, and enjoy the fruits of Father Martin\u2019s work. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special feeling when I can be back brewing a batch of beer and I hear the happy roar in the taproom,\u201d said Father Martin. \u201cThere\u2019s people here enjoying themselves and I do hope they\u2019re experiencing something unique in our Benedictine taproom.\u201d<\/p>\n

But before anything is served, Father Martin adds what he calls their \u201csecret ingredient\u201d: Every day he blesses the tap room with a prayer and holy water.<\/p>\n

\"Tasters<\/p>\n

Tasters of brews, including Father Martin’s Cascadian dark beer “Black Habit,” right. <\/p>\n

Lisa Wood \/ OPB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mount Angel Abbey has been in Mount Angel since 1882 and is the only monastery in the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,40324,13906,13907,122744,122743,122745,3,122742,2232,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-216799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-beer","tag-brewery","tag-brewing","tag-monastery","tag-monks","tag-mount-angel","tag-news","tag-opb","tag-oregon","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}