Achel | Patersbier

De Achelse Kluis

The Monastery of Our Lady of Saint Benedict is located in the municipality of Achel, in Campine (Belgian Limburg)

In 1687, in Meersel, a small hamlet belonging to the commune of Merle, a monastery was built by Jean de Wyse, a wealthy shipowner from Breda, intended to receive Capuchin friars.

This convent, which prospered until the Revolution, was then sold like so many others, while the religious were expelled.

In 1838, a vicar from Meerle, serving the hamlet of Meersel, entered into negotiations with the Reverend Father Abbot of Westmalle with a view to having his monks repopulate the former residence of the sons of Saint Francis, and it was decided that a Trappist foundation would be established. Arrangements were made and signed on March 16, 1838. However, the monastery in Meersel was not suitable for the monks, who did not find the peace and quiet necessary for their life there. At that time, it became known that another monastery, located in Achel, was for sale...

This establishment in Achel, built in 1684 by hermits of Saint Joseph and inhabited by them until the Revolution, had become the property of Baron Jean Diederick, who had rented it to three different tenants who shared the land. On April 9, 1845, the deal was concluded: the property passed into the hands of the monks, free of any encumbrances. There was much to be done to restore the building and return it to its cloistered form; the fields and pastures, neglected or fallow, required great care.

March 19, 1846, was the day set for the move. Everything went very smoothly; carts kindly lent by some industrialists in Tilburg transported personnel and equipment, and the next afternoon, they arrived in Achel...

Dom Joseph-Marie de Moock (see image), the first Prior, governed the community from 1839 to 1868. He restored the old buildings and added guest quarters and workshops, as well as a brewery, which was established in 1850. The third abbot of Notre-Dame de Saint-Benoît was Dom Bernard-Marie van de Seijp, elected on June 20, 1882. He founded the abbeys of Echt, N.-D. de Sion, and St-Rémy in Rochefort and personally oversaw the construction of the three new monasteries.

At the start of the Great War, Achel was occupied by the Germans and the monks had to leave on October 19, 1914, some to Tegelen, others to Notre-Dame de Sion. But as the situation dragged on, in 1917 Dom Lans had barracks built on the part of the garden located on Dutch territory and most of his monks returned there.

On May 10, 1940, during the German invasion, the monastery did not suffer. On January 14, 1943, after a visit from the Gestapo, the monks had to leave the monastery within two hours. They were all ordered by the Germans to go to N.-D. de Sion, but 50 of them went to Tegelen. In September 1944, the abbey was liberated. This did not happen without difficulty: a dozen shells fell on the buildings, causing a great deal of damage.

In 1946, the community gathered to celebrate the centenary of the foundation, which coincided with the laying of the foundation stone for a new monastery (March 21). The old monastery was dilapidated and too small to meet the needs of the community, which at that time numbered more than 100 monks, only five of whom were Belgian.

The new abbey was then built according to the traditional plan of the order, based on the designs of architect Jos Ritzen of Antwerp.

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THE Brewery (I)

When the small community of Meersel-Dreef settled in Achel in 1846, it took up residence in a convent which no longer included the brewery with which it had been equipped a few decades earlier.

The first beers served at the newly occupied monastery were purchased from local brewers. The main suppliers were Koeckhofs of Achel, FH Spaas, J. Simons, and the widow Ballings of Hamont.

As the convent grew and, as monastic life required, sought to protect itself as much as possible from the outside world, the abbey requested permission to brew its own beer, which it officially obtained through a royal decree on July 12, 1850. We know, from the invoices that the abbey has been able to preserve, that the cooper Koeckhofs of Achel, as well as Mr. Kloosterman (a name that seems almost predestined), contributed to the installation of the brewery's vats.

It is likely that this first brewery was not fully operational until around 1852. A malt house was also installed on the site. The hops were then purchased from the Liège region, renowned for its quality production, from the Carpay (Carpet?) firm in Oupeye.

What was the production volume at that time? We don't know, but it is highly likely that production was then exclusively reserved for the community. Some documents do attest to deliveries of beer outside the abbey, but this remained quite rare.

According to the memoirs of Father Edmond Van Well, the brewery was supplied by an underground pipe directly connected to the nearby Tongelreep stream. If this witness is to be believed, the quality of the beer was very good, and the abbey brewed a strong 12% ABV beer called "'T Patersvatje" (Father's Little Cask), which stood up to comparison with other regional beers of the time.

The identity of the first brewer is lost to history, but the name Ceusters appears regularly in excise declarations, suggesting he may indeed have been the first. He was succeeded by Wouters Vessem in 1872 and Gerard Slegers until 1912. Only one batch per month was declared for excise purposes, confirming the primarily communal nature of the brewing. However, a record from 1894 demonstrates that it was also sold outside the abbey.

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The Brewery (II)

During the 1914-1918 war, the abbey was caught in German fire and the monks, forced to leave, decided to live in huts not far from there.

A German order to seize tin and copper led to the dismantling of the brewery, whose equipment, with a declared weight of 725 kg, was dismantled and shipped to the Vivegnis brewery in the province of Liège. Once the war was over, the abbey filed a claim for war damages with the Ministry of War in order to renovate the convent and rebuild the brewery.

However, this request was unsuccessful, as the convent had been registered in the name of two Dutch monks. The case dragged on until 1925, and there were insufficient funds to rebuild the brewery, so the restoration project was abandoned.

Time passed, and more than 80 years went by before the brewery project was revived. It was finally founded in September 1998, becoming the sixth Belgian Trappist brewery to produce a beer wearing the ATP label.

Meanwhile, the monks of Saint Benedict had their beer produced by various Belgian breweries. This is how the De Kluis brewery in Hoegaarden, then run by Pierre Celis, came to produce a "Trappistenbier De Achelse Kluis," soon renamed "Sint Benedict - trappisten abdij." When the De Kluis brewery burned down in 1985, production was taken over by Sterkens in Meer, which then brewed a "Kluyserbier Achel," followed by the Teut brewery in Neerpelt from 1991 to 1995.

In 1998, the monks decided to resume production themselves and carried out trials on several types of beer, initially two lagers and one dark beer, with alcohol contents ranging from 4% to 6%. The first beers were only available on tap, as there were no plans to bottle them when the brewery first started. Brother Thomas, the famous brewer from Westmalle, came to design the first "drafts" of the initial Achel beers, and Brother Antoine (former brewer at Rochefort), who was then retired at Achel Abbey, took over to keep the project alive, but also to develop and improve the range of beers.

The range of beers underwent various changes. During the early years, a 5% brown draft beer, a 5% blonde draft beer, an 8% triple beer refermented in the bottle, and an 8% brown beer in the bottle were produced. Occasionally, a stronger brown beer of around 9% was also brewed. The St Josef brewery in Oppiter lent a hand for a while with the bottling of the lagers.

In 2018, the range was structured as follows : (source : I.T.A)

Achel 5: typical amber-red color, no sugar, which keeps its generously sweet taste completely intact, 5% alcohol.
The golden blonde "5" offers a slightly richer and livelier range of flavors.
The blonde "8" in a bottle: a slightly cloudy golden blonde with a full and delicate taste.
Since May 2, 2002, Achel Extra Brown has also been produced, with an alcohol content of 9.5%.

All brewed with the typical "Trappist yeast Achel yeast".

At that time, among the Trappist beers of Achel, the "8" and the Extra Brown were bottled, but the "5" blonde and brown were only available at the Achelse Kluis inn.

In January 2021, the mother abbey of Achel, Westmalle, decided to give up the ATP label, because the last two monks residing at the Achel Abbey had joined Westmalle. However, the beer will continue to be brewed under the same name, "Trappist Achel," until early 2023, when the monastery was sold to a private investor. The beer continues to be brewed under the simple name "Achel" and is therefore no longer considered a Trappist beer.

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