Hoepfully, we’ll get some of Spencer’s beer in the future! Sounds ambitious though…
gonna have to give my folks in MA a call and see if I can’t score some of that.
Ditto.
My buddy told me about this today. I’m only about 15 min away from the brewery, can’t wait to check it out!
I don’t believe they are going to allow tours but hopefully I am wrong.
That did occur to me after I wrote that reply seeing how it’s a monastery and all 
Many allow visitors under various circumstances, i.e. the Rule of St Benedict, which probably doesn’t include a tour of the brewery but may include drinking the beer at a meal or two. Sometimes there are also various open house days. We were fortunate enough to hit Orval on an open house day a few years ago, pretty neat.
Where in Western Mass can one pick up some Spencer Beer?
I’m traveling to Vermont next weekend.
In-state distributors for the beer are Atlas Distributing, Inc., Burke Distributing Corporation, Commercial Distributing Co., Merrimack Valley Distributing Co., and Colonial Wholesale Beverage Co.
Should be able to google their distributors and find a liquor store in Vermont or near the MA/VT Border.
For those planning a pilgrimage you should know there are no tours and currently the gift shop at the Abby doesn’t have a liquor license so the best you can do is buy a chalice with their insignia. It is selling at a lot of package store in Massachusetts. I’ve been excited about this for a couple years because I grew up near St. Joseph’s Abby and currently only live 25 minutes from it and I’ve been hearing about it from my brother who almost became a monk there and now runs their gift shop and two close friends are former monks there. The beer tastes terrific. Not nearly as heavy as most trappist ales; I think because of this the more subtle characteristics of the yeast and malt shine. My only problem with it is that because they go down so easy the $17 price for a 4 pack of 11.2 oz bottles is hard to bear.
Tried it last night at a local cafe. It was a trappist Ale for sure;)
Glad to hear they are maintaining standards.
My understanding is that it’s a Single/Enkle which would explain why it’s not as heavy as some. I hear it’s very well done. Can’t wait to try some !
It is very well done. I think they did a great job of sticking to the Trappist tradition but making it their own. It 6.6% abv. Some Trappist ales are in the double digits with abv.
Another very cool thing is the monks are growing experimental barley fields and sharing what they learn with local farmers so we will hopefully have a good supply of local grains. We already have a small local malter and some varieties of hops do well around here so hopefully this will eventually be an all local ingredient beer. I hope that trickles down to us homebrewers.
It already has:) I used local hops in my last brew and as soon as i can get to Valley that next brew will be ALL local:D
Cant wait
That’s true but I thought that Valley Malt didn’t use much grains grown in MA because the supply wasn’t big enough.
IS a state border of consequence? I thought it was just all about knowing where you get your ingrediants from and supporting local farmers;)
No, Jeff your right, its not about state borders, it is about knowing your ingredients and being sustainable. At the same time i’m ecstatic that there are people like the brothers at St joseph’s Abby and Valley Malt etc. that are doing what they are doing, making it more and more local.
Btw I’m sure you noticed I’m a new AHA member. Nice to meet you! I have a wonderful partner who got me the membership for my birthday this past week. She has been making mead for twenty years and inspired my homebrewing.
Nice to meet a fellow Masshole!!!(I kid of course) Where abouts are ya? Im about 20 minutes N of Boston. I really need to take a ride out to Valley. I plan on making their malts the center of my beer line when production starts when possible. Grown Local is a great hook if you can swing it. Check out the hop folks over at Four Star. Their Product smells great and they are ever so helpful, cant wait to see what they have on offering after next gorw season. They have had a few varietal issues but have a few others int he works!
Cheers,
Jeff