{"id":3627,"date":"2019-01-23T09:45:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T07:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charleroi-metropole.be\/?p=3627"},"modified":"2019-01-28T19:25:28","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T17:25:28","slug":"a-day-at-abbaye-de-chimay-a-company-unlike-no-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/decouvrir\/a-day-at-abbaye-de-chimay-a-company-unlike-no-other\/","title":{"rendered":"A day at Abbaye de Chimay, a company unlike no other"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chimay Trappist beers and cheeses, Chimay<\/h2>\n

Every day, a high number of tourists visit l\u2019Abbaye de Scourmont, in the borough of Chimay. They are looking for the secrets of the famous Chimay beer<\/a>, known throughout the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Do you know where the Chimay beer is produced?\u2019<\/em> a tourist asks a monk sitting on reception at l\u2019Abbaye de Scourmont. \u2018It\u2019s here in the buildings just next to the church and the cloisters, but you can\u2019t visit the brewery. I advise you instead to go through the woods opposite the car park and you will find l\u2019Auberge du Poteaupr\u00e9. There you will be able to find the Chimay products which you will of course be able to taste,\u2019<\/em> he replies.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e8re Edouard, has worked on reception for a number of years and welcomes tourists from all over the world who are attracted by this specific beer. He is one of 16 monks who make up the community of the abbey, aged from 46 to 105 years old.<\/p>\n

In addition to prayer, the community of monks continue to make beer, a voluntary choice in order to keep up the tradition of Trappist beer.<\/p>\n

\"chimay-connu-monde\"
Chimay products are known throughout the world<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beer and cheese production at the heart of the abbey<\/h2>\n

As Trappist beers, the Chimay beers are brewed within the abbey. \u00a0Fabrice Bordon, spokesperson for the company, shows us the premises: the casks, the laboratory for carrying out daily tasks, the reserves, etc. \u2018This is the meeting and tasting room. \u00a0Every day at 11:30 a.m., several experts test different beers to primarily check the fermentation and the consistency of the taste of the beer.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

As a Trappist beer, the beer is brewed within the abbey under the supervision of the monks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well incorporated into the abbey\u2019s architecture, the brewery is a real production plant equipped with cutting-edge technology. 180,000 hectolitres of beer are brewed here each year. This amount corresponds to 60 million small bottles, well known on the market. The brewing process lasts 5 weeks, more or less. The beers are exported to 74 countries, mainly to France, USA and China. The Chimay Bleue has had the most international success.<\/p>\n

The abbey also produces cheese, 960 tonnes each year. \u2018The company is supplied by the surrounding farms by about 60 farmers. The cheesemaking process lasts 4 weeks, more or less.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Chimay-futs-\"
The Chimay Bleue Grande R\u00e9serve is stored for several months in oak barrels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A warm welcome for tourists<\/h2>\n

Another feature of the premises: many enthusiasts want to explore the production premises. The company therefore developed a tourist activity to meet this significant demand: it created the Espace ChimayExp\u00e9rience to display its history via an interactive exhibition. It also established l\u2019Auberge du Poteaupr\u00e9. This place invites passing visitors to taste a beer, a local dish or to relax in an upstairs bedroom. More than 2,000 tourists pass through there each year.<\/p>\n

Finally, the company also stands out thanks to its way of working. The offices and the bottling areas are located a few kilometres from l\u2019Abbaye de Scourmont, in the Baileux zone. \u00a0They have 200 employees who organise their schedules according to the monastery’s philosophy. \u2018We work from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., five days a week. We have some soup at 11:00 a.m. Boxes of beer or cheese are given to the employees\u2019, says Fabrice Bordon. \u2018Working hours are limited to the abbey\u2019s opening hours, even if production demand increases.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The employees are given boxes of beer or cheese<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"moines-bieres-chimay-trappiste\"
According to the Trappist philosophy, the monks of l\u2019Abbaye de Scourmont supervise the production of the beers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The profits are distributed to local social initiatives<\/h2>\n

Still according to the Trappist philosophy, most of the profits go to social initiatives. The\u00a0Fondation Chimay Wartoise<\/a> was created to manage the distribution of the profits. It selects local projects based on their social involvement. \u201890% of the income from the Chimaycompany is managed by the foundation. The foundation has already supported more than 900 projects in the region,\u2019<\/em> says Fabrice Bordon.<\/p>\n

For some years, the company has been testing new methods for storing the beer. It now sells Chimay Bleue Grande R\u00e9serve beers. \u2018These are Chimay Bleue beers which have aged in oak casks for 4 months. These casks are old barrels that used to store brandy, rum or whisky that we recovered. They give the beer a particular taste,\u2019<\/em> he says.<\/p>\n

Some beers, aged for tens of years, are still stored in the cellars of the abbey. Only a privileged few will be able to taste them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact\u00a0:<\/strong>
\nEspace Chimay
\nRue de Poteaupr\u00e9, 5
\n6464 Bourlers
\n+32 (0)60 21 14 33
\nwww.chimay.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9Video\/Reed & Leslie Artamonow<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chimay Trappist beers and cheeses, Chimay Every day, a high number of tourists visit l\u2019Abbaye de Scourmont, in the borough of Chimay. They are looking for the secrets of the famous Chimay beer, known throughout the world. \u2018Do you know where the Chimay beer is produced?\u2019 a tourist asks a monk sitting on reception at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":1376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[294,284,305,293,270,331,34,112,113,123,51,22,43,115,44,31,124,48],"class_list":["post-3627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-dynamism","tag-autres-en-21","tag-autres-en-17","tag-autres-en-25","tag-autres-en-20","tag-autres-en-9","tag-autres-en-28","tag-bar","tag-children","tag-group","tag-history","tag-international","tag-local","tag-nature","tag-region","tag-religion","tag-restaurant","tag-sucsess-story","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/charleroi-metropole.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}