The phrase ‘abbey-style’ gets printed on a lot of labels. Genuine monastery breweries — operated by an active religious order, on monastery grounds — are vanishingly rare. Artisanal Imports represents two of the world’s greatest.
Weltenburg Abbey, founded on a spectacular bend of the Danube in the year 1050, is the oldest monastery brewery on earth. Its Barock Dunkel is the beer other dark lagers are measured against; its Asam Bock carries the name of the baroque masters who built the abbey church.
Andechs, the ‘Holy Mountain’ above Lake Ammersee, has received pilgrims since 1128 and served them beer for over 550 years. It remains one of the last genuine monastery breweries managed by an active religious order — entirely independent of corporations. The monks brew with the traditional multiple mashing process, and the proceeds finance their charitable work, including help for the homeless in Munich.
In a category crowded with invented heritage, these stories are provably real.
That last part matters commercially more than you might think. In a category crowded with invented heritage, these are provably real stories — the kind that survive a bartender’s retelling and a skeptical customer’s Google search.
Stock them as a pair: Andechser Hell and Weissbier for the sessionable end, Doppelbock and Asam Bock for the connoisseur’s shelf. A thousand years of brewing is a hard endcap to argue with.
Questions about availability or programs mentioned here? Find your regional rep or contact the house.