Bieres de Chimay SA

Bières de Chimay traces its origins to the Trappist monks from Westvleteren who established the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont in 1850. Their aim was not simply to found a monastery on the remote plateau: farming, brewing and later cheesemaking provided work and income for a poor rural area. The monks brewed their first beer in 1862, beginning a relationship between abbey and region that still shapes Chimay today.

The brewery's modern identity owes much to Father Théodore, who in 1948 isolated the distinctive yeast strain still used to brew Chimay's beers. The range itself records different stages in the brewery's history. Chimay Red descends from the original beer; Gold began in 1947 as a lighter beer for the monks' own refectory table; Blue originated as a Christmas beer in 1954 before becoming a permanent addition; and the White, now generally known as Chimay Tripel, followed in 1966. Chimay 150, introduced in 2021, is the relative newcomer.

Cheese has almost as much history here as beer. In 1876 Brother Benoît travelled to France to learn how to make a semi-soft cheese, establishing a second Trappist tradition that continues alongside the brewery. Today's Chimay cheeses are made using milk collected from farms around the region, reinforcing the local economic role that the monks intended from the beginning.

Chimay remains an Authentic Trappist Product: its beers are brewed at the abbey under monastic supervision and the bulk of the income supports charitable and social purposes. Since 1996 the Chimay-Wartoise Foundation has held the shares in the commercial businesses, allowing the monastic community to step back from their financial management without stepping away from the principles behind them.

The brewery itself remains closed to ordinary visitors. Given that the monks have somehow turned prayer, beer and cheese into an internationally recognised enterprise while retaining a working monastery, one can perhaps forgive them for keeping at least one door shut.

Address: Bières de Chimay SA, Route de Charlemagne 8, 6464 Baileux

Tel: 060 210311