The monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer Ma announced yesterday that they have decided that brewing is not a viable business for them going forward and are closing Spencer Brewery.
This is a loss to the beer world and I am a little extra sad because I grew up near the Abbey and have some connections to it.
They still have beer in stores so I am going to stock up, especially on their Quad which I love in the colder months.
Though I am not a huge fan of Belgian Beer, I am sad to see the brewery close.
They actually don’t exclusively make Belgian styles. They have a Pilsner I like, they do a NEIPA and more.
Which points out once again that brewing is first and foremost a business.
I was just thinking at a bottle shop the other day that I should buy some of their beers after realizing I’ve never tried anything from them. That’s surprising because I’m a big fan of Belgian beers. I guess I really need to go buy their beers before it’s too late.
I hadn’t heard this yet. Thanks for posting. Sad news.
People in the US aren’t drinking Belgians any longer. You better have a hazy NEIPA or some (nasty) fruited sour in your beer lineup or it’s going to be harder to succeed.
Well, some of us are! But, yeah, not the trendy style any more.
Too bad, I never had the chance to visit.
I haven’t had a lot of hazy IPA but I like them. Tons of hop flavor without the bitterness. I can see the attraction. They’ve always been an out on the town beer for me but I need to learn to brew one.
I can’t stand sour beers and I didn’t like Belgian beers even while visiting Belgium. I always attributed it to not choosing the right ones. [emoji2369]
I like Hazies and I like Belgians. But I’ve had far more awful, undrinkable Belgians than NEIPA’s. I’ve also had a few Belgians that were otherworldly, though I can’t say I’ve ever experienced the same magic with a hazy. My two cents.
truly, i’ve found out that people’s tastebuds are different. not just “i like X/dont like Y” but they actually perceive things differently. so i wouldnt imagine or try to change anyone’s mind on their choice in beer.
i get a tannins and hop-burn from hazy IPAs and simply don’t like a lot of aspects about them.
i like belgians a lot
what are the issues with undrinkable belgians? homebrewed ones? too syrupy sweet? just curious.
This is just my opinion, and I’m certainly no Belgian expert.
I find some either too heavy, malty, unbalanced, too alcoholic, overly fruity or spicy, or just undrinkable in the sense that a few sips are more than enough.
Don’t mistake me, when done a certain way (that is, a way that I like), I find them super enjoyable.
From memory, Orval might be my favorite. But I recently had a Rochefort 8 that I found incredibly underwhelming.
I guess this just speaks to my personal tastes and nothing else.
Spencer actually did have a NEIPA and at least one sour. They even had a pumpkin ale.
Yeah, but with the beer market being what it is right now, it makes me wonder if they should have focused on their niche a bit more. Their IPAs and pilsner are all decent beer, but if I’m getting an IPA it isn’t going to be from Spencer. I don’t know if they would have been able to survive in the current environment on a Belgian/Trappist beer lineup, but it was probably their best shot. That being said, I will miss their beer.
Well then maybe they deserved to fail. 
Great points
the alcohol monopoly here tends to let in only the big name belgians ie. trappists and celebrated non-trappists. sadly for some weird reason they have purged all unibroue products despite being made in canada.
so, thinking back, yes i recall some really syrupy and simply alcohol directly up front ones in the past. but re: rochefort 8. i actually had one the other night, and treated not like something special, but as a simple strong drink (its only $3.90 here) i found it was pleasant, hit some flavourful notes and went down.
i mostly find that heaviness is not such an issue with them, but sometimes overcarbonation can be.
re: belgian as a concept, i remember making a very simple all extract (LME+DME) beer with WLP500 and tettnang hops and it ended up being very memorable for just a simple, flavourful unpretentious 5% ABV beer
I have had similar thoughts. Even though they make some very good beer I found that they never seemed to find their “voice”. Their first release was their “patersbier”, what gets called a Belgian single. It’s excellent, and different, and would have been a great beer as part of their lineup, in fact I enjoyed a couple on my deck yesterday afternoon. I thought it was a weird choice as the first release, especially since it took a year for a second release. It wasn’t an expected Trappist offering, and it was more sessionable yet they originally charged I think $15.99 for a 4 pack of 11.2 oz bottles, which they eventually reduced the price of. I always thought they would have been better off establishing their excellence in Trappist/Belgians then adding more popular styles seasonally.
Just to point out again American tastes have changed drastically over the last 10 years or so. If your business brand says you sell Belgian beers it might not garner the type of attraction that this once had 10 years ago, regardless if you throw in a few gimmicks to appease the masses. I say this as a brewer who started up a craft brewery whose focus was initially on Belgian ales and German Ales and lagers. We had to change that model to achieve growth in the market. Luckily we started out small and were able to do that.
I’m not a fan of NEIPA though I will drink them from time to time (but I refuse to drink sours). As a commercial brewer I have basically been forced into completely changing the way I think about brewing (old dog learning new tricks) since I have decided to stay in this business. That means focusing on hazy and sour beers. Thankfully some of you out there still enjoy lagers. lol