Of monks, malts & montréal


can making beer and cheese be holy? Trappist monks think so.

photo by stefan schmuhl

excerpted from the print magazine…

In 1869, American author Harriet Beecher Stowe had this to say of Montréal:

“Montréal is a mountain of churches. Every shade and form of faith is here well represented in wood or stone, and the gospel feast set forth in every form and shape [will] suit the spiritual appetite of all inquirers.”

“To that end, I am sitting down in my Montréal apartment to satisfy my own appetite, with a lunch steeped in spiritual history: Oka cheese and a bottle of Chimay Grande Reserve beer, both crafted by Trappist monks. These foods follow a tradition passed down from brother to brother and perfected over several centuries in cloistered, reflective communities. I spread the cheese onto a fresh baguette and wash it down with some peppery beer, all the while hearing – I kid you not – the tintinnabulations of church bells filling the autumn air. It is an incidence of strange serendipity, but indeed typical of any Saturday afternoon in Montréal.


Scott W. Gray is a musician and freelance writer living in Montréal. He is also the marketing manager of ascent magazine.

Copyright ©2007 ascent magazine, first Canadian yoga magazine, yoga for an inspired life