La Grâce-Dieu
Abbey & Brewery
Bernard de Clairvaux was received by Humbert, Archbishop of Besançon, in 1135, and four years later he had the Abbey of La Grâce-Dieu (thank God) built.
The Abbey of la Grâce-Dieu, under the title of Notre-Dame (Our Lady), is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Chaux-lès-Passavant, in the Doubs département.
Founded in March 1139, the abbey was home to Cistercians until the French Revolution, but at the end of July 1789 the doors of Grâce-Dieu were forced open by the neighboring population. The following year, the monks left the establishment, which became national property.
At the end of 1844, the Trappists bought back the abbey and its forests, and moved in in 1845. In 1929, a community of Cistercian nuns moved in, and in 2008 they sold their abbey to the “Travailleuses Missionnaires de l'Immaculée” family.
Information attesting to the existence of a brewery within this abbey is scanty, but we can learn from the book "Histoire de l'Abbaye de la Grâce-Dieu au diocèse de Besançon / par l'abbé Richard" that during a visit, probably around 1857 or shortly before: “The other buildings . .../... are the current chapter house, kitchens, laboratory, cellar, checkroom, rooms for the use of the superiors, as well as the brewery, barns, bakery and forge in part, which exist to the west, at the front of the monastery.”
Built around 1760, these buildings still appeared to be in use in 1857. We don't know when the brewery ceased to operate, but as the Trappists took possession of the premises in 1845, it is assumed that the brewery was in operation from 1845 or shortly thereafter.